Nevada Courts to Decide Life or Death Case

A family lawyer says a 20-year-old woman at the center of an end-of-life court battle over her treatment has died at a Reno hospital while still on life support.

    

Attorney David O'Mara says Aden Hailu died Monday at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center, where she never awoke from anesthesia after abdominal surgery April 1.

    

O'Mara says the cause appears to have been respiratory failure.

    

The hospital isn't immediately commenting.

    

Hailu's father, Fanuel Gebreyes, lost a bid last week to delay brain wave tests that the hospital said would show Hailu was brain dead and wouldn't recover.

    

O'Mara said Gebreyes felt that that as long as there was a chance that Hailu was alive, the hospital should treat her or find a place that would. 

(The Associated Press also contributed to this report.)