The Tel Aviv district court rejected on Monday an appeal by the mother of a baby suffering from Tay-Sachs disease to order the hospital to remove her child’s life-support equipment.
Talila Shefer, mother of 32-month-old Yael, had appealed to the court to order the Sieff Hospital in Safed to remove the equipment keeping the baby alive, and allow her to die quickly.
Shefer’s attorney, Yitzhak Hoshen, who is chairman of the Israel Euthanasia Society, said he would immediately appeal the ruling to the High Court of Justice, Israel’s supreme court.
Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder that mostly strikes Jews of Ashkenazic origins. The disease invariably kills before the child reaches the age of 3. Yael is blind, cannot eat or function in any manner without outside support equipment.
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