Father of Terminally Ill Queens Woman Withdraws Petition to Act as Legal Guardian
Sungeun Grace Lee is paralyzed from the waist down at a hospital on Long Island
NBC 4 New YOrk
The father of a terminally ill Queens woman withdrew his petition to act as the legal guardian for his daughter after a judge found that she was competent enough to make her own medical decisions. Katherine Creag reports.
The father of a terminally ill Queens woman withdrew his petition to act as the legal guardian for his daughter after a judge found that she was competent enough to make her own medical decisions.
Man Ho Lee withdrew his petition to make medical decisions for his 28-year-old daughter, Sungeun Grace Lee, on Tuesday, after Judge Thomas Phelan ruled that she didn't need a health care proxy and was mentally and physically able to make decisions on her own.
An appeals court had ruled Oct. 5 that she could be taken off life support machines after she said it was what she wanted. The court order rejected a request by her parents seeking to prevent it.
Grace Lee is currently on life support at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island, but will soon be moved to either a nursing home or hospice, her lawyer David Smith said Tuesday.
Smith said Saturday that his client wanted to make peace with her family and God and will stay on life support.
"Grace and her parents have all been trying very hard to make the transition back from plaintiff and defendant, which family should never be, to parents and dying daughter," Smith said.
On Tuesday, Smith said Grace Lee is "acutely aware" of everything that's going on.
When she is no longer able to physically and/or mentally make decisions on her own, then her parents will make decisions for her.
Before she became ill with brain cancer last year, Lee worked as a financial manager.
