00:00:08.366 --> 00:00:10.567
♪

00:00:10.634 --> 00:00:12.100
(female reporter)
A pregnant Texas woman

00:00:12.167 --> 00:00:15.234
remains on life-support
against her family's wishes.

00:00:15.301 --> 00:00:17.334
(male reporter)
Her body is now connected
to a ventilator

00:00:17.401 --> 00:00:20.334
inside this Fort Worth, Texas
hospital.

00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:21.966
(second male reporter)
The contentious issue

00:00:22.033 --> 00:00:23.966
even drawing protesters
to the hospital

00:00:24.033 --> 00:00:25.366
there in recent weeks.

00:00:31.733 --> 00:00:32.733
(water running)

00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:34.233
(Marlise)
What are you doing?

00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:36.066
What are you doing?

00:00:36.133 --> 00:00:38.366
Are you playing?

00:00:38.433 --> 00:00:39.566
Oh!

00:00:41.233 --> 00:00:42.267
(speaking gibberish)

00:00:42.334 --> 00:00:44.433
Say, "It's my first time
in the pool!"

00:00:44.500 --> 00:00:46.667
Say hello!

00:00:46.734 --> 00:00:49.833
(man)
Marlise is definitely special.

00:00:49.900 --> 00:00:52.767
She's just positive,
positive all the time.

00:00:52.834 --> 00:00:56.099
That smile was just-- brighten
up your day, for sure.

00:01:02.367 --> 00:01:04.600
Marlise and I met in the box,
the ambulance.

00:01:04.667 --> 00:01:05.934
We call it "the box."

00:01:06.001 --> 00:01:08.934
And that's really how
it all began.

00:01:09.001 --> 00:01:13.234
It grew from co-workers
to a friendship to,

00:01:13.301 --> 00:01:15.801
you know, we just started
spending a lot of time together

00:01:15.868 --> 00:01:18.700
and get to realize that, gosh,
she's a great person.

00:01:20.468 --> 00:01:23.502
Marlise called me and she said,
"I want you to meet someone."

00:01:23.568 --> 00:01:25.868
And I said, "Well, who is it?"
She said, "Well, it's Erick."

00:01:25.935 --> 00:01:27.268
And I said,
"Well, who is Erick?"

00:01:27.335 --> 00:01:29.100
She said, "Well, he's
this firefighter."

00:01:29.167 --> 00:01:30.767
And I love him.

00:01:33.335 --> 00:01:35.401
(Erick)
I think it's one of those
guy things that you don't

00:01:35.468 --> 00:01:38.667
really realize it,
you don't see it initially.

00:01:38.734 --> 00:01:41.601
Um, you know,
she's a great friend.

00:01:41.668 --> 00:01:44.567
But next thing you know,
my God, like I'm happy.

00:01:50.201 --> 00:01:52.068
We used to say,
"Who's the winner?"

00:01:52.134 --> 00:01:55.401
(woman)
And then she'd raise both hands
up and say, "I'm the winner."

00:01:55.468 --> 00:01:59.701
She was not afraid to walk up
and talk to anybody and...

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She was her mother.
She grew up to be her mother.

00:02:01.800 --> 00:02:03.933
(woman laughing)

00:02:15.034 --> 00:02:17.334
(Melissa)
She was funny, she was caring,

00:02:17.401 --> 00:02:19.834
she was boisterous
and very outgoing.

00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:23.001
She loved people,
she loved helping people.

00:02:23.068 --> 00:02:25.000
And that's why she was
a paramedic.

00:02:27.201 --> 00:02:29.667
(Erick)
Very passionate
about what she loved--

00:02:29.733 --> 00:02:32.133
her job, her family.

00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:34.400
(Marlise)
And boom!

00:02:34.467 --> 00:02:37.300
Yeah, people, check me out!

00:02:37.367 --> 00:02:38.933
(Erick)
She was a perfect mother.

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(Marlise)
Boo, twitchy!

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Hut, hut, hut!
(giggling)

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(Marlise laughing)
Hut, hut, hut!

00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:46.233
Hut, hut, hut!
Go, 22!

00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:48.167
Hut, hut, hut, hut!

00:02:48.234 --> 00:02:49.801
(laughs)

00:02:49.868 --> 00:02:51.835
(Erick)
When we found out we were
pregnant with our second baby,

00:02:51.901 --> 00:02:56.367
the world is just all rainbows
and butterflies and sunshine.

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(Marlise)
You can't bite your raft!

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Ha ha!

00:02:59.534 --> 00:03:02.099
It was exciting time for us,
for sure.

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November 25th, I mean,
it was just a typical day.

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Nothing out of the ordinary.

00:03:17.666 --> 00:03:19.466
(crickets chirping)

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Came back home,
put the baby to bed.

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Of course, she's pregnant
during this time.

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So she had the munchies.
She wasn't tired.

00:03:26.433 --> 00:03:28.366
And she couldn't find
a position of comfort

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to, to go to bed.

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And she was like, you know,
go to bed, you're tired.

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You gotta be at work.

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I went to bed, and the baby
started crying.

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(baby crying inside)

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I got up again
'cause I heard the baby crying.

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And I just couldn't find her...

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till I found her laying
in the kitchen floor facedown.

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(baby crying inside)

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(Erick)
I knew it was bad.

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I ran, grabbed my phone,
called 9-1-1,

00:03:57.467 --> 00:03:59.267
and began CPR immediately.

00:04:00.968 --> 00:04:03.767
(man)
It was between 2:00
and 3:00 a.m. in the morning.

00:04:03.834 --> 00:04:05.668
And I picked up the phone and...

