Mcmath Case Not Unique - Other Court Ordered Ventilation of Dead Bodies

The Mcmath case started like many.  Families who unwilling or unprepared to accept a diagnosis of death sometimes sue for more time, so they can get independent confirming diagnoses.  Courts regularly grant TROs in these circumstances.  (See, e.g. Michael Todd v. University of Kansas (2006); Chris Lanciano v. Martinsburg WV Hospital (2009))  These are just short-term, stop-gap measures.  



But the Mcmath case is now lasting mush longer than most.  To be sure, no court has made any final determination on the merits.  But as the injunction period extends, there is little practical difference between obtaining a preliminary injunction (pending disposition) and winning on the merits.



Ten years ago, the parents of six-year-old Jesse Koochin obtained an injunction against Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.  The judge granted the parents the right to take Jesse home, where they kept him on a ventilator and said they were convinced that he could get better with alternative medical treatments. A month later, Jesse died.



Twenty years ago, Sarasota Memorial Hospital discharged 13-year-old Teresa Hamilton to her parents, to remain on a ventilator at home at the hospital's expense.  A court did not order that arrangement.  But the hospital agreed to the plan in light of uncertain Florida law at the time.