End-of-life lawsuit outliving its subject

A judge of the Suffolk Family and Probate Court dismissed an end-of-life case yesterday involving 72-year-old Cho Fook Cheng, ruling that it is moot because the Buddhist died over the weekend.

But a lawyer for Cheng's family said that they will continue seeking a ruling that points to the delicate issue on how hospitals should reconcile modern technology and patients' religious practices.

"This is a situation capable of repetition, and the family does not want anyone else to have to go through this," said the lawyer, Peter J. Unitt.

After Cheng suffered a heart attack on the day after Thanksgiving and was later pronounced brain-dead by doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, his family went to court to keep Cheng on life support systems that kept his organs functioning. The family, who practice a Taiwanese form of Buddhism called Jing Tao Chung, said that according to their religious beliefs, a person is considered dead only when the heart stops beating.

Under state law, a person is considered deceased when the brain ceases to function. Doctors also argued that Cheng's body was rapidly deteriorating.

After a family court hearing Friday, the family reluctantly agreed to let Cheng's medications run out, so that his heart would stop beating naturally.

That happened Saturday afternoon, and his family began 49 days of mourning.

Though Family Probate Judge Nancy M. Gould ruled that the issue before her is now moot, Unitt said he will explore other avenues, including filing an appeal or taking the matter to the Supreme Judicial Court or the Legislature.

"This is going to come up again, and somebody will have to answer the question," he said.

Megan Tench can be reached at mtench@globe.com.