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at first I thought it was
Marlise that was on the phone.

00:04:08.434 --> 00:04:09.934
But it was, it was Erick.

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And he was hysterical
with shock.

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After I had hung up and
I'd said, "I don't like this.

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I got a bad feeling
about this."

00:04:18.635 --> 00:04:21.267
(Erick)
They said it was
a pulmonary embolism.

00:04:21.334 --> 00:04:22.601
It's a blood clot.

00:04:22.667 --> 00:04:24.733
It's what the cause was.

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I didn't know how bad it was...
(sniffling)

00:04:32.933 --> 00:04:36.735
until we were in the ER.

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And the doctors called us back
and they-- they showed us

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a CT of her brain.
(sniffling)

00:04:43.635 --> 00:04:46.401
I'd seen enough
to know how bad it was

00:04:46.467 --> 00:04:50.201
and even before the doctor
actually told us

00:04:50.268 --> 00:04:52.533
that, you know,
she's brain-dead.

00:04:54.334 --> 00:04:57.801
(woman)
Marlise's brain was
starved of oxygen.

00:04:57.868 --> 00:05:02.601
I don't want to sound coarse,
but that brain turns to Jell-O.

00:05:02.667 --> 00:05:06.866
It cannot reform,
it cannot function again.

00:05:08.268 --> 00:05:10.500
(Erick)
They told us that she's coded,

00:05:10.567 --> 00:05:12.767
her heart has stopped
several times.

00:05:12.834 --> 00:05:14.634
And every time
that that happens,

00:05:14.701 --> 00:05:18.567
the chances of her coming back
or less likely.

00:05:18.634 --> 00:05:21.433
And my father-in-law said,
"If she codes again,

00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:24.433
let her, let her rest in peace."

00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:26.467
They had brought in a chaplain,

00:05:26.534 --> 00:05:29.634
which, normally
if I wasn't in shock,

00:05:29.701 --> 00:05:33.767
that would've cued me that--
what was-- the severity of it.

00:05:33.833 --> 00:05:37.300
Um, and I just-- I broke down.

00:05:37.367 --> 00:05:39.300
I still break down
thinking about it.

00:05:46.067 --> 00:05:47.700
(Erick)
One of the doctors
called me back

00:05:47.767 --> 00:05:49.867
and he was like,
hey, if she codes again,

00:05:49.934 --> 00:05:53.133
we're gonna have to do CPR.

00:05:53.200 --> 00:05:55.301
We're like, why?

00:05:55.368 --> 00:05:57.568
And he's like, there's
a law that says

00:05:57.634 --> 00:06:00.133
pregnant patients
need full treatment.

00:06:03.267 --> 00:06:05.200
You know, I was like,
no, that's not what she wanted.

00:06:05.266 --> 00:06:06.701
That's not what I want.

00:06:06.767 --> 00:06:11.001
And they're like, well, you're
kind of overruled by this law.

00:06:11.067 --> 00:06:14.133
She had told us that,
under no circumstance

00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:16.099
do I ever want to be
on life-support.

00:06:17.667 --> 00:06:19.333
My wife knew that
to the point where

00:06:19.400 --> 00:06:23.967
she put a DNR sticker
on the back of her badge.

00:06:24.034 --> 00:06:28.200
That if she was to be in
traumatic incident,

00:06:28.267 --> 00:06:31.699
that she knew that she didn't
wanna be resuscitated.

00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:37.466
You know, we talked about it,

00:06:37.533 --> 00:06:40.666
never expecting this
to happen to us.

00:06:42.633 --> 00:06:44.933
We said, you know, if this--
if something happens,

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let me rest in peace.

00:06:46.601 --> 00:06:48.533
It's not-- there's not--
there's no quality of life

00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:50.533
in being bedridden

00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:53.799
and being kept on machines.

00:06:58.767 --> 00:07:00.534
(Lynne)
I don't know at what point

00:07:00.601 --> 00:07:04.401
they, uh, put her
on life-support.

00:07:04.468 --> 00:07:07.767
It was just all of a sudden
it-- it was-- she was connected.

00:07:07.834 --> 00:07:10.401
In Texas, a wrenching
life-and-death struggle

00:07:10.467 --> 00:07:12.167
is going on involving a woman

00:07:12.234 --> 00:07:14.001
who is being kept
on life-support

00:07:14.067 --> 00:07:15.568
because she is pregnant.

00:07:15.635 --> 00:07:17.900
(female reporter)
A Texas law says,
doctors quote...

00:07:22.135 --> 00:07:26.400
Every day at this hospital,
we have patients and families

00:07:26.467 --> 00:07:29.201
who have to make
difficult decisions.

00:07:29.268 --> 00:07:33.201
And in every one of those
cas-- cases, our position is,

00:07:33.268 --> 00:07:36.767
JPS and the health care system
does not change.

00:07:36.834 --> 00:07:38.233
We follow the law.

00:07:40.568 --> 00:07:43.101
(Erick)
They had copies already
of the law

00:07:43.168 --> 00:07:46.334
and just kinda gave 'em to us
and highlighted.

00:07:46.401 --> 00:07:49.367
I read that law
all kinds of ways,

00:07:49.434 --> 00:07:51.467
and it just still didn't
make sense.

00:07:51.534 --> 00:07:53.168
The whole idea was bizarre

00:07:53.234 --> 00:07:56.868
that they could
take a dead woman...

00:07:56.935 --> 00:07:59.134
and use her as a host
to be an incubator

00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:00.467
for a fetus.

00:08:00.533 --> 00:08:02.634
(machine beeping)

00:08:02.701 --> 00:08:06.400
My wife was 14 weeks
when this happened.

