Texas Right to Life is neutral on the death penalty. We are involved in the Robert Roberson case because the court failed to consider the illegal decision to withdraw Nikki’s life-sustaining treatment.
Roberson was found guilty of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, in 2003. He was detained almost immediately after bringing her to the ER on suspicions of child abuse. Before he was arrested, the hospital illegally took Nikki off of life-sustaining treatment. Medical staff rushed to pressure the child’s grandparents to remove treatment, even though they were not Nikki’s legal guardians.
This medical misconduct can happen to any parent or family. Texas Right to Life has seen it firsthand. The ethical solution is to wait to withdraw the patient’s care until she receives a reliable prognosis and a proper guardian is determined.
It is dangerous for the court to overlook the coercion to withdraw treatment that led to Nikki’s death, and it is unjust to assert that hospital decisions related to the cause of death are unimportant.
The Roberson case highlights a troubling pattern we have seen across Texas, where hospitals pressure families to remove life-sustaining treatment amid legal disputes or questions of decision-making authority.
Texas has since passed new laws to strengthen patients’ rights, but families still face unnecessary coercion to withdraw care prematurely. Texas Right to Life urges our judicial system, governor, and fellow Texans to recognize and address this persistent medical threat to vulnerable patients and their families, instead of affirming it in the Roberson case.