Family of Grace Sung Eun Lee says video proves she wants to stay on life support Brain cancer patient’s lawyer says parents are putting her under ‘indescribable pressure’ 
 
 The family of a terminally ill woman who asked doctors to remove life support posted a murky video Thursday that they claim is proof she wants to stay hooked up to the machines. 
 
 The desperate parents of a terminally ill Manhattan banker released a murky video of her Thursday as a mystery panel of judges deliberated on whether she can die. 
 
 Grace Sung Eun Lee’s family is trying to stop a hospital from honoring her request to end life support — and they claim the video is proof she wants to stay hooked up to breathing and feeding tubes. 
 
 But the soundless footage — taped hours after Lee told the Daily News, “I want to die” — sheds little light on her state of mind. 
 
 Lee’s court-appointed lawyer complained her devout parents — who believe she’ll go to hell if she pulls the plug — are putting her under “incredible pressure.” 
 
 “She has made herself abundantly clear,” the lawyer, David A. Smith, said of his client, who can’t move from the neck down and is being kept alive by machines. “They stand there all day, and tell her that this is Satan’s work — and she loves her parents desperately. 
 
 “They do love her, equally. This is just awful.” 
 
 An appeals court could decide as early as Friday whether to let Long Island’s North Shore Hospital disconnect Lee, who has an inoperable brain tumor. 
 
 The tragic case is being handled by a four-judge Appellate Division panel. The names of the judges will be made public after they issue a ruling. The key questions are whether Lee wants to pull the plug and whether she’s competent to decide. 
 
 Her Korean-born parents initially conceded she requested the tubes be removed but said she was too drugged-up to think straight. Now, the Rev. Manho and Jin-ah Lee contend their daughter has simply changed her mind and wants to stay on life support. 
 
 Christie M Farriella for New York Daily News In video posted on Facebook, the 28-year-old mouths “yes” when cousin Intae Kim asks a question that’s impossible to make out. “We asked her, ‘So do you want us to take you to the nursing home to take care of you?’” said Lee’s older brother, Paul. “She told us that she wanted to leave the hospital.” Vague as it is, the video probably wouldn’t hold much legal weight. Terry Lynam, a spokesman for North Shore-LIJ Hospital Systems, said the hospital has not made changes to Lee’s care and is waiting for the appeals court decision. 
 
 But her parents say they answer to a higher power. 
 
 “When someone sets a time and date to die, that is considered as a suicide and sin,” Rev. Lee said. 
 
 His daughter was training for the New York City Marathon last year when she fell ill and was diagnosed with brain cancer. Last month, she had a seizure and was rushed to North Shore, where she has begged doctors to remove life support, they testified. 
 
 The parents went to court Sept. 24 and asked that the father be appointed guardian. 
 
 After an emergency hearing, a Long Island judge ruled the tubes could be removed. 
 
 The family rushed to the Appellate Division in Brooklyn and obtained a temporary order keeping life support in place until the judges make a full ruling. 
 
 epearson@nydailynews.com ||||| They rushed to court Sept. 24 hoping to have their daughter declared incompetent and her father appointed guardian. After an emergency hearing, a Long Island judge ruled the tubes could be removed. 
 
 
 
 Still unable to accept their daughter's fate, Lee's parents rushed to the Appellate Division in Brooklyn and obtained a temporary order keeping life support in place. 
 
 
 
 In a motion to the four-judge panel, Lee's parents spelled out their objections, arguing that their daughter has "devoted her life to her faith." 
 
 
 
 They note that she has worked at her church, ran a Bible group at work and went on missionary trips to South Africa, Ethiopia and Mexico. 
 
 
 
 "One of the tenets of the faith is the preservation of life under all circumstances," the parents' motion says. 
 
 
 
 "The removal of the respirator and/or the feeding tube is considered suicide. A person who commits suicide is condemned in the next life to burn in Hell forever." 
 
 
 
 "Obviously, this could not be (Lee's) intention," it adds. 
 
 
 
 Lee's lawyer countered that the incapacitated woman has made her desire to die crystal clear. 
 
 
 
 "My client had directed me in the clearest and most unmistakable of terms to 'not let that weekend pass,' " Smith wrote. 
 
 
 
 He also pointed out that she has no hope for recovery. 
 
 
 
 "Her brain stem is so utterly compromised that she will never again be able to breathe on her own," Smith's motion says. 
 
 
 
 Even with the court ruling against Lee's parents, a hearing scheduled last week on the issue of her father's guardianship is still slated for Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 But after huddling with the lawyers for Lee's parents in a closed-door meeting with the judge Friday, her attorney said there's little left to be decided. 
 
 
 
 Now, it's up to Lee. 
 
 
 
 "There are now no restraints remaining on her exercising her right to die," Smith said. "If and when she decides to exercise it, she can do so. But she has not made that decision." 
 
 
 
 rschapiro@nydailynews.com
– A New York state appeals court ruled today that Grace Sung Eun Lee has the right to die, the Daily News reports. The incurably ill Manhattan banker has begged doctors to pull the plug, but her religious parents did their best to stop the request. They even released a video in which Lee mouthed the word "Yes" to a question from her cousin—but that question was impossible to make out, reports the Daily News. "She has made herself abundantly clear,” said Lee's court-appointed lawyer. "They stand there all day, and tell her that this is Satan’s work—and she loves her parents desperately. ... This is just awful." Lee was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor last year and put on life support last month. But her father, a reverend, says that "when someone sets a time and date to die, that is considered as a suicide and sin." No word yet on whether her parents will give up their legal battle.