UPDATE: RENO, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) — The Nevada Supreme Court will make a decision on a life and death case taking place in northern Nevada.
It involves a University of Nevada, Reno student who remains in a coma at Saint Mary’s hospital. At the center of this is 20-year-old Aden Hailu. Court records reveal she went to Saint Mary’s last April after suffering stomach pains. She underwent routine exploratory, laparpscopic surgery and never woke up.
Reno attorney David O’Mara said, “This case is definitely precedent setting in Nevada. There’s never been a case in Nevada regarding this issue.”
O’Mara is representing the family. They are questioning the medical standard used by Saint Mary’s and its doctors to determine their daughter was brain dead. The family and their lawyer contend, she is still very much alive.
O’Mara said, “It’s always going to be important for someone’s right to live and we should have a public policy that allows that when a person is alive, they should be kept alive.”
This week the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled Saint Mary’s must keep Hailu on life support until the high court can make a decision on the legality of the medical standard used by the hospital to determine that Hailu was brain dead. Court records show the hospital used the American Association of Neurology guidelines to make its determination. Now, the high court will determine if that is acceptible under the state’s Uniform Determination of Death Act, adopted in 1985.
News 4 reached out to Saint Mary’s and the hospital issued the following statement:
“Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center has a long history in our community of providing compassionate, safe, high-quality care and we maintain this level of care for all patients. We understand end-of-life care weighs heavily on the families involved, and we work collaboratively to ensure they receive the support and medical guidance they need. Although each patient’s case is different, we strictly adhere to our ethical and clinical guidelines which are reviewed by a panel of medical experts. In the Hailu case, we have practiced in the best interests of the patient, and will continue to do so, and express our deepest sympathies to the family.”
Dr. Richard Bryan – Chief of Staff, Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center
O’Mara said a conference call between the lawyers has been set for the first week of December. The Nevada Supreme Court Justices have called for an additional hearing.
RENO, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) — The tragic story of this 20-year-old University of Nevada student, who remains in an unexplainable coma, is in the center of a precedent setting legal case involving the Nevada Supreme Court.
Her family says she is alive, while the hospital where she remains on life support claims she is dead and wants to stop treatment. What do you think about this case?
News 4’s Terri Hendry will have a report on this case at 6 p.m. on News 4.