A Montreal couple is suing the Montreal Children's Hospital, the LaSalle Hospital and a doctor, saying their daughter's birth was botched and a committee overruled their wishes to let their comatose daughter die.
Marie-Eve Laurendeau and Stephane Mantha are seeking $3,475,000 in damages, claiming the ethics committee at the Children's illegally overruled their decision to take the severely-disabled girl, Phebe Mantha, off of life support.
The allegations have not yet been proven in Superior Court, where documents were filed in Montreal on Thursday.
Mantha's mother told a news conference that she has had to quit her job and now stays at home around the clock to care for her daughter. The couple said they have no support and are living on one income because of the decision made by the ethics committee.
"I would tell them to come to our house for a week and see what it's like to live with a child like ours," said Mantha.
"See the involvement that's needed -- the time and energy in terms of everything involved in our life."
Laurendeau, the mother, added: "they should have given us help and told us what we were getting into because we had no idea."
Difficult birth
Phebe was born in critical condition on Nov. 5, 2007 at LaSalle Hospital, says the lawsuit.
Phebe was transferred to the Children's and was put on a respirator after being diagnosed with severe neurological damage.
The parents say doctors told them the girl would probably never gain consciousness, could be blind and deaf and would have to be institutionalized for life.
Painful decision
Court documents say that doctors at the Children's suggested the parents consider withdrawing life support as well as Phebe's feeding tube -- the parents agreed.
But the couple says that a month after Phebe's birth the hospital's ethics committee met without informing them, and decided to re-establish life support.
Breaking the law?
Malpractice lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard says the ethics committee violated Quebec law.
"The committee unilaterally imposed continued feeding, without seeking permission from a court to act against the parent's wishes," he said in a statement.
The MUHC hospital disputes this assertion, telling CTV News that the ethics committee can only make non-binding recommendations. The hospital is refusing further comment while the case is before the courts.
