Jesse Ramirez Conscious, Moved To Rehab Facility
Posted on Wednesday, 27 of June , 2007 at 10:02 am
MARICOPA COUNTY—-Had the wishes of a heavily conflicted wife been carried forth, Jesse Ramirez would likely be dead.
Instead after nearly a month in a coma following an automobile accident, Jesse has regained consciousness and is being transferred to a rehabilitation facility. According to several of Jesse’s friends and his court appointed guardian, he is conscious, shaking his head and answering yes and no questions.
Jesse and Rebecca Ramirez of Chandler, Arizona, met when as high school students and married in 1988 after Rebecca became pregnant with the first of their three children. At 36, Jesse works for the U.S. Postal Service while Rebecca, 33, is a correctional officer for the Arizona Department of Corrections.
On May 30, as the couple was traveling in their SUV, they were arguing over a man’s phone number that Jesse had discovered in his wife’s cell phone and suddenly, the SUV began fishtailing, according to a witness, rolled over and crashed, ejecting both Jesse and Rebecca. Police say that she told them she was in fear of her life before the accident and had unhooked her seat belt, preparing to jump from the moving vehicle. According to Jesse’s family, based on statements made by Rebecca, she had grabbed the steering wheel and Jesse lost control of the vehicle.
Jesse sustained serious injuries—a broken neck and major head trauma. She incurred no life-threatening injuries. Ten days after the May 30 accident, a doctor told Jesse’s family that if he lived, he would probably be blind and would remain in a persistent vegetative state.
Upon hearing the prognosis, but without any living will or advance directive, his wife ordered the doctors to immediately transfer her husband to a hospice and remove his feeding tube, sentencing him to the same death by dehydration as suffered by Terri Schiavo when her estranged husband fought her parents to end her life and obtained a court order to withdraw her feeding tube. Terri died on March 31, 2005, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
His family said it was too soon to make that kind of decision and they went to court, filing a motion, asking a judge to keep Jesse alive, appoint an independent doctor to evaluate his medical condition and to appoint his parents to be in charge of his health care. They say that Jesse is responsive to them and his vital signs improve when they are present with him.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2007/06/14/tube_case/
Maricopa County court judge Paul Katz ordered that Jesse’s feeding tube not be removed and appointed a guardian ad litem for Jesse, an attorney to represent his interests and ordered that he continue to receive sustenance and hydration by a feeding tube.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal association based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that defends religious freedom issues, the sanctity of human life and traditional family values, represented Jesse’s family. Gary McCaleb, Alliance senior counsel, said “You’re got a human life at stake. We’ve got to make sure the decision-maker is the very best and most capable one”.
At an evidentiary hearing Tuesday, attorneys representing Rebecca, his parents and his siblings met in judicial chambers and agreed that Jesse should be transferred to a rehabilitation facility. He will also be appointed an independent guardian and have an independent medical exam performed at the Barrow Neurological Institute. His medical records have been sealed. The judge ordered that communication between Jesse’s wife and his family must be done through legal counsel.
Katz told them that “Jesse needs his family together, not divided”. 6-27-07
Category: Courts, Health, Schiavo
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