(Dennis Clark)
HEARTBREAK: Parents Jin Ah Lee (left) and Man Ho Lee have lost the legal fight to keep their tragic daughter Grace Sung Eun Lee on life support. (
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She has the right to die.
A paralyzed Queens woman won a legal battle against her loving parents yesterday when a court decided she should be allowed to remove the tubes that keep her alive.
Grace Sung Eun Lee, 28, is bedridden with a brain tumor that paralyzes her from the neck down. Her doctors say she has only weeks or months to live.
The Bank of America manager has repeatedly asked her doctors to take her off the respirator, but her Korean-immigrant parents believe that decision would be “Satan’s work” and last week filed a court order to block doctors from following her request.
An appellate panel of judges decided yesterday not to uphold the temporary restraining order Lee’s parents had won from a lower court — which means now Lee can decide to die if she wishes.
“That pitched battle is over. She has not yet made a definitive decision, but she is empowered to do so,” said David Smith, Lee’s attorney.
Lee’s parents — Queens pastor the Rev. Man Ho Lee and Jin Ah Lee — were by her side yesterday and will stay there, their lawyer said.
“Her parents have been saying all along she didn’t want to die,” said attorney Jack Libert. “All the parties agree that there are some questions that need to be asked and answered.”
It’s unclear whether Grace, who trained for the New York Marathon before her cancer, will go through with her request to be taken off the respirator.
“The first step is to determine what she wants to do,’’ said Terry Lynam, spokesman for North Shore University Hospital. “What does she want to do in maintaining life support?’’
Complicating the issue, Grace sometimes contradicts herself by saying “certain things in the family’s presence and certain things when they’re not there,” said a source.
Grace had been on life support since she suffered a seizure and came to North Shore Hospital on Long Island in early September.She began asking to be taken off the respirator last month.
On Sept. 26, her father filed for a temporary restraining order in Nassau Supreme Court to halt the unplugging. He petitioned to be appointed as her temporary guardian on the grounds that she has a brain tumor and is unable to make medical decisions for herself. In testimony there, Grace’s doctor explained the parents’ disapproval of their daughter’s choice.
“They believe that it’s like suicide and euthanasia, and that it’s Satan’s work, and that, I guess, she would go to hell if it were to occur,” said Dr. Dana Lustbader.
The judge in that case affirmed their daughter’s right to determine her own fate, but her parents appealed the decision to the Appellate Division in Brooklyn, which upheld the lower court.
No action will be taken until at least Tuesday, when there’s a hearing in the guardianship case.