October 30th, 2019
Press Release – For Immediate Release
“The Christ Medicus Foundation sends our prayers and support for the full healing, recovery, and physical protection of Titus Cromer, a 16 year old junior at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, a Catholic all boys high school in Detroit, Michigan,” stated Louis Brown, Executive Director of the Christ Medicus Foundation (CMF). “We commend Judge Hala Jarbou for requiring Beaumont Hospital to continue administering life-support to Titus in accordance with the wishes of his parents, who want their son to be given a chance at recovery,” Mr. Brown continued.
As the Detroit Free Press has reported, the attorney representing Titus’ family attests that Titus has already shown signs of recovery and is now able to regulate his blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature without medication. “Despite being declared brain dead, a designation that is imprecise and inconsistent, these physical signs in Titus are objective indications of life,” stated Michael Vacca, CMF’s head of bioethics, an attorney, and a former staffer for the Pontifical Council for the Family at the Vatican. “As CMF remarked publicly in the recent similar case of Bobby Reyes, ‘brain death’ is not a consistently reliable nor precise means of determining death. In situations such as that of Titus, in accordance with the facts and circumstances of the case and respecting the rights and duties of parents to protect their children, the moral principle of precaution and deference for human life should prevail. The Christ Medicus Foundation respectfully asks Beaumont Hospital to defer to the rights of the parents and provide the same excellent care to Titus that they provide to other patients. Failure to respect these rights is of grave ethical concern and would result in Beaumont making the same tragic mistake made by a Children’s hospital in the recent case of Bobby Reyes,” stated Mr. Vacca.
Mr. Brown added: “I have spoken to Titus’ mother and expressed the prayers and support of the Catholic community. As a graduate of another Catholic all boys high school near the University of Detroit Jesuit and as an African American man myself, this case hits close to home. I could have been Titus. It is unjust that medical institutions are seeking to end life support so quickly against the wishes of the patient’s family and when patients are showing signs of life. The natural law, which is the foundation for the U.S. Constitution and the civil rights movement, demonstrates that the rights of patients and families must be respected and protected in all circumstances regardless of how complex or costly the circumstances may be. As St. John Paul II consistently affirmed, defending and supporting life is always the right thing to do. In situations such as that of Titus, parents and families should be the decision makers about end of life medical decisions, not hospitals. More than anything right now, we call for prayers and public support for Titus and his family and ask that another medical facility and their staff take courage, do the right thing, and accept Titus as a patient.”
CONTACT: Becky Escher, Marketing & Communications Manager, (817) 371-1979; [email protected]
About the Christ Medicus Foundation (christmedicus.org): The Christ Medicus Foundation is a Catholic 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 1997, dedicated to sharing the love of God in health care through defending religious freedom in health care and building a Christ-center