Baby Joseph Maraachli was a little boy not even old enough to be aware he was making international headlines in 2011.

He was at the centre of right-to-life struggle between a London, Ont. hospital and his parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader. They were a Windsor family backed by some controversial lobby groups.

Joseph was diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition. Doctors said he was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery and eventually wanted to remove him from life support.

However, Joseph's family argued that the one-year-old responded to touch and deserved a chance to live.

The London Health Sciences Centre suggested in the spring of 2011it was time to turn off the ventilator and feeding tube keeping Joseph alive.

The Maraachlis refused and the case ended up in court but the judge ruled in the hospital's favour.

Experts, family were at odds

Even with a date set for baby Joseph to be taken off the ventilator and feeding tube, the family didn't give up. They insisted the doctors insert a tracheotomy tube to help Joseph breathe on his own. The family's goal was to see him die peacefully at home in Windsor.

"He will pass away natural and he will pass away with love and he will pass away peacefully [with] humanity," Moe Maraachli said at the time.

Canadian medical experts called the tracheotomy futile for a dying patient.

The hospital offered to transfer baby Joseph home to remove his breathing tube there.Baby Joseph Maraachli's story garnered international attention. (Courtesy of Moe Maraachli)

But that wasn't good enough for the family.

Maraachli called it a case of money.

The story began international making headlines.

The hospital alleged people began making threats it. It eventually placed a security detail in the paediatric critical care unit.

The story became a political flashpoint for U.S. healthcare and right-to-life issues. .

"Right now, what's happening more and more, is the courts are taking over and doctors are imposing their decisions upon families," director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schadeberg told Fox News amid the debate.

Doctor Marc Siegel of New York University criticized government for playing a larger role in cases like Joseph's.

Worldwide support

The case took a religious turn when the New York group Priests for Life offered to pay to have Joseph transferred to a U.S. hospital for the tracheotomy.

In March, Joseph and Moe boarded a private jet bound for St. Louis, where the youngster received his tracheotomy.

A Facebook campaign to save Baby Joseph attracted more than 15,000 followers worldwide.

Priests for life called the controversy a question of "cherishing life over the bottom line" and money poured in to the group to pay for Joseph's medical costs.

The tracheotomy worked, and Joseph started breathing on his own. A month later, he returned to his home in Windsor, where he lived for five months before dying.

"Fly away and tell God about what happened with you and tell him about that doctor that tried to kill you," Moe Maraachli said at a news conference after his son's death.

Joseph's parents said shortly after their son's death that they don't plan to have any more children - nine years ago Joseph's sister, Zina, died of the same condition.

Moe Maraachli said he plans to honour Joseph's legacy by speaking out to help sick and dying people.