A 12-year-old boy who was shaken as a baby and spent the rest of his life on life support has died.
Aiden Stein died Sunday at a Columbus hospital. The case drew national attention when the boy’s parents fought to keep him alive after a guardian appointed by a probate judge sought to have him removed from life support.
Akron was the epicenter of the battle over the child, often referred to as “Baby Aiden.”
The five-month-old was flown to Akron Children’s Hospital from a Mansfield hospital March 15, 2005.
While he was at Children’s, the legal wrangling over his fate began in Summit County Probate Court and Akron attorney Ellen Kaforey was named Aiden’s medical guardian
Summit County Probate Judge Bill Spicer allowed Kaforey to authorize the end of life support after doctors determined that most of Aiden’s cerebral cortex had been irreversibly damaged and he would never be aware of his environment or his own being.
A series of appeals led to the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in December 2004 that Kaforey lacked the authority to make that decision.
Aiden’s father, Matthew, was charged with shaking his 4-month-old son. He denied it, but a jury in Mansfield convicted him of felonious assault and child endangerment in September 2005. He served eight years in prison.
The Richland County prosecutor said Wednesday it was “unlikely” that further charges would be pursued against Stein.