00:08:06.467 --> 00:08:10.233
Fourteen weeks, um, there is
zero chance of survival.

00:08:11.668 --> 00:08:14.933
I am a pro-life physician.
Very pro-life physician.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.534
The problem is that
this was a case

00:08:17.601 --> 00:08:20.134
where any reasonable doctor
knew you couldn't save the baby

00:08:20.201 --> 00:08:22.501
and their hands were tied
by state law.

00:08:22.568 --> 00:08:25.700
We asked for transfer,
we asked for ways

00:08:25.767 --> 00:08:28.234
to communicate with other states
and other hospitals,

00:08:28.300 --> 00:08:30.767
other big hospitals,
renowned hospitals

00:08:30.834 --> 00:08:32.434
that have any kind of clue

00:08:32.501 --> 00:08:34.134
whether they could help us
or not.

00:08:34.201 --> 00:08:38.100
And in short, their response
was, this is what it is

00:08:38.167 --> 00:08:40.134
and you're stuck.

00:08:40.201 --> 00:08:43.300
You're trapped,
you're helpless.

00:08:43.367 --> 00:08:45.301
Because we knew what
she wanted.

00:08:45.368 --> 00:08:49.467
And why is the law telling us
what we can or can't do?

00:08:49.534 --> 00:08:51.834
You know, it should be,
in our opinion,

00:08:51.900 --> 00:08:53.966
between the doctor
and family.

00:08:57.067 --> 00:08:58.434
(Erick)
It's one thing
if you're like...

00:08:58.501 --> 00:09:01.133
they're sitting, and you know
they're gonna get better.

00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.566
It's another when you know
that it's useless.

00:09:06.967 --> 00:09:09.333
You know that
it's not going to change.

00:09:09.400 --> 00:09:11.867
We had been told that
they were gonna see,

00:09:11.934 --> 00:09:14.167
well, we'll see
if she carries it to 18 weeks.

00:09:14.234 --> 00:09:16.334
We'll see if she carries it
to 24 weeks.

00:09:16.401 --> 00:09:18.600
Now we're gonna see
if she can carry it to 36.

00:09:18.667 --> 00:09:21.299
And we're going, these people
just don't get it.

00:09:22.466 --> 00:09:24.933
(Marlise)
Hee hee hee. Yes!

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:26.100
Bounce...

00:09:26.166 --> 00:09:27.167
(Marlise)
I'm having fun.

00:09:27.233 --> 00:09:28.800
Bouncy bear.
Yeah, I'm here.

00:09:28.867 --> 00:09:30.367
(Erick)
I told my in-laws, I'm like,

00:09:30.434 --> 00:09:32.968
you know, y'all take care
of my girl for a week.

00:09:33.034 --> 00:09:36.233
And then, you know, we'll take
'em to my parents' for a week,

00:09:36.300 --> 00:09:37.933
and that way I can
take turns and...

00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.300
(sniffling)

00:09:39.367 --> 00:09:42.433
Every time they swapped
the baby,

00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:43.967
we would do it at the hospital.

00:09:44.034 --> 00:09:46.767
That way, I could see him
and, uh...

00:09:46.834 --> 00:09:50.134
they could come by
and see Marlise.

00:09:50.201 --> 00:09:53.167
I can't even come up
with words to explain

00:09:53.234 --> 00:09:56.567
just the pain of watching
what was going on

00:09:56.634 --> 00:10:01.067
to our daughter's body
and having to witness that.

00:10:01.134 --> 00:10:04.367
(Dr. Karen Smith)
What we call life-support
is often

00:10:04.434 --> 00:10:07.634
simply prolonging
the dying process.

00:10:07.701 --> 00:10:09.967
Life-support is not without
discomfort.

00:10:10.033 --> 00:10:12.667
It's not without pain,
it's not without suffering.

00:10:12.733 --> 00:10:14.801
You know, as they're doing
their procedures

00:10:14.867 --> 00:10:16.733
and they said, "Well,
we wanna do this procedure,"

00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:18.867
and they come up and ask you,
hey, are you okay

00:10:18.933 --> 00:10:20.067
with us doing this procedure?

00:10:20.133 --> 00:10:22.167
And you're like, no.

00:10:22.234 --> 00:10:24.067
You know, you're not--
My wife's dead.

00:10:24.134 --> 00:10:25.433
You're not doing anything.

00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:29.366
And they said, "Well--"
I guess their policies

00:10:29.433 --> 00:10:31.200
and procedures--
"We still gotta ask you.

00:10:31.267 --> 00:10:33.767
"But we'll go in the back
and talk to our legal department

00:10:33.833 --> 00:10:36.400
and see what they say."

00:10:36.467 --> 00:10:39.567
Well, the legal department would
advise the doctors, of course,

00:10:39.634 --> 00:10:42.466
that, yeah, go ahead and do
whatever procedure it is.

00:11:11.934 --> 00:11:13.901
(Ernie)
The condition
of the body changes.

00:11:13.968 --> 00:11:17.867
It is no longer, you know,
soft and warm and...

00:11:17.934 --> 00:11:20.701
and, and, and human-like.

00:11:20.768 --> 00:11:23.201
It is-- it's more like
a mannequin almost.

00:11:23.267 --> 00:11:25.334
And it's-- and it's
almost feels like

00:11:25.400 --> 00:11:27.501
you're touching
a wax doll.

00:11:27.567 --> 00:11:30.500
Her hands went from, you know,
being pliable

00:11:30.567 --> 00:11:34.301
to very rigid,
very stiff joints.

