St. Louis, Mo., Mar 22, 2011 / 04:26 am
Doctors who performed a recent procedure on a terminally ill 13 month-old expressed hope that the treatment will provide the baby's family with the “gift of a few more months together.”
On March 21, physicians at the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri – where baby Joseph Maraachli was recently transferred – successfully performed a tracheotomy on the infant after doctors in a Canadian hospital refused to perform the procedure.
The London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario said that the treatment– which would allow for the baby to breath on his own – was reserved for patients who needed a breathing machine long term.
Baby Joseph, who suffers from a severe and fatal neurological disorder called Leigh Syndrome, was considered to be in a vegetative state by Canadian doctors, who recommended that he have his feeding and breathing tubes removed.