Kaiser to Keep Brain-Dead Child Alive for Now SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — The mother of an infant deemed "brain dead" by health care giant Kaiser agreed Monday to attend an emergency settlement conference after a federal judge acknowledged a bevy of jurisdictional concerns with her lawsuit. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller ordered plaintiff Jonee Fonesca to focus her civil rights claims and submit an amended complaint by the end of Tuesday. 
 
 Fonesca sued Kaiser on Thursday and asked the court for an emergency order preventing the hospital from taking her 2-year-old son Israel Stinson off life support. Fonseca disagrees with Kaiser doctors' claims that Stinson is "brain dead" following an asthma attack in early April, and claims to have video proof of her son moving his upper body in response to her voice and touch. 
 
 Fonesca, represented by the Pacific Justice Institute, says Kaiser has stopped feeding Stinson and has threatened to "pull the plug" on her son. 
 
 Mueller ruled Monday that a temporary restraining order keeping Stinson on life support issued Friday will stand whether the parties settle or continue the challenge in Federal Court. If the parties are unable to settle Tuesday, the case will resume May 11. 
 
 Mueller said Fonesca's complaint fails to "invoke the court's jurisdiction," and asked whether she has actually been appointed as the boy's guardian in legal matters. Mueller also raised jurisdictional questions as to whether Fonseca's claims against Kaiser employee Dr. Michael Myette can even be heard by the court. 
 
 Fonesca's attorney Kevin Snider said that Fonesca would submit an amended complaint by Tuesday's deadline. 
 
 "We were not surprised by the order," Snider said. "We will make it work." 
 
 Chris Palkowski, chief of staff at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, said Kaiser will continue to comply with the court's orders. 
 
 "Our hearts go out to this family as they cope with the irreversible brain death of their son, and we continue to offer our support and compassion to them," Palkowski said in a statement to Courthouse News. 
 
 Last week a state court ruled that Kaiser complied with the Uniform Determination of Death Act in its determination of Stinson as brain dead, and that it provided a reasonable amount of time to the family to grieve and discuss further accommodations. 
 
 Fonesca claims include violations of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act. In the complaint, she describes herself as a "devout Christian" and argues that Stinson's "heart and other organs are functioning well. 
 
 In a declaration submitted by the plaintiffs Monday, Dr. Peter Mathews says there is a chance that Stinson's condition can improve and that Kaiser should continue to feed the infant. 
 
 "Given the uncertainty related to the thyroid condition and the family reporting some improvement since thyroid replacement, I think it would be both reasonable and compassionate to provide further life support and enteral nutrition for a period of 30 days," Mathews said. 
 
 During Monday's hearing, Snider discussed the possibility of transferring Stinson to a hospital in New Jersey. Mueller encouraged the parties to prepare discuss it during Tuesday's settlement conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Delaney. 

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 SACRAMENTO -- On the steps of the Robert T. Matsui federal courthouse in Sacramento there were celebrations of a small, but relished victory. 
 
 "We didn’t win the war, but we won the battle today," said Nate Stinson. 
 
 The federal judge on the case explained at the hearing Monday that the federal courts have limited jurisdiction over this matter. Thereby extending 2-year-old Israel Stinson's time on life support until May 11, when another hearing would be held. 
 
 For parents Nate Stinson and Jonee Fonseca, they have been working to keep their toddler on life support. 
 
 The family says it's been a battle, tirelessly fought, but on Monday, they were rewarded with the gift of time. 
 
 "We're trying to stop the train," said attorney Kevin Snider. "Life support was scheduled to be taken off this child last Friday, but we filed an emergency motion." 
 
 Hospitalized at the beginning of April due to an asthma attack, Stinson and Fonseca are doing everything they can to keep their son Israel on life-sustaining machines. 
 
 "A few more days for my son to be with us, and we know we’re going to come out on top on this," said Stinson. 
 
 An amended complaint will need to be filed, and another hearing will take place May 11. 
 
 "Israel’s doing better," said Stinson. "We're getting some signs of life. We’re hopeful that he will open his eyes and prove the doctors wrong before the hearing." 
 
 At Kaiser Permanente of Roseville, pictures show the frail 2-year-old boy hooked to tubes, breathing apparatuses and feeding devices. 
 
 He's unaware he is in the middle of a debate over life and death. 
 
 "For someone to say that he’s dead, and then he’s moving, nobody dead moves," said Fonseca. "It's very important that people see he’s responding to our voice, he’s responding to our touch." 
 
 The family’s religious definition of death is drastically different from the medical definition. His family says as long as his heart is beating, there is life. 
 
 Medical and legal terms aside, the family says the court’s extension brings the promise of possibility -- the opportunity for a miracle. 
 
 "He's very much alive," said Fonseca. "He’s still with us." 
 
 The family is hoping they will be able to relocate Israel to a longterm care facility in New Jersey. 
 
 Dr. Chris Palkowski, chief of staff at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, issued the following statement on Monday’s court hearing: 
 
 "Our hearts go out to this family as they cope with the irreversible brain death of their son, and we continue to offer our support and compassion to them. We will continue to comply with orders issued by the Federal court. Last week, the California Superior Court ruled that Kaiser Permanente Roseville complied with all state requirements (under California Health and Safety Code 7180 and 7181) that specify what steps physicians and hospitals must take to determine brain death. Israel's parents asked the California Superior Court to rule that Kaiser Permanente's procedures for determining brain death did not comply with the law. The Court ruled that Kaiser Permanente fully complied with the state law. The Court also ruled that Kaiser Permanente fully satisfied the law's requirement that a hospital provide a reasonable amount of time after determining brain death, to allow the family to come together. California's law is modeled on one that has been adopted in nearly all the states in the nation. It's called the Uniform Determination of Death Act and applies to all, regardless of religion. At Monday’s hearing, the family asked the Federal Court to challenge this California law, and rule that federal law provides an exception in the case of a religious belief that brain death does not exist." 

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– Two-year-old Israel Stinson was declared brain-dead in early April after an asthma attack sent him into cardiac arrest. According to California law, he was to be removed from life support soon after. There's just one problem: "He's very much alive," mom Jonee Fonseca tells FOX40. Fonseca and Israel's father, Nate Stinson, are suing Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, claiming that removing Israel's ventilator would violate their beliefs as well as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments, per Courthouse News. "God is telling me not to let go," Fonseca writes on a GoFundMe page seeking $50,000 to transfer Israel to a hospital in New Jersey, which has a religious exemption that allows brain-dead patients like Jahi McMath to remain on ventilators. "Our hearts go out to this family as they cope with the irreversible brain death of their son," a hospital rep says. But though Israel's heart is still beating, "three different physicians have administered brain death examinations and each found the results to be consistent with brain death," the hospital says in court documents, per the Sacramento Bee. Fonseca and Stinson have submitted a declaration from a doctor who says their son's condition could improve. Fonseca also says a video shows Israel moving in response to her touch. However, a pediatrician says such movements are actually "involuntary reflexes that come from the spinal cord" and Israel's condition is irreversible. A judge has extended a motion to keep Israel on life support until May 11 while the parties work to reach a settlement. (Scientists are trying to reverse brain death.)