Florida Man Battles Mother-in-Law to Remove Wife's Feeding Tube

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Associated Press.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla — A Florida man and his mother-in-law are in a legal battle over whether to remove his wife's feeding tube.

Raymond Weber has been granted temporary guardianship of Karen Weber, who is 57. She has been in and out of a nursing home and hospital since suffering a stroke in December. Her mother says she is now hospitalized on a feeding tube and suffering from meningitis.

Raymond Weber sought to have the feeding tube removed earlier this year and to have his wife transferred to a hospice ward, where she would likely die. He says she is in a vegetative state and would not want to live this way. But Weber's mother says that her daughter has been alert and responsive at times and doesn't want to die.

The arguments in this case are similar to those made over Terri Schiavo, whose husband successfully had her feeding tube removed against the wishes of her parents. Schiavo died in 2005.