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Facility Getting Baby on Life Support

Posted on: Sunday, 2 July 2006, 00:00 CDT

DALLAS - After a hospital's ethics board ruled that it would be futile to keep an 11-month-old on life support, another facility is now expected to take the boy.

Daniel Cullen II will be transferred to Truman W. Smith Children's Care Center, a long-term pediatric nursing facility in Gladewater, The Dallas Morning News reported in Saturday editions.

"I was worried because I was afraid I was going to have to unplug him if I couldn't find a hospital for him," said Daniel's mother, Dixie Belcher, 37, of Grand Prairie.

Doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas were ready to disconnect Daniel from his ventilator in May, but his mother obtained a temporary restraining order preventing that.

CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales called the placement tentative but said the agency was "fairly confident" Daniel would be moved after the holiday weekend.

Following his premature birth, Daniel had to have a tube inserted in his trachea to help him breathe. But in April, he pulled out the tube while at home with his mother, severely damaging his brain.

Child Protective Services ruled that neglect might have contributed to Daniel's injury and placed the child in state custody.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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