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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1996)
Life-support may continue OMAHA (AP) — A brain-injured baby might stay on life-support ma chines until a court decides whether her parents injured her, the state De partment of Social Services said Thurs day. Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Douglas Johnson set an April 29 hearing on allegations that 3-month old Tabatha Renshaw’s parents, Ronda Rcnshaw and Ronald Davis, inflicted the brain injuries. DSS attorney Doug Dexter said the judge sent him a letter informing him of the date. Dexter said he was not sure that it meant Johnson would wait until after April 29 to rule on a request to end life-support for Tabatha. “I read that as he wants to leave the door open,” Dexter said. Attorneys for the parents did not return a phone message left at their office. The judge declined comment. The Social Services Department supports a recommendation by St. Jo seph Hospital to remove the machines that have kept Tabatha alive since Jan., 22. Doctors at the hospital say that the life support, which consists of a tube inserted through an incision in her neck that keeps Tabatha breathing as well as tubes that feed her and provide medications, is futile because it will not correct her brain damage. The doc tors say the treatment is only prolong ing her death. Lawyers for the parents say the treatment is preserving the baby’s life, and that the parents alone should de cide whether she stays on life-support. The department has temporary cus tody of the baby because abuse is sus pected. Tabatha’s parents object to ending life support. The Department of Social Services took the li fe-support question to Judge Johnson in a hearing that started Mon day and ended Wednesday. Doctors said Tabatha might have been shaken so hard that her brain was critically injured. The Douglas County attorney’s of fice is investigating how the baby was injured. Neither parent has been charged with any criminal offense, and they have said they don’t know how Tabatha was hurt. Criminal prosecu tion would involve a process separate from the juvenile court action. The April 29 hearing, called an “adjudication,” will be held to deter mine whether Tabatha should remain in Social Services’ care or be returned to her parents. That would clari fy some what the question of precisely who has custody of Tabatha. Ronda Renshaw and Ronald Davis still have parental rights regarding Tabatha. Those rights could be taken away by the court — but that process could take years. It is conceivable that Tabatha would remain on life-support until the parental rights issue is settled. The court involvement in the ques tion over whether life-support should be maintained is rare, and that is be cause the parents object, said medical ethicist Charles Dougherty of Creighton University. Dougherty, a member of the St. Joseph Hospital ethics committee that recommended life support be ended for Tabatha, said thousands ofsimilar dccisionsare made every week across the country. Dougherty, who testified during the life-support hearing that St. Joseph Hospital was following generally ac cepted bioethical standards, said that even though the machines are main taining the functions of Tabatha’s bio logical systems, they are not restoring her humanity. “She has in effect lost any capacity of being a human individual,” he said in an interview prior to taking the stand. Regina Makaitis, a special pros ecutor representing the Douglas County attorney’s office, said she found a single similar case in her research. In 1979, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that life-support could be ended for a brain-injured child over the objection of the parents. The par ents in that case also were suspected of child abuse. The major difference between the Colorado case and Tabatha Renshaw ’ s case is that the Colorado child was brain-dead—meaning no brain activ ity could be detected. Machines detect some brain activ ity in Tabatha, but her doctors say it is involuntary brain-stem activity and that the higher functioning of her brain will not be restored. Parents pay for children’s truancy GRAND ISLAND (AP)—Hall County Attorney Ellen Totzke wants parents to get serious about getting their children to school. Nine adults, parents of si x Grand Island teen-agers, were charged in Hall County Court with compul sory education-attendance viola tions, Class III misdemeanors, for their children not attending school. The parents face a maximum $500 fine and three months in jail if convicted. But Totzke doesn’t want to go so far as to jail the parents. “The parents arc key to getting the kidsto school,” she said. “Maybe there’s a little more incentive for them to pull the kids out of bed and get them to school. We’re trying to figure out what will work.” Prosecuting parents for truancy is a first in Hall County, she said. “Before, we have filed juvenile petitions alleging that the kids weren’t attending school. Juvenile court is limited to what they can do with them,” Totzke said. “We don’t have control over the parents in those kinds of cases. It’s time for the parents to take responsibility for their children. The old approach didn’t work, so we’re trying a new one.” The students arc 13 through 15 years old and attend Barr Junior High, Walnut Junior High or Grand Island Senior High, court docu ments said. Charged Tuesday were Larry and Cathy Brcdthauer, parents of Aaron “7he parents are key to getting the kids to school Maybe there's a little more incentive for them to pull the kids out of bed and get them to school We're trying to figure out what will ivork." ELLEN TOTZKE Hall County Attorney Bredthauer; Khamdcng and Lek Sayakhom, parents of William Sayakhom; Monte and Tammy Malone, parents of Amber Malone; Linda Herbert, parent of Richard Dvorak; Rose Ventura, parent of Ulysses Ventura; and Tina May, parent of Michael Perry. “I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think I’ve violated a law,” Bredthauer said. “I thought we could deal with his school situation with out going to court.” Bredthauer admits her son, Aaron, is no saint, and getting him to school some days is like pulling teeth. “Since he’s hit adolescence, it’s been difficult,” Bredthauer said. William Sayakhom, 15, wasn’t happy when his parents received t he let ter from the county attorney ’ s office this week. “I don’t want my parents to go to court,” he said. Most days William doesn’t ar rive at Walnut Junior High until 10 or 11 a.m. His dad doesn’t wake him up, he said, and an alarm clock doesn’t do the trick either. The teen already has to take one semester over because of lost time. His school warned him about being late so many times, and William said he has let his parents down. “I’m kind of disappointed,” he said. The parents are violating the state Compulsory Education Attendance Law. Charges apply to parents of children ages 7 through 16 who have unexcused absences and are habitually truant from school. Once students turn 16, they can’t be re quired to attend school, Totzke said. “If kids miss school, we have a legal obligation to get them in school,” Superintendent Lane Plugge said. He said students are truant if they have unexcused ab sences for three consecutive days. Hall County Judges Philip Mar tin and David Bush handle such cases. Martin said truancy is “a prob lem for the child and the parents. Maybe it’s time to focus on the parents’ part of the responsibility. The resources and the options we have in juvenile court are limited.” Brown Continued from Page 1 And the Army field headquarters in Tuzla, Bosnia, assembled an emer gency team to help search for bodies amid high winds and sheets of rain. “We have found the last victim,” Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Jamjak told the state HINA news agency to day, confirming that none of the 33 aboard survived the crash of the U.S. Air Force plane. The State Department was waiting to release the names of the victims pending notification of their families. Clinton, visiting the Commerce Department’s Washington headquar ters on Wednesday to deliver the tragic news, praised Brown. “He was one of the best advisers and ablest people I ever knew. And he was very, very good at everything he everdid,” Clinton told about 700 Com merce employees, several huddled to gether in stunned sorrow. With first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President A1 Gore and most of the Cabinet on hand, Clinton led Brown’s subordinates in §ilent prayer. Clinton and his wife joined a pa rade of friends and dignitaries who trekked to Brown’s home to comfort his wife, Alma. Longtime political al lies of the fomier Democratic Party chief — Sen. Edward Kennedy and others—were among the visitors. Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros described the mood in the Brown household. “They’re proud, and they have a lot of reason to be proud of Ron’s accom plishments. They are strong people, and they’reholdingup,” Cisneros said. 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