Family of Grace Sung Eun Lee says video proves she wants to stay on life support Brain cancer patient’s lawyer says parents are putting her under ‘indescribable pressure’ 
 
 The family of a terminally ill woman who asked doctors to remove life support posted a murky video Thursday that they claim is proof she wants to stay hooked up to the machines. 
 
 The desperate parents of a terminally ill Manhattan banker released a murky video of her Thursday as a mystery panel of judges deliberated on whether she can die. 
 
 Grace Sung Eun Lee’s family is trying to stop a hospital from honoring her request to end life support — and they claim the video is proof she wants to stay hooked up to breathing and feeding tubes. 
 
 But the soundless footage — taped hours after Lee told the Daily News, “I want to die” — sheds little light on her state of mind. 
 
 Lee’s court-appointed lawyer complained her devout parents — who believe she’ll go to hell if she pulls the plug — are putting her under “incredible pressure.” 
 
 “She has made herself abundantly clear,” the lawyer, David A. Smith, said of his client, who can’t move from the neck down and is being kept alive by machines. “They stand there all day, and tell her that this is Satan’s work — and she loves her parents desperately. 
 
 “They do love her, equally. This is just awful.” 
 
 An appeals court could decide as early as Friday whether to let Long Island’s North Shore Hospital disconnect Lee, who has an inoperable brain tumor. 
 
 The tragic case is being handled by a four-judge Appellate Division panel. The names of the judges will be made public after they issue a ruling. The key questions are whether Lee wants to pull the plug and whether she’s competent to decide. 
 
 Her Korean-born parents initially conceded she requested the tubes be removed but said she was too drugged-up to think straight. Now, the Rev. Manho and Jin-ah Lee contend their daughter has simply changed her mind and wants to stay on life support. 
 
 Christie M Farriella for New York Daily News In video posted on Facebook, the 28-year-old mouths “yes” when cousin Intae Kim asks a question that’s impossible to make out. “We asked her, ‘So do you want us to take you to the nursing home to take care of you?’” said Lee’s older brother, Paul. “She told us that she wanted to leave the hospital.” Vague as it is, the video probably wouldn’t hold much legal weight. Terry Lynam, a spokesman for North Shore-LIJ Hospital Systems, said the hospital has not made changes to Lee’s care and is waiting for the appeals court decision. 
 
 But her parents say they answer to a higher power. 
 
 “When someone sets a time and date to die, that is considered as a suicide and sin,” Rev. Lee said. 
 
 His daughter was training for the New York City Marathon last year when she fell ill and was diagnosed with brain cancer. Last month, she had a seizure and was rushed to North Shore, where she has begged doctors to remove life support, they testified. 
 
 The parents went to court Sept. 24 and asked that the father be appointed guardian. 
 
 After an emergency hearing, a Long Island judge ruled the tubes could be removed. 
 
 The family rushed to the Appellate Division in Brooklyn and obtained a temporary order keeping life support in place until the judges make a full ruling. 
 
 epearson@nydailynews.com ||||| They rushed to court Sept. 24 hoping to have their daughter declared incompetent and her father appointed guardian. After an emergency hearing, a Long Island judge ruled the tubes could be removed. 
 
 
 
 Still unable to accept their daughter's fate, Lee's parents rushed to the Appellate Division in Brooklyn and obtained a temporary order keeping life support in place. 
 
 
 
 In a motion to the four-judge panel, Lee's parents spelled out their objections, arguing that their daughter has "devoted her life to her faith." 
 
 
 
 They note that she has worked at her church, ran a Bible group at work and went on missionary trips to South Africa, Ethiopia and Mexico. 
 
 
 
 "One of the tenets of the faith is the preservation of life under all circumstances," the parents' motion says. 
 
 
 
 "The removal of the respirator and/or the feeding tube is considered suicide. A person who commits suicide is condemned in the next life to burn in Hell forever." 
 
 
 
 "Obviously, this could not be (Lee's) intention," it adds. 
 
 
 
 Lee's lawyer countered that the incapacitated woman has made her desire to die crystal clear. 
 
 
 
 "My client had directed me in the clearest and most unmistakable of terms to 'not let that weekend pass,' " Smith wrote. 
 
 
 
 He also pointed out that she has no hope for recovery. 
 
 
 
 "Her brain stem is so utterly compromised that she will never again be able to breathe on her own," Smith's motion says. 
 
 
 
 Even with the court ruling against Lee's parents, a hearing scheduled last week on the issue of her father's guardianship is still slated for Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 But after huddling with the lawyers for Lee's parents in a closed-door meeting with the judge Friday, her attorney said there's little left to be decided. 
 
