Fort Worth Toddler, Tinslee Lewis, Discharged From Hospital After Long Battle On Life Support

Advocates for Tinslee Lewis have been fighting legal battles for Tinslee’s right to live for over two years.

Tinslee Lewis was born prematurely in 2019 with a rare heart condition called Ebstein’s anomaly. Doctors at Cook Children’s Medical Center kept her alive through open heart surgery and a ventilator.

Medical center staff argued that treatment was making Tinslee suffer. Subsequently, staff wanted to carry out the 10-day rule located within the Texas Advance Directives Act. If doctors feel treatment is doing more harm than good, they give families 10 days to find another hospital to provide treatment to the patient before ending treatment.

Tinslee’s mother, Trinity Lewis, fought the medical center through the court system to keep her daughter alive. Texas Right to Life and Protect TX Fragile Kids fought for Tinslee’s right to live alongside Trinity. Texas Right to Life provided an attorney for the Lewis family to help win a temporary restraining order to allow time for Tinslee to recover. This prevented the 10-day rule from going into effect.

Tinslee, 3, has been released from the hospital in April 2022. Tinslee has a portable ventilator, and she receives assistance at home from a respiratory therapist. She is still recovering, but her condition has improved.

Cook Children’s Health System released a statement upon Tinslee’s release: “The medical teams at Cook Children’s have dedicated their lives to healing children, and go to tireless lengths to do what they believe in their hearts and minds to be the very best decision for each and every patient.”