"In the end, nature took its course before the judicial system ran its course."

Said the lawyer for the family of Motl Brody, who sued to keep the 12-year-old boy on life support. The doctors had declared the boy brain dead, but the parents wanted their religious faith -- Orthodox Judaism -- to provide the definition of death and bind the hospital.

Motl, the third-eldest of seven siblings, had spoken of becoming a rabbi like his father, Eluzer Brody, and often wrote Hebrew poems that he sang at family functions in his soprano voice. He was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor six months ago and underwent surgery and other treatments....

Motl Brody's uncle Yitzchak Halberstam said: "We are very grateful he was able to stay on life support until he died. We hope the case will sensitize the medical establishment to the importance of respecting any patient's religious beliefs regarding life and death."