Dec 6, 2005 8:39 pm US/Eastern
Strange Twist In Right-To-Die Case
BOSTON (CBS) ―
Lawyers for the stepfather of an 11-year-old girl tried to convince Massachusetts' highest court on Tuesday that he should have a say on whether his stepdaughter is removed from life support. If the girl dies, he could face a murder charge for allegedly taking part in the beating that left her comatose.
Jason Strickland is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to overturn a juvenile court judge's decision allowing the state to remove Haleigh Poutre from her ventilator and feeding tube.
Haleigh Poutre was hospitalized in September after her stepfather and adoptive mother kicked her and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat.
Within two weeks of being charged with assault and battery, the adoptive mother, who was also Haleigh's aunt, was found dead alongside her grandmother in a possible murder-suicide.
Strickland is free on bail while awaiting trial on assault charges.
CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reports that the girl's biological mother, Allison Avrett, gave up her parental rights years ago and now she has no say in what happens to Halleigh – but she wants life support to be removed.
"I want her to rest," Avrett told Alfonsi. "Being kept alive like that, it's not a life."
The state Department of Social Services has custody of the girl and wants to remove her from life support, citing opinions from her doctors that the girl is in a permanent vegetative state. Strickland appealed, and could face a murder charge if she dies.
Strickland's lawyer argued that he should be designated as the girl's de facto parent because he lived with her for four years.
But that argument didn't fly with Chief Justice Margaret Marshall. "That's not going to cut it," she said.
Marshall said de facto parenthood is typically reserved for someone being prevented from having a relationship with a child by the child's biological parent.
Other justices expressed concern that Strickland is charged with abusing Haleigh. "Who would we put in here? Mr. Strickland, who is charged with injuring the child?" said Justice John Greaney.
Strickland's lawyers say that while the state has pushed for removal of Haleigh's life support, no one has argued that the girl should live.
"There should always be someone who will argue for life," said John Egan, one of Strickland's attorneys.
Virginia Peel, a lawyer for DSS, which has legal custody of the girl, said Haleigh's doctors have agreed she will not come out of her vegetative state.
"This is not about the right to life," Peel said. "This is about the circumstance under which this person is allowed to die."
Both of Haleigh's doctors agree that she should be removed from the ventilator, but they are split over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. They have said that with her feeding tube alone, Haleigh could live as long as two months.
Without any life support assistance, she would die much sooner, the doctors said.
It is an unusual end-of life dispute involving not only who should decide what happens to Halleigh, but what should be done, reports Alfonsi.
"The fact that she is 11 makes it extremely unlikely that she's ever had any serious discussions about how she wants to be treated – like Terry Schaivo – so what we should be asking is what do we believe is in her best interest, what's best for her," says George Annas of Boston University's School of Public Health.
Haleigh was adopted by her aunt about five years ago after her biological mother moved to Virginia with a new boyfriend. Jason Strickland never formally adopted the girl, but is arguing that as the stepfather, he should be considered a de facto parent and allowed to have a say in whether she lives or dies.
(© 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
