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Husband To Fla. Court: Take Wife Off Life Support
57-year-old Karen Weber Had Just Started Enjoying Her Retirement
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) ―
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Shortly after Karen Weber suffered a stroke, her husband, Raymond Weber, attempted to have her declared incompetent so that her feeding tube could be removed.
CBS
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The arguments are similar to those made about Terri Schiavo, who was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state after her heart stopped in 1990. She died in 2005..
CBS
A West Palm Beach woman, put on a feeding tube after suffering from a stroke late last year, has become another legal battle for the courts similar to the legal dispute over the fate of Terri Schiavo, which got the U.S. Supreme Court, Pres. Bush and Congress involved.
Karen Weber, 57, has been periodically in a nursing home and a hospital in Okeechobee since her December stroke.
Shortly after Weber suffered a stroke, her husband, Raymond Weber, attempted to have her declared incompetent so that her feeding tube could be removed. Her mother, Martha Tatro, filed suit on her behalf to save her daughter's life.
Much like the Terri Schiavo case, Weber's husband and mother cannot agree how alert she is and whether she should be kept alive by a feeding tube. Unlike it, the family has remained cordial.
Weber does not have a living will and cannot talk. A judge issued an injunction, prohibiting the tube's removal, and has appointed a committee composed of a neurologist and two psychologists to determine her competency.
Weber's husband, Raymond, claims she is in a vegetative state. He sought earlier this year to have the tube removed and have his wife transferred to a hospice ward, where she would likely die. But Weber's mother and siblings are fighting to keep her alive, arguing she is alert and responsive.
The arguments are similar to those made about Schiavo, who was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state after her heart stopped in 1990.
Schiavo's husband wanted her feeding tube removed against the wishes of her parents. She died in 2005 amid protests outside her hospice after her husband prevailed in the polarizing dispute that reached Congress, President Bush and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Weber's husband and mother, Martha Tatro, have remained cordial, often visiting the woman together in the hospital. Tatro, however, refuses to let her daughter die.
Raymond Weber did not contest the March injunction that kept his wife's feeding tube in place. If the judge determines that Karen Weber has the capacity to make her own choices, Raymond Weber would abide by the decision.
An attorney appointed by the court to represent Karen Weber said he visited her about two weeks ago and she was unresponsive.
A state judge has signed an order, requested by an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney, to appoint a committee that will make recommendations on the health of Karen Weber.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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