00:11:34.368 --> 00:11:37.868
You start seeing muscle
lose tone

00:11:37.934 --> 00:11:40.367
just because
she's not moving her body.

00:11:42.968 --> 00:11:48.101
Just the smell, of course,
that's one of the big things.

00:11:48.168 --> 00:11:52.267
Just overall, just appearance,
it's just-- it deteriorates.

00:11:52.333 --> 00:11:53.501
I mean, it's--

00:11:53.568 --> 00:11:57.000
You're seeing a body
slowly deteriorate.

00:11:58.735 --> 00:12:00.067
It's hard for me to believe
that the doctors

00:12:00.134 --> 00:12:02.434
at John Peter Smith
went along with this.

00:12:02.501 --> 00:12:05.734
I don't know what kind of
pressure they were under,

00:12:05.801 --> 00:12:07.867
what kinds of orders
they were following.

00:12:07.934 --> 00:12:12.467
Um, when someone is dead,
we don't talk about treatments.

00:12:12.534 --> 00:12:14.867
I know JPS intimately.
I trained there.

00:12:14.934 --> 00:12:16.734
I taught there,
I worked there.

00:12:16.801 --> 00:12:19.234
And my heart goes out
to the physicians on the case.

00:12:19.301 --> 00:12:21.401
I don't, in any way,
blame them

00:12:21.468 --> 00:12:25.767
because now they're operating
essentially under a court order.

00:12:25.833 --> 00:12:27.434
You feel like you're in a box

00:12:27.501 --> 00:12:29.600
with the insurance companies
on one side,

00:12:29.667 --> 00:12:32.300
the lawyers on another,
and the government on the third.

00:12:32.367 --> 00:12:33.901
And you're backed into a corner.

00:12:33.968 --> 00:12:36.734
And a lot of us would like
to break free of some of that

00:12:36.801 --> 00:12:40.135
so we would have freedom to make
decisions with our patients.

00:12:40.201 --> 00:12:43.901
Exactly when someone should be
allowed to die is making news

00:12:43.967 --> 00:12:46.100
and testing the law in Texas.

00:12:46.167 --> 00:12:47.667
(male reporter)
There have been protests

00:12:47.734 --> 00:12:49.968
outside that hospital
in Fort Worth.

00:12:50.034 --> 00:12:52.668
(woman)
I really believe,
if she could speak,

00:12:52.734 --> 00:12:57.768
she would say, "I want my baby
to survive if I cannot."

00:12:57.835 --> 00:13:00.166
(female reporter)
She is a corpse being used
as an incubator!

00:13:00.233 --> 00:13:02.500
What about the baby?
This is Orwellian--

00:13:02.566 --> 00:13:05.234
Let me finish!
Let me, let me finish!

00:13:05.300 --> 00:13:06.867
If I was pregnant with a baby

00:13:06.934 --> 00:13:08.834
that I thought
might be able to survive,

00:13:08.901 --> 00:13:11.967
and I was in this condition,
I probably would want the baby.

00:13:12.033 --> 00:13:14.000
(man)
Anna, this is not a condition!
She's dead.

00:13:14.067 --> 00:13:15.467
If her brain's dead,
she's dead.

00:13:15.533 --> 00:13:18.334
You had a family that
wants the woman dead.

00:13:18.400 --> 00:13:20.166
The family wants
the baby dead.

00:13:20.233 --> 00:13:21.567
We say no.

00:13:21.634 --> 00:13:23.400
(man)
Yeah, we drove
five and a half hours here

00:13:23.467 --> 00:13:24.600
and then five and a half
hours back.

00:13:24.667 --> 00:13:27.167
I just think there's nothing
as important

00:13:27.233 --> 00:13:30.633
as being as close to a situation
like this as possible.

00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.534
Because that baby was just
fighting for her life,

00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.233
a lot like her mom
was fighting for her life.

00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:37.934
And obviously the parents didn't
want the baby

00:13:38.001 --> 00:13:39.833
because they ordered
her execution.

00:13:39.900 --> 00:13:41.333
(people singing)

00:13:41.400 --> 00:13:42.834
(Erick)
You hear people say,

00:13:42.900 --> 00:13:45.734
"You're a monster"
to "You're going to hell."

00:13:45.801 --> 00:13:47.500
"Why aren't they suspecting
foul play?"

00:13:47.567 --> 00:13:51.434
And, "Why does he want
to get rid of her so quickly?"

00:13:51.501 --> 00:13:52.833
"Why isn't he thinking
about the baby?"

00:13:52.900 --> 00:13:55.834
Literally accused me of murder.

00:13:55.901 --> 00:13:59.401
He said, "People are sending me
letters, e-mails,

00:13:59.467 --> 00:14:02.201
"death threats,
that if you kill this baby

00:14:02.268 --> 00:14:04.934
or if you kill Marlise, that,
you know, we'll kill you."

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:06.300
And people that were pro-life

00:14:06.367 --> 00:14:08.100
were threatening
someone else's life.

00:14:10.368 --> 00:14:12.601
(man)
I think that you'll find,
in this congregation,

00:14:12.668 --> 00:14:15.801
people that are probably
pro-life and pro-choice,

00:14:15.867 --> 00:14:19.000
but somehow saw this
as another matter altogether.

00:14:19.067 --> 00:14:20.801
If the hospital had not
intervened,

00:14:20.867 --> 00:14:23.101
she would've died and the baby
would've died with her.

00:14:23.167 --> 00:14:24.634
It's no abortion.
It just--

00:14:24.701 --> 00:14:26.634
I guess she let God be God
at that point.

