Because she was pregnant, doctors at a Texas hospital kept her body on a ventilator in the intensive care unit despite the determination of brain death.
On November 26, Erick Muñoz found his 33-year-old wife unconscious in their family home and rushed her to John Peter Smith Hospital.
[2] Erick Muñoz petitioned for Marlise to be removed from all life-sustaining measures once brain death had been declared.
In January 2014, Erick Muñoz's attorneys argued that the fetus had severe abnormalities caused by oxygen deprivation, and was likely non-viable.
[1][9] Numerous states have adopted laws restricting the ability of doctors to end artificial life support for terminally ill pregnant patients.
Twelve of those states (including Texas) have the most restrictive of such laws, which automatically invalidate a woman's advance directive if she is pregnant.