SPRINGFIELD, MASS. ? Doctors are split over whether the state should remove the feeding tube from a comatose 11-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten by her adoptive mother and stepfather.

Haleigh Poutre’s two doctors at Baystate Medical Center agree she should be removed from her ventilator, but one of them is opposed to removing her feeding tube, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The two doctors agree Haleigh would die within a few days without the feeding tube.

The papers were filed by attorneys for Haleigh’s stepfather, Jason Strickland, who wants to keep her alive and could face murder charges if she dies.

Authorities say Haleigh was beaten nearly to death in September by Strickland and his wife, Holli Strickland, the girl’s adoptive mother. Shortly after the couple were released on bail, Holli Strickland and her grandmother were fatally shot in what police say was either a double murder or a murder-suicide. Jason Strickland has not been accused in those shootings, and has pleaded innocent to beating Haleigh.

The state Department of Social Services now has custody of Haleigh and is seeking to end her life support, citing what doctors have described as a permanent vegetative state. Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the agency, declined to comment on the case Wednesday.

A Juvenile Court judge has approved the DSS request to take Haleigh off life support, but that decision is being appealed by Jason Strickland before the state’s highest court.

Holli Strickland had taken custody of the girl – born out of wedlock to her own sister – before she married Jason Strickland. Strickland’s fight to keep the girl alive has nothing to do with the possibility he could be charged with murder, one of his attorneys said.