00:14:26.701 --> 00:14:29.501
This is not
about pro-life, pro-choice.

00:14:29.568 --> 00:14:32.067
This is about our daughter
and, and, and...

00:14:32.133 --> 00:14:34.267
and our situation and...

00:14:34.334 --> 00:14:36.967
and the life of the person
who's already expired.

00:14:37.034 --> 00:14:39.068
There was another life
involved,

00:14:39.134 --> 00:14:41.734
and that life supersedes hers.

00:14:41.801 --> 00:14:44.335
In due time, it just takes
a little bit more time.

00:14:44.401 --> 00:14:46.601
Another week or two,
sometimes a month,

00:14:46.668 --> 00:14:49.733
and that baby has just
a wonderful chance of survival

00:14:49.800 --> 00:14:50.935
outside the womb.

00:14:51.001 --> 00:14:53.467
We don't know how
all of the interventions

00:14:53.534 --> 00:14:56.267
that would have been applied
in a critical-care case

00:14:56.333 --> 00:14:57.801
affected the child,

00:14:57.868 --> 00:15:01.300
but I can clearly say they
are not without side effects.

00:15:01.367 --> 00:15:04.867
The further
the fetus developed,

00:15:04.934 --> 00:15:10.668
the clearer the developmental
anomalies were.

00:15:10.734 --> 00:15:13.300
Questions about
the fetus's medical status

00:15:13.366 --> 00:15:15.001
started to get resolved.

00:15:15.068 --> 00:15:18.234
A clearer picture emerged,
and it was a very bad picture.

00:15:18.301 --> 00:15:22.833
They saw... like,
lower extremity

00:15:22.900 --> 00:15:25.200
wasn't developing properly.

00:15:25.267 --> 00:15:27.567
Even to the point where
they couldn't exactly

00:15:27.633 --> 00:15:30.034
tell me the gender.

00:15:30.101 --> 00:15:32.800
Places where there
should be brain mass,

00:15:32.866 --> 00:15:33.800
there was not.

00:15:33.867 --> 00:15:35.268
There was water.

00:15:35.334 --> 00:15:37.234
Course, I asked the doctors,
I'm like,

00:15:37.300 --> 00:15:38.734
"You know, does this tend
to get better?"

00:15:38.800 --> 00:15:41.600
And he's like, "No, normally,
it tends to get worse."

00:15:45.334 --> 00:15:47.734
(Melissa)
Erick was forced to sit there
for 62 days

00:15:47.800 --> 00:15:52.000
at this continual, ongoing wake
that... it had no end.

00:15:52.067 --> 00:15:54.833
And this dehumanization
of his wife

00:15:54.900 --> 00:15:57.067
was breaking him down.

00:15:57.134 --> 00:15:58.334
You see,
you have a body there,

00:15:58.400 --> 00:16:01.867
and you try to respect it
and talk to it.

00:16:01.933 --> 00:16:03.434
But then at the same time,
you're like,

00:16:03.501 --> 00:16:06.334
"She's-- she's passed away.
She's dead."

00:16:06.401 --> 00:16:10.166
So you talk in your head
like she can listen to you

00:16:10.233 --> 00:16:11.500
in Heaven.

00:16:11.567 --> 00:16:14.033
So that-- that became
a little confusing.

00:16:21.168 --> 00:16:23.801
At this point in time, we were
hoping that some miracle,

00:16:23.867 --> 00:16:26.134
that somebody out there
knows something I don't know.

00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.800
Or-- or somebody has the power
to say, "This is wrong.

00:16:29.867 --> 00:16:31.900
Let this woman
rest in peace."

00:16:31.966 --> 00:16:33.933
(indistinct chatter)

00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.767
Erick was told
by hospital personnel,

00:16:36.833 --> 00:16:38.267
"There's nothing you can do."

00:16:38.334 --> 00:16:40.200
By hospital attorneys,
"There's nothing you can do."

00:16:40.267 --> 00:16:42.166
I mean, he was literally--
just repeatedly said,

00:16:42.233 --> 00:16:43.467
"There is no help for you."

00:16:43.534 --> 00:16:46.367
For him to come in
and tell us that was horrifying.

00:16:46.433 --> 00:16:48.300
It was sad, it was disturbing.

00:16:48.366 --> 00:16:49.400
And that's when we said,

00:16:49.467 --> 00:16:51.167
"No, that's not the way
it has to be.

00:16:51.234 --> 00:16:53.667
There is another avenue,
and we're gonna take it."

00:16:53.733 --> 00:16:55.367
(female reporter)
The husband of this woman

00:16:55.433 --> 00:16:57.867
is suing a Fort Worth hospital

00:16:57.933 --> 00:17:00.434
to have her removed
from life support.

00:17:00.501 --> 00:17:02.267
The pro-life side
has been arguing

00:17:02.334 --> 00:17:05.267
that they can take her
off of life support,

00:17:05.334 --> 00:17:09.267
but only after they try
and deliver that baby.

00:17:09.334 --> 00:17:11.801
(Troy Newman)
The unborn child
deserves protection

00:17:11.868 --> 00:17:16.168
and should have legal protection
under the law.

00:17:16.235 --> 00:17:18.735
If this is the rule,
then every time a woman

00:17:18.801 --> 00:17:21.300
of child-bearing age
becomes deceased,

00:17:21.367 --> 00:17:22.801
however she may become
deceased--

00:17:22.868 --> 00:17:25.768
a heart attack, a car wreck,
an accident--

00:17:25.835 --> 00:17:28.501
the paramedics, I suppose,
are to take a blood test,

00:17:28.568 --> 00:17:31.467
and if she is ultimately
determined to be pregnant,

00:17:31.534 --> 00:17:33.934
then I guess they will
ship her off to a facility

00:17:34.001 --> 00:17:36.168
and hook her up
to machines, and--

00:17:36.235 --> 00:17:38.768
and let her dead body
gestate the fetus.

