Baby Wren by Texas Right to Life / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // A one-month-old girl whose family fought a Texas hospital to keep her on a life-saving ventilator passed away on Good Friday. Her death appears to be unrelated to the impending removal of life support.
CatholicVote previously reported that a hospital in northern Texas earlier this month wanted to remove baby Wren’s ventilator, which she was put on after experiencing complications after birth. Her treatment was working, and her family was opposed to the removal of the machine.
Wren’s family asked to transfer her to another hospital that was willing to continue treating her. However, Wren’s current hospital reportedly said the transfer would have required a tracheostomy and feeding tube for Wren, which it said it was unable to provide for unspecified reasons.
Texas Right to Life, the pro-life organization that spearheaded support initiatives and prayer campaigns for Wren, announced in a news release April 22 that Wren passed away April 18.
“We are thankful that Wren passed away in God’s timing rather than having her life cut short by a hospital committee, but that does not lessen this tragic and sudden loss,” Texas Right to Life stated.
Citing Texas Right to Life, CatholicVote previously reported that the hospital would have been able to legally remove Wren’s ventilator under Texas’ 25-Day Rule, which is a “1999 statute that gives a partial hospital committee the ‘authority’ to withdraw treatment, even life-sustaining treatment …’”
The rule allows parents or guardians of patients affected by a hospital committee’s decision 25 days to move them to a different hospital willing to continue treatment, but the process is complex. According to LiveAction, the rule previously only allowed 10 days for transfer and was amended in 2023 to include an additional 15 days.
“We did not release the name of the hospital in order to negotiate possible care options for Baby Wren,” Kimberlyn Schwartz, Texas Right to Life’s Director of Media and Communication, told CatholicVote April 25.
Texas Right to Life continues to ask for prayers for Wren’s family as they grieve her death.
