It's the only reason I'm here now': Son awakens from 'brain-dead' state after gun-toting dad engages in three-hour armed standoff with police to block doctors from pulling the plug life-support
Evan Bleier
- George Pickering II took gun and went to Houston's Tomball Regional Medical Center to spend a few more hours with his son George III
- Pickering's 'brain dead' son had suffered a huge stroke earlier in the month
- Doctors and father's family were 'terminally weaning' son off life support
- Pickering forced his way into son's room and standoff with police ensued
- When son squeezed his hand during the standoff, Pickering surrendered
- He was arrested but his son recovered a few weeks later and is doing well
A father took a gun into hospital to stop doctors taking his son off life support - and during the three-hour stand-off the young man squeezed his hand.
The sign that he wasn't brain dead meant he was kept alive - and he is now recovering and doing well.
His father, 59-year-old George Pickering II, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after marching into Tomball Regional Medical Center in Texas with a gun.
His 27-year-old son, George III, had been declared brain dead after suffering a massive stroke in January.
After doctors declared there was no more hope for him, they ordered a 'terminal wean' - whereby life support is slowly withdrawn to end a life.
Pickering's ex-wife and other son had agreed to the move, and the young man had already been placed on an organ donation register.
But Pickering Sr told KPRC: 'They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors. I knew if I had three or four hours that night that I would know whether George was brain-dead.'