Payton Deaths: The Death of a Girl at the Center of a Battle for Life Support in Texas

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Tiffany Hofstetter

A nine-year-old girl in the middle of a battle to keep Texas alive has "passed naturally," according to her parents.

The doctors said that Payton Summons was brain dead and that he was in intensive care after a heart attack in September.

The doctors had wanted to remove her from her fan, but her parents had obtained a court order forcing the Fort Worth Hospital to keep her alive.

Under Texas law, a person is considered dead when they have lost all brain function.

Payton's parents' lawyer, Justin Moore, said she had not been removed from the survival system.

This week, a judge ruled that a temporary prohibition order against the hospital should be extended until Monday.

How did Payton get sick?

She was staying at her grandmother's house when she woke up and said she could not breathe.

She was taken to the Cook Children's Medical Center, where doctors said in a statement that she "had suffered a devastating brain injury due to her lack of oxygen for more than an hour." ".

This was due to a tumor in the chest that stopped his blood circulation. The doctors said that they were able to restore his heart rate, but not his breathing. She was placed under a ventilator before the doctors confirmed that she had no brain activity.

Payton's parents filed a temporary stay order to keep her alive while they were trying to find another hospital that would accept her.

However, only two of the institutions contacted over 20 said they could take it – "and that these were conditioned by certain things that could put their lives at risk if they were executed," CNN told another family lawyer, Paul Stafford.