 
 
 Now, it's up to Lee. 
 
 
 
 "There are now no restraints remaining on her exercising her right to die," Smith said. "If and when she decides to exercise it, she can do so. But she has not made that decision." 
 
 
 
 rschapiro@nydailynews.com ||||| Dying Single Mom Leads Suit Asserting Calif. Law Allows Aid in Dying 
 
 New YouTube Video Released of Woman Spending Final Days to Bring Peaceful Endings to Others 
 
 San Diego, CA – May 18, 2015) Compassion & Choices filed suit on Friday on behalf of three Californians with terminal or advanced diseases and a physician asserting that the California constitution and existing state law allow the medical practice of aid in dying. Medical aid in dying gives mentally competent, terminally ill adults the option to request a doctor’s prescription for medication they can take in their final days to end their dying process painlessly and peacefully, ending unbearable pain and suffering. 
 
 “Some dying people face unbearable suffering in their final days that even the best hospice and palliative care cannot relieve,” said Compassion & Choices National Director of Legal Advocacy Kevin Díaz, who also worked with death-with-dignity advocate Brittany Maynard. “As Brittany Maynard recognized, these people desperately need the option of medical aid in dying so they can die painlessly, peacefully in their sleep – and they need it now – before it’s too late.” 
 
 In conjunction with filing the suit in California Superior Court in San Diego County, Compassion & Choices released a new video featuring Christy O’Donnell, the lead plaintiff, who has a terminal prognosis of less than six months to live. She is a Christian, Republican civil rights attorney who lives in Santa Clarita and is a former sergeant in the LAPD. Despite receiving chemotherapy every week for the last nine months, O’Donnell’s physicians have told her that she will likely die painfully within the next few months from lung cancer that has spread to tumors in her brain, spine, ribs and liver. 
 
 Watch the video below: 
 
 Read a complete transcript of the above video here. 
 
 The plaintiff’s complaint is available here. 
 
 “The most likely way that I’m going to die with the lung cancer is that my left lung will fill with fluid, I’ll start drowning in my own fluid,” says O’Donnell in the video, which was recorded on March 4. “I spend an inordinate amount of time being afraid of the pain that I’m going to endure. All of that time that my mind spends thinking about that, I am not living. I don’t want to die [but] I should be able to get a prescription [for aid-in-dying medication], have that peace and never think about it ‘til the day I’m ready to die.” 
 
 “The situation is urgent for terminally ill Californians like Christy because they cannot afford to wait for relief from unbearable suffering in their last days,” said Lynette Cederquist, M.D., a plaintiff from La Jolla who is a board certified physician in internal medicine as well as hospice and palliative medicine, and is a clinical professor of medicine. 
 
 “We will be requesting expedited review on behalf of Christy because her cancer has spread and causes her more pain and suffering each day,” said John Kappos, a Newport Beach-based partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, who is working in conjunction with Compassion & Choices on behalf of the plaintiffs. “We are pursuing multiple legal theories to authorize medical aid in dying to maximize our chances of bringing immediate relief and peace of mind to terminally ill Californians like Christy.” 
 
 The suit also asserts that medical aid in dying is a more peaceful alternative to palliative sedation. Palliative sedation involves medicating the patient into a coma and withholding nutrition and fluids until the patient dies. Both the U.S. Supreme Court and California courts have recognized palliative sedation as a legitimate medical practice. The suit is posted at:www.compassionandchoices.org/userfiles/Complaint-CA-Lawsuit.pdf. 
 
 The suit coincides with the legislative campaign to authorize medical aid in dying in California by passing the End of Life Option Act (SB 128), recently approved by the Senate Health and Judiciary Committees. SB 128 is closely modeled after the death-with-dignity law in Oregon, which has worked well for 17 years, without a single documented case of abuse or coercion. Currently, four other states authorize medical aid in dying: Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico. A recent poll shows that California voters support the medical option of aid in dyingby more than a 2-1 margin (64 percent vs. 24 percent). 
 
 “We must pursue every path to make medical aid in dying an option for terminally ill adults in California as soon as possible,” said Compassion & Choices California Campaign Director Toni Broaddus. “Even if the court finds authorization in the state constitution and/or existing state law for medical aid in dying, the legislature should establish additional safeguards and legal protection for this medical practice in the state of California by passing the End of Life Option Act as soon as possible.” 
 
 The deadline to pass the End of Life Option Act in the Senate is June 5. If the Senate passes the legislation, the deadline for the Assembly to pass it is Sept. 11. 
 
