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D.C. Hospital Sues to Remove Boy, 12, From Life Support

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"Continuing any support to this child eliminates any dignity this child has left," wrote Kenneth H. Rosenau, an attorney for Children's. "There is no religious principle at issue in this case, but a clash on the definition of death."

Motl, a seventh-grader, is the third of seven siblings. His uncle, Yitzchak Halberstam, said the boy began feeling listless about six months ago. He was eventually diagnosed with an aggressive tumor and quickly had surgery. He never regained consciousness, Halberstam said.

Halberstam said Motl was "a special kid."

"When you looked at him," he said, "you just wanted to walk over and hug him."

Zuckerman, the family's lawyer, said he is challenging the hospital's plans on grounds that the family's religious beliefs must be respected under federal law.

Legal experts said that courts usually defer to the judgment of doctors in such cases.

"The case law is clear: Once you are dead, you are dead," said George Annas, a law professor at Boston University who specializes in health law and bioethics.

Annas added that New York and New Jersey have provisions in their laws or regulations that make exceptions in similar instances for Orthodox Jews. The District does not.

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