00:17:38.835 --> 00:17:41.600
(Thomas Mayo)
There was a lot of reaction
around the country

00:17:41.667 --> 00:17:44.301
to that awful Texas statute.

00:17:44.367 --> 00:17:46.334
Then I think
when people realized that

00:17:46.401 --> 00:17:50.034
that awful Texas statute
was similar if not identical

00:17:50.101 --> 00:17:53.034
to statutes
in 30 other states...

00:17:53.101 --> 00:17:56.534
It's a statute that a lot
of states have embraced.

00:17:56.601 --> 00:17:59.067
What kind of America is it

00:17:59.133 --> 00:18:01.300
in which the state says

00:18:01.367 --> 00:18:03.367
that your capacity for pregnancy

00:18:03.434 --> 00:18:05.867
doesn't just mean
that you are...

00:18:05.934 --> 00:18:07.267
you can't have an abortion,

00:18:07.334 --> 00:18:10.401
but that you are deprived
of virtually every right

00:18:10.467 --> 00:18:12.234
we associate with personhood,

00:18:12.301 --> 00:18:14.901
and we don't care
what that does to your husband,

00:18:14.968 --> 00:18:17.900
to your mother, or to the child
you already have.

00:18:17.967 --> 00:18:20.201
This was our daughter.
This was a person.

00:18:20.268 --> 00:18:24.234
This wasn't just a number
or-- or a rarity

00:18:24.300 --> 00:18:25.701
that has happened.

00:18:25.768 --> 00:18:30.067
This was someone that had--
had meaning in life.

00:18:30.134 --> 00:18:31.533
Every day matters, obviously,

00:18:31.600 --> 00:18:33.401
to this family now.

00:18:33.468 --> 00:18:35.667
(male reporter)
The longer the clock ticks,

00:18:35.734 --> 00:18:37.734
the more complicated
this begins.

00:18:37.801 --> 00:18:39.501
(female reporter)
An attorney for the Muñoz family

00:18:39.568 --> 00:18:40.967
says they hope
to get a court order

00:18:41.033 --> 00:18:42.701
as early as tomorrow

00:18:42.767 --> 00:18:44.901
to remove Marlise
from the ventilator.

00:18:44.967 --> 00:18:47.234
(reporters shouting questions)

00:18:47.300 --> 00:18:50.433
Any wrong turn could mean
weeks of delay,

00:18:50.500 --> 00:18:52.201
and we couldn't afford that.

00:18:52.268 --> 00:18:54.700
We had to do it right
the first time.

00:18:54.766 --> 00:18:57.500
(indistinct chatter)

00:18:57.567 --> 00:18:59.099
(gavel pounding)

00:19:03.167 --> 00:19:05.734
(Jessica Janicek)
Your Honor, Erick's wife,
Marlise Muñoz,

00:19:05.801 --> 00:19:08.699
who is really the subject
of this case today,

00:19:08.766 --> 00:19:10.067
is deceased.

00:19:10.133 --> 00:19:11.834
She's not in a coma;

00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.866
she's not existing somewhere
in a vegetative state;

00:19:14.933 --> 00:19:16.134
she is dead.

00:19:16.201 --> 00:19:19.101
However, Your Honor,
John Peter Smith Hospital

00:19:19.167 --> 00:19:22.534
is refusing to remove
her dead body from machines

00:19:22.601 --> 00:19:24.833
and essentially
is utilizing her body

00:19:24.899 --> 00:19:27.000
as a science experiment.

00:19:27.067 --> 00:19:30.933
(Larry Thompson)
Your Honor, JPS is not
conducting a science experiment;

00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:33.233
it's trying
to follow the law.

00:19:33.300 --> 00:19:38.001
Section 166.049 says,
"A person may not withdraw

00:19:38.067 --> 00:19:39.933
"or withhold life-sustaining
treatment

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.800
from a pregnant patient."

00:19:41.867 --> 00:19:45.134
And so we read that to mean
that the legislature

00:19:45.201 --> 00:19:50.167
intended by 049 to protect
the life of the unborn child.

00:19:50.234 --> 00:19:53.267
(Mayo)
The thing about Texas,
we have a law that says

00:19:53.334 --> 00:19:56.901
life begins at the moment
of conception.

00:19:56.967 --> 00:20:00.100
You are a person from the moment
of conception forward.

00:20:00.166 --> 00:20:02.933
Um, so you have legal status.

00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:04.734
(man)
Texas penal code

00:20:04.801 --> 00:20:08.200
defines an individual
as a human being who's alive,

00:20:08.267 --> 00:20:12.200
including an unborn child
at every stage of gestation.

00:20:12.267 --> 00:20:15.600
This would mean somebody
could commit a criminal homicide

00:20:15.667 --> 00:20:18.300
by killing an unborn child.

00:20:18.367 --> 00:20:20.767
Just a few days
before the hearing,

00:20:20.833 --> 00:20:23.734
we got 30,000 pages
of medical record,

00:20:23.800 --> 00:20:26.933
and apparently the physicians

00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:30.199
were very opposed to what
was happening as well.

00:20:50.501 --> 00:20:52.301
The physicians
were actually saying

00:20:52.367 --> 00:20:54.067
that they thought
that this was wrong,

00:20:54.134 --> 00:20:57.534
and that she needed to be
removed from these machines

00:20:57.600 --> 00:20:59.100
so her family could bury her.

