NEW YORK – A 12-year-old New York boy with brain cancer has died after his family battled a hospital to keep him on a ventilator.
The lawyer for the Orthodox Jewish family says Motl Brody’s bodily functions ceased Saturday. A machine had continued to work his lungs after he was pronounced dead Nov. 4 at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The boy had already been declared brain dead, but some adherents of Jewish religious law say death occurs only when the heart and lungs stop functioning.
The family had asked a judge to prevent further tests for brain activity. The hospital argued that its “scarce resources” were being used “for the preservation of a deceased body.”
After having no brain activity for nearly two weeks, a Jewish family thinks their child just died. They’re wrong. Despite what their irrational religious beliefs (sorry to be redundant) claim, their child died on Nov. 4. They wasted not only financial resources, but the medical resources of nurses and doctors who could have been improving and even saving the lives of those who were (and hopefully are) still alive. It was selfish and irresponsible of these parents to pit their crazy beliefs against the lives of others. Why do we give such deference to insane ideas?
Filed under: News | Tagged: Children's National Medical Center, jew, Jewish, jewish law, motl brody, new york, orthodox jew, orthodox jewish, religion, religious |
For the Sake of Science 
Your incredibly insensitive comments about two human beings who lost a son would simply be offensive if your description of the incident were accurate. In your rush to denigrate them, you overlooked the fact that the hospital, not the parents, resuscitated the child despite their wishes. How dare you take out your unresolved issues with your parents on bereaved parents. The financial sources wasted here are nothing compared to public dollars wasted on your education.