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EDMONTON, Alberta — Twenty-four hours before the Canadian government’s health service planned to allow an infant to die, a judge granted Isaiah James May more time.
At a hearing, Feb. 19, the judge gave Isaiah’s parents more time to fight the decision by the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton to take the baby off life-support.
Isaiah was born last October 24 with brain damage after his umbilical cord got wrapped around his throat, depriving him of oxygen.
Rebecka and Isaac May, the parents, received a letter from the Alberta Health Services on Jan. 13 stating that it would be in Isaiah's best interest to discontinue life support.
However, the judge’s decision has given the parents more time to consult with specialists on the prognosis of their son.
A Canadian neonatologist, Dr. Richard Taylor, has agreed to examine the boy, but just recently started reviewing the file. Two other doctors are also being consulted, including a specialist from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Despite early warnings from the doctors that their son would never grow, eat or urinate independently, the parents have seen physical improvements.
"He is doing everything they said that he would not do. Every day he does something new. So that helps us to fight," the baby's 23-year-old mother told CBC News. "His eyes dilate. He opens his eyes. He moves his limbs. He's growing. He's gaining weight. He's living. They told us he would never do any of that."
According to Dr. Joel B. Zivot, director of the intensive care unit, cardiac sciences program, at St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg, after his own investigation of Isaiah he learned that he had gained weight and breathed occasionally on his own.
“A part from the paraphernalia of the critical care trade the infant seemed normal in appearance,” wrote Zivot in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Zivot stated that the controversy surrounding the fate of Baby Isaiah May is ignoring the fundamental issue at stake — the status of the child as a human being.
"Although the issue before the court is the degree of brain injury incurred by Isaiah, I realize that it is Isaiah's status as a human being that is on trial," wrote Zivot.
Isaiah's parents, saying they will continue to challenge doctors who they claim are rationing health care and deciding who should live, will have to return to court on March 11.
Rosanna Saccomani, the couple's lawyer told the Vancouver Sun that she and Taylor will also be reviewing the files from the Rocky Mountain House Hospital to find out why Rebecka wasn't given a C-section after 40 hours of labor.
Isaiah’s family continues to trust God through this ordeal and is looking to Taylor to perhaps give them a little hope.
Prayers for Baby Isaiah James Facebook page
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