Man Dies Before Hearing on Feeding-Tube Clash

FREDERICK, Md. – A brain-damaged man at the center of a dispute over whether his feeding tube should be removed has died.

An attorney for the wife of 55-year-old Daniel Sanger said the wife called him Wednesday morning to say her husband had died overnight.

A Frederick judge who was set to hear arguments on whether Sanger should continue getting sustenance through a feeding tube declared the case moot in a brief hearing on Wednesday. Sanger suffered severe brain damage after a heart attack.

Sanger's mother and brother had been seeking an injunction to keep the feeding tube in place at Frederick Memorial Hospital. It was restored last month under a temporary restraining order after Sanger's wife had it removed.