FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD) - The case of a girl who has been on life support since she was born heads to court Tuesday morning. Tinslee Lewis was born at Cook Children's and turned one year old Saturday.
"They had her dressed up in a little tutu and a 'Trolls' birthday shirt and little pink pigtails," says Jennifer Hall, vice president of Protect Texas Fragile Kids.
Lewis was born prematurely and with a heart defect. Cook Children's started discussing removing her from life support or finding another hospital with her family in September. The Texas Advance Directives Act gives a patient's family ten days to find another facility before doctors stop care.
The hospital says no other facility was found that was willing to take Lewis. Cook Children's says other hospitals have agreed that additional treatment would be futile and would extend or worsen the girl's pain.
Her family won a restraining order, requiring Cook Children's to continue treatment as the case winds through court. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday morning at the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
"I think she has a will to live, and she's shown that by being here for three more months and making small improvements," Hall says.
In legal filings, Cook Children's has said Lewis is in such a "fragile state" that even a touch can lead to her death. The hospital says nurses have asked not to be assigned to her case because they believe they are "inflicting painful interventions on her that we believe exacerbate her suffering for no good outcome.”
Cook Children's says it notifies nurses ahead of time if they will be assigned to Lewis' case so they can request a change in assignment if they "are uncomfortable inflicting that kind of pain on her."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief in support of Lewis' family.
"One of the core principles provided by the United States Constitution is that no person should be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. This unconstitutional statute infringes on patients’ right to life and does not allow patients and their families sufficient notice and the opportunity to be heard before physicians override the rights of their patients,” Paxton said when he joined the fight last year.