DALLAS _ A judge declined to extend a restraining order to keep a 9-year-old girl on life support at Fort Worth hospital after a hearing Wednesday.
Payton Summons has been at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth after going into cardiac arrest Sept. 25. Hospital staff say the girl is brain-dead, but her parents are fighting hospital plans to remove her from a ventilator.
The hearing lasted hours in Tarrant County's 17th District Court in Fort Worth. A temporary restraining order was granted Oct. 1, keeping Payton on life support.
Under the restraining order, the earliest her ventilator could be disconnected is Monday.
The girl's parents testified at the hearing Wednesday that they believed Payton could recover, KXAS-TV reported.
Payton's doctor also testified at the hearing. He said the girl is medically and legally brain-dead, but she hasn't been officially declared brain-dead because the restraining order prevents doctors from performing a test required to make that declaration, according to KXAS-TV.
According to Texas law, a person is considered dead if he or she suffers an irreversible loss of all brain function.
Cook Children's attempted to find another hospital to take over Payton's care, but so far every facility has agreed with doctors' statements that nothing more can be done for her.
Family members told KXAS-TV that they are still reaching out to medical organizations to see if anyone will accept Payton's continued care.
The hospital said the girl's cardiac arrest was caused by a large tumor in her chest that shut off her circulatory system.
She survived cancer as a toddler, and her father, Joseph Summons, said he believes "a miracle will happen for my daughter," WFAA-TV reported.
