Maine Mom Fights State to Keep Baby Daughter Alive after She Emerges from Coma

Photo Credit: Fox NewsA teenage mother from Maine has the governor on her side in a legal battle to keep her ailing baby alive, even though the state now has custody and previously sought to enforce a “Do Not Resuscitate” order.

One-year-old Aleah Peaslee, who was left in a coma last December after allegedly being shaken by her 21-year-old father, miraculously emerged from the state not long after being placed in the arms of her mother, Virginia Trask, according to court papers. But by then, Trask, told by doctors the baby’s brain damage was severe, had signed off on a DNR order and the baby had been taken into custody by the state due to the alleged abuse at the hands of Kevin Peaslee.

What has ensued is a legal battle over who has the right to rescind the order, the state or the parent. And although a state court ruled in favor of the Maine Department of Health and Human Development, Gov. Paul LePage made clear to FoxNews.com on Thursday that he will not allow state bureaucrats to usurp a parent’s rights regardless of how the appellate court, which has the case on its docket Sept. 23, comes down.

“This case is disturbing and is not reflective of my Administration’s position that a parent who is the legal guardian of their child should have final say in medical decisions about life-sustaining treatment,” said LePage. “The existing law violates the sanctity of parental rights, and I cannot support it. Unless a parent is deemed unfit and parental rights are severed, the state should not override a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their own child.”

Read more from this story HERE.