Life Site News
A Texas father likely saved his brain-injured son’s life when he discovered a medical team was about to remove his son's life support.
“If you’re going to unplug him, you’ll have to go through me,” Wren Michel told the doctor and nurses as he stood in front of the door, LifeSiteNews has learned in this exclusive report.Jonathan Michel, a 39-year-old father of three who lived next door to his parents in Malakoff, Texas, suddenly fell to the ground on June 30 and suffered a serious head injury. He was rushed to the East Medical Center in Tyler, Texas. Doctors discovered that Jonathan had internal bleeding and extensive damage to the left side of his brain.
His right side was almost completely paralyzed.
Doctors advised Wren to find Jonathan’s mother Karen, who was on a mission trip to Africa, and call her home.
But before Karen could reach Jonathan’s bedside, someone else arrived on July 3: Jonathan’s long-estranged wife Jacqueline with a marriage license and a firm conviction, she told LifeSiteNews, that Jonathan would not want to live in that state.
“‘If I’m ever in such a situation,’” Jacqueline Michel said her husband had once told her, “‘I want to let nature take its course’.”While Jonathan’s parents were pleased that their son was receiving life-saving help from the hospital, Jonathan’s wife was trying to put an end to such help.
Jacqueline asked the hospital to stop treating her estranged husband. She told LifeSiteNews that she had asked Jonathan he wanted “all this stuff [the life-support equipment] off of you” and if he did, to move his left foot. She related that Jonathan then moved his left foot.
But Jonathan’s parents told LifeSiteNews that they do not believe this story, that Jonathan is not yet capable of giving consent, and that his left foot spontaneously moves every few minutes. (Karen has posted a video on Facebook showing this movement.)
Jonathan’s mom Karen told LifeSiteNews that she and Wren had been assured that a decision to end Jonathan’s treatment could not be made before the matter was brought before the hospital’s Ethics Board. Meanwhile, Jonathan was responsive to their presence.
“On Monday [July 16] Jonathan was awake and aware of his surroundings,” Pastor Mark Lee Dickson wrote in his now-viral Facebook post in support of the family.
“He held his mom’s phone and tried to turn it on. He also unfastened his niece's watch and refastened it on her arm. He closes his eyes when his parents pray with him. These are obvious signs of life.”
Thus, the couple had a shock late that afternoon when they were brought into their son’s room and told that his life support was about to be removed. This included the shunt draining fluid from his brain. Removing it would have caused certain death.
That’s when Jonathan’s father Wren made his stand and barred the door. Police were called, but the parents had made it clear they weren’t letting Jonathan go without a fight.
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