By Dave Andrusko
Good news from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). 55-year-old Daniel Sanger, who became temporarily unconscious after suffering a heart attack and a seizure, has been saved from being starved to death after an ADF-allied attorney obtained a temporary restraining order “from Frederick County Circuit Judge Theresa Adams instructing Frederick Memorial Hospital to provide life-sustaining nutrition to Sanger” until the completion of a trial set to begin next Wednesday.
“Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “There is no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed. ADF sees far too many situations involving hasty decisions to pull the plug on a human life.”
In its analysis, distributed to reporters today, ADF reports that before Sanger went unconscious he told his doctor and his mother, “I want to live.” However “Frederick Memorial Hospital removed the public-assistance patient from life-giving food, water, and nutrients [last] Friday with the permission of his wife,” according to ADF.
However two days ago, Mr. Sanger’s legal counsel, Daniel Cox, filed a motion in Frederick County Circuit Court to force the hospital to resume sending life-giving nutrients to Sanger through his feeding tube. “The motion, filed in Sanger v. Rafiq, also requested that Sanger’s mother, Phyllis Sanger, and his brother, Mark Sanger, be awarded temporary custody instead of his wife, Leta Sanger, who went against her husband’s express wishes to remain alive,” according to ADF.
That same day Chief Judge Peter Krauser, of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, responded by issuing an order to provide immediate water and nutrition to Sanger pending the outcome of a hearing that was held yesterday. As noted above Judge Adams issued a temporary restraining order instructing the Hospital to provide life-sustaining nutrition to Sanger until the completion of a trial set for Wednesday.
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