00:21:00.901 --> 00:21:03.434
(Erick)
Being there in that courtroom
and just waiting.

00:21:03.501 --> 00:21:06.468
Waiting to see what
one man's gonna decide.

00:21:06.534 --> 00:21:08.368
You know, literally your fate.

00:21:08.435 --> 00:21:11.267
I mean, it's--
everything's in his hands.

00:21:12.668 --> 00:21:17.401
(Judge Wallace)
This is a tragic
and very difficult case.

00:21:17.468 --> 00:21:20.200
The judgment
of the court is...

00:21:20.267 --> 00:21:23.467
the provisions
of Section 166.049

00:21:23.534 --> 00:21:25.300
of the Texas Health
and Safety Code

00:21:25.367 --> 00:21:27.901
do not apply to Mrs. Muñoz.

00:21:27.967 --> 00:21:30.434
Mrs. Muñoz is dead.

00:21:30.501 --> 00:21:32.834
It is therefore ordered
that the defendants

00:21:32.901 --> 00:21:35.267
are ordered to pronounce
Mrs. Muñoz dead

00:21:35.334 --> 00:21:36.801
and to remove the ventilator

00:21:36.867 --> 00:21:39.400
and all of the life-sustaining
treatment from the body

00:21:39.467 --> 00:21:41.033
of Marlise Muñoz.

00:21:47.901 --> 00:21:50.568
I didn't, you know,
I didn't get anything.

00:21:50.635 --> 00:21:53.567
I didn't win. Either way,
I knew I was gonna lose...

00:21:53.633 --> 00:21:55.133
my wife and my baby.

00:21:56.234 --> 00:21:57.433
(sniffles)

00:21:59.034 --> 00:22:01.968
Today, at approximately
11:30 a.m. Central Time,

00:22:02.034 --> 00:22:05.167
Marlise Muñoz's body was
disconnected from life support

00:22:05.234 --> 00:22:07.566
and released to Mr. Muñoz.

00:22:09.133 --> 00:22:11.000
It was just very quiet.

00:22:11.067 --> 00:22:13.067
A very solemn moment
when we--

00:22:13.134 --> 00:22:14.734
when we finally
pulled the tube.

00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:18.467
I felt a little shudder
on her hand.

00:22:18.533 --> 00:22:20.167
And I turned
to the nurse and I said,

00:22:20.234 --> 00:22:22.533
"She's-- she's gone.
Her body's gone."

00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:24.233
And she said, "Yes."

00:22:27.367 --> 00:22:29.601
(Erick)
I have to see my son

00:22:29.668 --> 00:22:33.800
grow up without his mother
for the rest of my life.

00:22:33.866 --> 00:22:35.167
And it hurts.

00:22:35.234 --> 00:22:37.234
'Cause I know how much
she loved him.

00:22:37.301 --> 00:22:41.968
And I can't express it
to him enough.

00:22:42.034 --> 00:22:47.633
Or demonstrate...
how much she loved him.

00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:49.500
You know, I can't
do it justice.

00:22:49.566 --> 00:22:51.367
I just can't.

00:22:51.434 --> 00:22:55.666
'Cause her love is...
unique.

00:23:09.133 --> 00:23:10.934
(water running)

00:23:11.001 --> 00:23:12.233
(Erick speaking Spanish,
child cooing)

00:23:19.199 --> 00:23:20.966
(whispering)

00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:24.699
(whispering in Spanish)

00:23:24.766 --> 00:23:26.200
Okay?

00:23:26.267 --> 00:23:27.599
Okay.
Okay.

00:23:32.533 --> 00:23:35.466
♪

00:23:44.367 --> 00:23:47.234
(Erick)
I've always been kind of
a private kind of person.

00:23:47.300 --> 00:23:50.400
I just wanted my house
with my kids and my wife and...

00:23:50.467 --> 00:23:52.734
go to work every day
and provide.

00:23:52.801 --> 00:23:55.633
That's all, uh, that's all
I really envisioned.

00:23:58.166 --> 00:24:00.067
I'm trying
to get everything

00:24:00.134 --> 00:24:03.068
back to some kind
of what normal...

00:24:03.134 --> 00:24:05.667
Taking on new things,
going back to school.

00:24:07.833 --> 00:24:09.667
Hello!

00:24:09.734 --> 00:24:11.833
Whoops.
I'll get it, I'll get it.

00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:13.433
Hey, bud!

00:24:13.500 --> 00:24:15.200
(Erick)
Thank you, sir.

00:24:16.267 --> 00:24:19.034
Hey, dude. Hey.

00:24:19.100 --> 00:24:21.001
Oh, you're
just waking up?

00:24:21.068 --> 00:24:23.001
Ooh, you just
waking up?

00:24:23.068 --> 00:24:26.033
(Erick)
I could sit here and say
it doesn't affect me anymore.

00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:30.601
But... that's
not who I am.

00:24:30.668 --> 00:24:33.234
That's not who we are.
That's not...

00:24:33.301 --> 00:24:35.800
what values I'm trying to
implement into Mateo.

00:24:35.867 --> 00:24:39.567
Ah... how's
grandma's boy, huh?

00:24:40.801 --> 00:24:41.800
How's grandma's boy?

00:24:41.867 --> 00:24:44.600
Erick and I
contacted ACLU,

00:24:44.667 --> 00:24:46.267
down in Houston.

00:24:46.334 --> 00:24:48.467
They reviewed
her records,

00:24:48.534 --> 00:24:50.834
and they called me back
and said, um,

00:24:50.901 --> 00:24:52.001
"We would
like to help you."

