Wife, Doctors Spar Over Dying Husband

MINNEAPOLIS - The wife of a dying 85-year-old man was in court on Wednesday in an attempt to force a hospital to continue keeping him alive, but doctors claim the woman is interfering with her husband’s care.

FOX 9’s Tim Blotz was at the courthouse when a former attorney brought in a surprising twist in the case between Lana Barnes and health professionals from Methodist hospitals -- a living will signed by Albert Barnes that appears to refuse the care she seeks.

Court documents indicate that Albert Barnes is suffering from end-stage dementia, kidney failure and respiratory distress. Doctors said he is currently unresponsive and requires both a ventilator and a feeding tube to survive.

Lana Barnes said she believes her husband is really suffering from Lyme disease, and said he has recovered from comas in the past with the use of antibiotics. She has been acting as her husband’s medical guardian, and has stated all along that it was his desire to be kept alive if there was any hope he would survive.

On Wednesday, however, a former attorney for Albert Barnes revealed an old health care directive that Barnes signed in 1994 and discovered on Monday. It reads in part:

“If at such times there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from extreme physical or mental disability, I direct that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by ventilators, artificial means or ‘heroic measures.’”

That document also names James Barnes, Albert Barnes’ eldest son from his first marriage, his medical guardian.

While on the stand, James Barnes said that he and his father had discussed end-of-life scenarios.

“We’ve had conversations (where he said), ‘I do not want to live on a machine, that’s not living,’” James Barnes testified. “I believe Lana is doing what she believes is right, but it is not my father’s wishes.”

For now, the care of Al Barnes is in the hands of a third-party professional medical guardian after Judge Dean Maus ruled two weeks ago that Barnes should be placed on kidney dialysis and kept alive until a decision could be reached on who will become his permanent medical guardian.