 The second patient plaintiff is Sacramento resident Elizabeth Wallner, who has stage IV colon cancer that has metastasized to her liver and lungs. She has fought the cancer with 18 rounds of weeklong chemotherapy treatments that made her “mind-bendingly sick,” four surgeries to remove parts of her liver and colon, radiation, radio-ablation, and any other method that offers even the slightest hope of extending her life. Elizabeth and her family, including her 19-year-old son and her Catholic father, support her end-of-life wishes, including the option of aid in dying. 
 
 “No one would want to live through unbearable pain,” said Elizabeth. “Quite frankly, one simply can’t understand it until they are faced with the reality.” 
 
 The third patient plaintiff is Wolf Breiman, a retired landscape architect from Ventura who was diagnosed six years ago with an incurable cancer of the white blood cells called multiple myeloma. Although he is coping with fatigue and a compromised immune system, Wolf continues to work in his yard daily. He and his wife, Debbie, are staunch supporters of end-of-life options for all Californians. 
 
 “I see it as an expansion of individual rights by giving people more autonomy,” said Wolf. “I am 87 years old. I’m OK with death. I just don’t want to go out in misery.” 
 
 The Plaintiffs 
 
 Christy O’Donnell, Valencia, CA 
 
 In June 2014, Christy O’Donnell, 46, a single mother, was diagnosed with terminal lung and brain cancer. 
 
 Christy and her only daughter, Bailey, have asked doctors to help end her dying process without unbearable pain so that she can die peacefully. 
 
 “I have endured excruciating headaches, debilitating nausea, being bed ridden due to fatigue, and suffered muscular skeletal pain in my head and neck despite the compassionate palliative care of my treating physicians and skillful use of available prescription drugs,” said Christy, a Los Angeles attorney and former LAPD officer. “The lung cancer will possibly cause me to die by drowning in my own fluids and no medicine exists that can relieve that fear or pain. “ 
 
 Christy believes aid in dying should not be labeled ‘as a sin.” 
 
 “As a Christian, I believe it is not for me to judge someone else or try to limit his or her religious freedom,” she said. “Our California laws should not seek to prohibit our fundamental freedoms and should allow all people to die with dignity in California.” 
 
 Today, Christy has pledged to fight for end-of-life options until her last breath, just like Brittany Maynard did before her. 
 
 “Until someone can walk a mile in my shoes, it’s not their place to stand in the way of this option being available for me,” she said. 
 
 Elizabeth Wallner, Sacramento, CA 
 
 In March 2010, Elizabeth was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. The terminal illness had metastasized to her liver and lungs. 
 
 She chose to fight the cancer with chemotherapy treatments that made her “mind-bendingly sick.” 
 
 Prior to colon and liver surgery, 12 rounds of chemotherapy and the removal of part of her lung, Elizabeth spoke to her teenage son about her end-of-life wishes – including the option to request a prescription from a doctor to shorten her dying process painlessly and peacefully. 
 
 Elizabeth’s19-year-old son, as well as her devout Catholic and Christian family, have agreed to honor her wishes. 
 
 Today Elizabeth, 51, feels great, and although she has lost half of her hair and has “slept for the last three years,” she also holds a full-time job. 
 
 Elizabeth will continue to fight the cancer. But she is scared of what lies ahead when there is nothing else that medicine can treat and it becomes impossible to find relief from extreme pain. 
 
 “No one would want that pain,” she said. 
 
 Wolf Breiman, Ventura, CA 
 
 Wolf Breiman, a retired landscape architect from Ventura, was diagnosed 6 1/2 years ago with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the white blood cells. He became a U.S. citizen when he moved from Romania at the age of nine. 
 
 Breiman feels so strongly about the importance of end of life options. He switched doctors after his original one told him he did not believe in aid in dying, even if it was legal. 
 
 “I don’t want a nasty ending,” he said. “I just don’t want to go out in misery. I’m 87 years old. I’m OK with death. It really doesn’t scare me.” 
 
 Although he is coping with fatigue and a compromised immune system, Wolf continues to work on his yard daily.
– A New York state appeals court ruled today that Grace Sung Eun Lee has the right to die, the Daily News reports. The incurably ill Manhattan banker has begged doctors to pull the plug, but her religious parents did their best to stop the request. They even released a video in which Lee mouthed the word "Yes" to a question from her cousin—but that question was impossible to make out, reports the Daily News. "She has made herself abundantly clear,” said Lee's court-appointed lawyer. "They stand there all day, and tell her that this is Satan’s work—and she loves her parents desperately. ... This is just awful." Lee was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor last year and put on life support last month. But her father, a reverend, says that "when someone sets a time and date to die, that is considered as a suicide and sin." No word yet on whether her parents will give up their legal battle.