00:24:52.067 --> 00:24:53.534
(dog barking)

00:24:53.601 --> 00:24:55.535
(Erick)
We decided we're gonna
follow this through

00:24:55.601 --> 00:24:58.134
as long as we can...
as far as we can.

00:24:58.201 --> 00:25:00.967
We can go on down to Austin,

00:25:01.034 --> 00:25:02.733
and fighting for this
to be changed.

00:25:04.468 --> 00:25:06.567
(Lynn)
It was too late to do
anything for our daughter.

00:25:06.634 --> 00:25:08.434
Our daughter had died.

00:25:08.501 --> 00:25:12.634
But we wanted to help
alleviate any pain

00:25:12.701 --> 00:25:14.933
another family might
have to go through.

00:25:17.401 --> 00:25:19.101
(male reporter)
An Austin lawmaker
is looking to change

00:25:19.168 --> 00:25:21.267
Texas's controversial
end-of-life law

00:25:21.333 --> 00:25:22.634
for pregnant women.

00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:24.500
Democratic Representative
Elliott Naishtat

00:25:24.567 --> 00:25:27.001
introduced Marlise's Law
Thursday,

00:25:27.067 --> 00:25:28.967
which would give
family members the choice

00:25:29.034 --> 00:25:31.267
to remove an expectant mother
from life support.

00:25:31.333 --> 00:25:34.600
Right now, anybody can prepare

00:25:34.667 --> 00:25:37.401
a... advance directive

00:25:37.467 --> 00:25:41.034
or a do-not-resuscitate order,

00:25:41.101 --> 00:25:43.600
and expect it
to be complied with.

00:25:43.667 --> 00:25:45.501
Expect it to be followed.

00:25:45.568 --> 00:25:49.900
Except if you're pregnant,
whether you're dead or alive.

00:25:49.966 --> 00:25:52.600
♪

00:25:52.667 --> 00:25:53.801
(Rebecca Robertson)
Part of what we wanna do

00:25:53.868 --> 00:25:56.001
is get rid of the pregnancy
exclusions,

00:25:56.067 --> 00:25:58.167
because then
it's not open to hospitals

00:25:58.233 --> 00:25:59.633
to misinterpret the law.

00:25:59.700 --> 00:26:02.567
Uh, it just is that
any person,

00:26:02.633 --> 00:26:04.400
whether she's
pregnant or not,

00:26:04.467 --> 00:26:06.867
makes her own decisions
about her end-of-life care.

00:26:06.934 --> 00:26:09.300
If she's not able,
then her family does.

00:26:09.367 --> 00:26:11.834
And people might make
the same decision you did,

00:26:11.901 --> 00:26:13.600
or they might make
a different decision,

00:26:13.667 --> 00:26:14.734
but it doesn't matter.

00:26:14.801 --> 00:26:16.467
It wouldn't be for
the government to say,

00:26:16.534 --> 00:26:18.466
it would be for
the family to say.
Yes, good, good.

00:26:20.300 --> 00:26:21.600
(faint chatter)

00:26:21.667 --> 00:26:23.701
(Erick)
I'm not here to change
anybody's opinions,

00:26:23.767 --> 00:26:26.800
anybody's beliefs,
anybody who's political.

00:26:26.867 --> 00:26:29.100
I'm just here that you
have that option to say,

00:26:29.167 --> 00:26:31.933
"I wanna go through with it
or I don't."

00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.500
And it's a family decision.

00:26:36.567 --> 00:26:40.067
Not a...
not in a lawyer's hands.

00:26:40.134 --> 00:26:42.866
It's not in a judge's hands,
not in a...

00:26:42.933 --> 00:26:43.966
the state's hands.

00:26:44.033 --> 00:26:46.733
It's in the hands
of the family.

00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:48.234
(crowd chattering)

00:26:48.300 --> 00:26:50.933
(man)
Today, we're here to talk
about Marlise's Law,

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.033
H.B. 3183.

00:26:56.933 --> 00:26:58.334
Hello.

00:26:58.400 --> 00:26:59.900
Good morning, um...

00:27:01.668 --> 00:27:06.034
I'm here today in hopes
that, by changing this law,

00:27:06.101 --> 00:27:09.434
uh, and putting this--
this new bill,

00:27:09.501 --> 00:27:12.801
known as Marlise's Bill,
in place,

00:27:12.867 --> 00:27:14.934
uh, families can...

00:27:15.001 --> 00:27:18.500
endure whatever tragic loss
in a private manner.

00:27:18.567 --> 00:27:20.801
Our daughter's death
was one of the most

00:27:20.868 --> 00:27:23.534
difficult moments
of our lives.

00:27:23.601 --> 00:27:27.268
It became more difficult
because politics were involved.

00:27:27.335 --> 00:27:29.234
We're gonna
go through it until...

00:27:29.301 --> 00:27:31.267
until we can't anymore,
and even after that,

00:27:31.334 --> 00:27:34.568
we'll still try to at least
bring this to light.

00:27:34.635 --> 00:27:37.268
(man)
Erick Muñoz, you're
representing yourself.

00:27:37.335 --> 00:27:38.900
You're here to speak
for the bill.

00:27:40.235 --> 00:27:42.168
(Erick)
Maybe the next
legislative session

00:27:42.234 --> 00:27:44.400
or the one after that
or the one after that or...

00:27:44.467 --> 00:27:46.734
we'll see it through.

00:27:46.801 --> 00:27:48.733
We'll see it through
together as a family.

00:28:14.433 --> 00:28:17.366
♪