(Oregon Right to Life) — A Texas court this month issued a temporary restraining order to stop the dehydration and starvation death of a young woman seriously injured in a car accident.
28-year-old Margaret “Margo” Naranjo suffered severe brain damage and became quadriplegic following a tragic vehicle collision in Nacogdoches, Texas in June, 2020. In a comatose state for roughly a month following the accident, Margo recovered sufficiently to breathe on her own and consume small amounts of food and water, Live Action reported.
Photo Credit: Mike Naranjo /YouTube/Screenshot
Her parents, Mike and Cathy, have posted frequent updates about Margo’s progress on social media since the accident. Per Live Action, Margo’s parents “have devoted themselves to caring for Margo, and praying for her recovery.”
Recently, however, Margo’s mother said she had decided to place Margo in hospice care and have her feeding tube removed, allowing her to starve to death. In a recent but since-deleted livestream, Cathy suggested that Margo wouldn’t suffer (any evident discomfort would be addressed with drugs like morphine), and would simply fall into a “deep sleep” and die a “peaceful” death within three to five days.
But Texas Right to Life pointed out that “[f]ood and water are not extraordinary care,” and Live Action emphasized that “Margo is not actively dying.”
Read: Oregon Call to Action: Urge Delaware Governor Not to Sign Assisted Suicide Bill
“[S]he is not being kept artificially alive by machines, and she is not on life support,” Live Action’s Cassy Fiano-Chesser wrote in a Tuesday analysis. “She is able to process food and water, and she can breathe on her own. Margo would, like any other person, die if she was deprived of food and water. Without that deprivation, Margo would not die. A death by dehydration is particularly cruel, painful, and gruesome.”
The decision to place Margo in hospice care triggered a move by a Texas attorney to save the 28-year-old’s life.
Texas attorney Courtland Kristoferson filed an Emergency Application for Issuance of Temporary Restraining Order on July 19 against Margo’s parents.
“[T]he home health workers taking care of Margaret have represented that she is in good condition and that her health has not declined or deteriorated to the point hospice treatment is necessary,” the application reads. “Despite that, the Co-Guardians have placed her on hospice.”
The temporary restraining order has since been granted. Under the order, Margo will continue to receive life-sustaining nourishment and has been assigned a temporary guardian in place of her parents.
A funeral and a celebration of life scheduled for August 2 and 3 at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Coppell, Texas were reportedly canceled after the pastor learned that Margo’s family had been planning to cause her death. The Catholic Church teaches that euthanasia is “morally unacceptable” and “constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.”
In comments to LifeSiteNews, Texas Right to Life media and communication director Kim Schwartz cited remarks from Bobby Schindler – brother of Terri Schiavo, the young woman who became the subject of a lengthy legal battle and coast-to-coast controversy concerning her right to continue receiving basic care after she fell into a coma in 1990 – when asked to comment about the nature of euthanasia via deprivation of basic nourishment.
“I watched my own sister anguish through 13 days without food or water and there are no words that can properly describe this inhumanity,” Schindler said. “At the end, blood appeared in her eyes because her tissues were cracking from a loss of moisture.’”
READ: March 31 Marked the 19th Anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s Death
Texas Right to Life has urged pro-life advocates to “pray for Margo to continue receiving food and water, as well as for the entire Naranjo family,” adding that “[p]eople who suffer serious brain injuries are still created in the image of God and deserve our protection.”
“Margo’s life holds intrinsic value and deserves care to meet her basic human needs,” the Texas-based organization said in its report.
Oregon Right to Life supports the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death, and opposes all cases of euthanasia, whereby a person is deliberately killed through direct action or omission, even if that act is by their permission. Examples of euthanasia include allowing disabled newborns to die of routinely treatable medical conditions, withholding food or water from the comatose, or lethally injecting a terminally ill patient.
In Oregon, the legal form of euthanasia is physician assisted suicide, and is euphemistically called “death with dignity.” In this act, a physician prescribes lethal drugs knowing their patient intends to use the drugs to commit suicide. Read more about ORTL’s positions here.
Further Reading:
- Temporary restraining order prevents parents from starving adult daughter to death
- Texas Judge Temporarily Stops Horrific Dehydration and Starvation of 28-Year-Old
- Margo Naranjo wants her hydration, nutrition to continue: court document
- Texas Catholic church cancels funeral date for Margo Naranjo after learning she’s not dying
