Joseph Maraachli, dubbed “Baby Joseph” by the media, is making a good recovery after receiving a tracheotomy at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
The procedure was performed as an important first step in transitioning the 1-year-old to a nursing facility, before allowing him to return home to Windsor, Ontario with his parents, Moe and Sana Maraachli, for his final days. He is scheduled to have the tube changed in the coming week.
Baby Joseph first made news earlier this month when a Canadian hospital denied treatment, and decided to remove the infant’s breathing tube.
The child suffers from Leigh Syndrome, a rare genetic neurometabolic disorder, and had been at the hospital in London, Ontario since October 2010.
Doctors at the hospital had determined that due to the low prognosis of recovering from the deteriorating condition, he did not warrant further treatment.
A Superior Court judge dismissed the parent’s challenges to the hospital’s decision, but thankfully Father Frank Pavone stepped forward.
The priest, who is a part of Priests for Life, provided a private specialized medical plane that transferred Baby Joseph to Missouri for treatment.
The child will be kept in the pediatric intensive care unit for about another week before he can be moved.
Baby Joseph Makes Progress After Surgery
Why send him back to Canada. This family has enabled the Catholic Church to make a mockery of Universal Health Care. The Catholic Church should sponsor this whole family and keep them in the States. She will only get pregnant again, and we will have to live this again. I feel for this baby, but God has already taken him to his kingdom. God has spoken and yet Priests for Life wants to dictate otherwise. I wonder what Jesus would say. Come to me little children…..