October 9th, 2003 – 10:00am:
Joseph and Sonya were called at home by a detective and told to arrive at court for a CHILD DEPRIVATION HEARING at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.
October 9th, 2003 – 2:00pm:
Joseph and Sonya arrive at court, unsure of what was happening. There was no hearing and there was no judge…only the police and child services, who told them that Josef was not doing well, and that they were required now to go to the hospital. The police stipulations regarding the hospital visit were as follows: Joseph and Sonya could look at Josef but could not touch him, and that there would be security personnel in the room. They were also told that the Child Deprivation Hearing would take place in 10 days, and they could not see their other children.
October 9th, 3:00-7:00pm:
Unbeknownst to the parents, all parental rights had been removed, and Josef had been placed into the care and custody of the State. Joseph and Sonya arrived at the hospital and were talked to by a hospital chaplain before being taken to a waiting area, where they were told that they would only be allowed one visit with little Josef. The Social Worker’s notes beginning at 3:30am on the morning of October 9th stated,
Joseph and Sonya had to wait until 5:00pm before they were told which room Josef was in. The hospital was waiting on security personnel. The MSW (Clinical Social Worker) explained to Joseph and Sonya that “per patient’s doctor, the visit is to be brief – approximately 20 minutes – in the presence of MSW, Nurse, & RT with security [present]”. Once security was in place, Joseph and Sonya were told that they could not touch little Josef and that they could not step on the carpet surrounding his bed.
Josef was hooked up to IVs and medical equipment, and all his parents could see was his forehead, his eyebrows, and his toe under a sheet. Sonya bowed down at the edge of the carpet and prayed. The parents had not been told at this point that their child was suspected to be brain dead. The staff allowed the parents to stay in the room for 20 minutes, and then they were escorted back to the waiting room, where they waited to talk to Dr. Jose (Jo-sey), one of the physicians who attended to Josef. One of the final notes made in the Social Worker’s report on October 9th was that: “MSW notified the House Supervisor and Security that there are no visitation by the parents or any other relatives. Should parents attempt to visit, they should be directed to assigned CPS worker.”
October 9th, 7:05pm-7:30pm:
Josef was officially declared brain dead by Dr. Jose at 7:05pm. Sonya was crying and desperately pleading that they please not pull the plug on her son. She then started pleading and begging just to please kiss her boy “good-bye.” The staff would not let her. She saw Josef’s toe outside the cover of the sheets – and pleaded through tears to please just be able to kiss her son’s toe. They would not let her. They turned around and closed the hospital door and curtains. Sonya continued to cry in the hallway, asking the medical personnel again to please not pull the plug on their son and to please, please let her and Joseph just kiss their child good-bye. These parents never signed a release for the plug to be pulled on their son.
It is interesting to note that in the medical reports, the wording states that during the final minutes, the Smiths refused to come see Josef. The fact is that Joseph and Sonya remained in the hallway during these last moments because they could not stand helpless and watch doctors remove their son’s life support without even being able to touch him, speak to him, or kiss him goodbye. Instead, they spent these moments crying and pleading in the hallway for anyone to please stop this procedure. Despite their emotional efforts, at 7:30pm on October 9th, Josef is officially declared dead. A distraught Joseph walked Sonya out of the hospital…the nightmare was continuing.
Later, the Smiths found out that the State made a decision to not allow little Josef’s brothers – Mykel and James — to attend his funeral. Joseph and Sonya responded by saying that even if the National Guard had to come to the funeral to supervise, PLEASE work it out so that Josef’s brothers could attend the funeral…..but it was not allowed.