SJC says life support can end for alleged beating victim, 11
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that life-support systems for an 11-year-old Westfield girl can be removed, saying that the child, who has been in a vegetative state since an alleged beating by her adoptive mother and stepfather, should be able to ''pass away with dignity."
The state's highest court unanimously rejected an appeal by the stepfather of Haleigh Poutre to keep the girl alive, saying it was ''unthinkable" to give him a voice in her care, because of his alleged role in her beating and the potential murder charges he faces if she dies.
The decision, written by Justice John M. Greaney, chronicled how the girl's many bruises and burns over the last few years were reported more than a dozen times to child-protection officials, who often misidentified the injuries as self-inflicted or common childhood mishaps.
In language that showed their belief that Haleigh's life is already over, the court referred to a larger message that can be taken from her brief life.
''[Her] memory will remind us, time and again, that we, as a society, need to do more to aid children who are neglected and abused, and thereby denied the care and nurturing they so desperately want and need," the opinion said. ''If [her] case helps other children to escape their misery, her short life will not have been in vain."
The state Department of Social Services, which has had custody of Haleigh since she was hospitalized in September and which won a lower court order a month later to remove her life-support systems, said it will not remove her breathing or feeding tubes immediately. While the court relied on tests from last fall, DSS wants doctors to conduct additional tests in the next few days to verify that there is no hope of recovery.
''We're not in a rush," said Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for DSS, who has acknowledged that the agency missed signs of Haleigh's abuse.
Haleigh has spent four months clinging to life at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Doctors have said that her condition, including severe injury to her brain stem, leaves her unable to think or feel, and that she is in an ''irreversible coma," the ruling said.
While she might be able to breathe without the ventilator, her doctors have said, she would not survive for long even with the feeding tube because she has a range of life-threatening complications.
Physicians predicted that Haleigh's death would probably occur from ''several weeks to two months" if she is kept on the feeding tube, while she would die in a ''substantially shorter period of time" without it, the court decision said.
The only potential legal obstacle to the removal of Haleigh's life-support would be an appeal by her stepfather, Jason Strickland, to the US Supreme Court.
While describing the SJC ruling as ''deeply disappointing," Jack Egan, Strickland's lawyer, said yesterday they have not decided what to do,
Egan said he is also disappointed that the court did not grant his request to make public the medical documents and court transcripts in Haleigh's case, saying that such end-of-life hearings should not be kept secret simply because she is a minor.
In her hometown of Westfield, some have compared Haleigh's plight to that of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who was on life support for 15 years before a court ordered her feeding tube removed last spring. Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who became the center of a national end-of-life debate, died 13 days later. Among those arguing to keep her alive were Catholic groups, who argued that it would be wrong to deny ordinary means of care, such as a feeding tube.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Springfield said officials are reviewing yesterday's court decision to see if they should intervene in Haleigh's case.
Yesterday's opinion may be the final legal chapter in the life of a girl whose grim childhood in Western Massachusetts was shrouded in secrecy for years. After her biological mother, Allison Avrett, was deemed unfit to care for her and Avrett's former boyfriend was accused of sexually abusing Haleigh, the girl went to live with Avrett's sister, Holli Strickland.
From the time Haleigh was 6, she lived in Westfield with Holli and Jason Strickland, who married in 2001. Holli Strickland legally adopted the girl when she was 7. As she went through elementary school, the DSS received numerous complaints from sources it won't name that Haleigh was being neglected or abused, but never concluded that the Stricklands' home was unsafe.
Last Sept. 11, relatives took the unconscious girl to a local hospital. She was found to have bruises all over her body, at different stages of healing, as well as severe traumatic brain injuries and a body temperature of 85 degrees. Doctors determined that her injuries could not have been self-inflicted.
As DSS took custody of the girl and began hearings for a do-not-resuscitate order, Holli and Jason Strickland were arrested on Sept. 20 on child abuse charges.
Holli Strickland, 32, was released on bail two days later, and within hours, was found dead alongside her grandmother. Police continue to investigate the two deaths, but say they believe it might have been a murder-suicide, though they are unsure who shot whom.
In October, the state won a court order from a juvenile court judge to cut off life-support systems for Haleigh.
Jason Strickland, 31, filed an appeal with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to reverse the juvenile court ruling and keep her attached to life-support systems.
He denied accusations by relatives that he wanted to prolong Haleigh's life to avoid murder charges. He argued he was a ''de facto" parent who helped financially support the family and helped care for Haleigh.
But the high court flatly rejected Strickland's arguments, saying in yesterday's opinion that there was little proof that he was significantly involved in her upbringing.
The court also said it took into account that the stepfather refused to testify about how Haleigh suffered the bruises and other injuries, asserting his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
''To recognize the petitioner as a de facto parent, in order that he may participate in a medical end-of-life decision for the child, is unthinkable in the circumstances of this case," Greaney wrote.
Avrett -- Haleigh's biological mother, who said she never wanted to give up custody of Haleigh -- said yesterday she is relieved by the ruling, though happy that more medical tests will be conducted.
When she visited Haleigh at the hospital last week, she said, she observed Haleigh's hand moving, which gave her new hope that Haleigh's condition might have changed.
But Avrett said she was later convinced by DSS officials and doctors that those movements were involuntary and not signs of revived brain function.
''I agree with the removal of life support, but it [the court ruling] doesn't make it any easier," she said. ''I'm still burying my daughter."
Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com. 