http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/01/father-life-support-baby-court
Anorak Forums » Backlash
Will the High Court Show Mercy or Permit a Murder?
(7 posts)-
Posted 3 weeks ago #
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There was a case many years ago of a little girl born dreadfully handicapped, her parents won to keep her alive at any cost. Since then they have had more and healthy children , and young Charlotte has been officially abandoned to her fate by those self same parents.
I'm not sure if Nature and her Guardians have allowed death to occur, but her quality of life was abysmal then......
Striving officiously to keep alive? It should only be in the person directly affected best interest
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I well remember that case, June, I was on holiday in the UK and the coverage was massive in the newspapers. I continued to follow it once I got back here.
Yes this child was born with a terrible defect yet he is not brain damaged, recognizes his parents, plays with toys. Does he have a good quality of life - no. However, mentally he is normal - he sees, he plays, he recognizes his parents and no doubt he feels the love given him by his parents.
If they justify putting to death a person not brain damaged nor brain dead and permit doctors to play God and decide who lives and who dies where will it stop? People wth advanced MS, people with advanced Parkinson Disease, people with Lou Gerhigs disease have a very poor quality of life but have their mind - start killing them next?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Lets hope whoever makes any decision does so with the childs quality of life in mind - I understand he can bang a drum and paint with his hands and feet, if he lives to 20 is that going to be all he can do?
His lungs need suctioning out periodically, a very painful procedure.Fortunately for me its not a decision I should ever have to make, but I could break my neck tomorrow and be in a similar situation as the child, and I would hope that someone would turn everything off.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
That is why a Living Will is so important to have, June. Mine runs four pages, had it drawn up by a lawyer, covering every single possibility of what could cause me to no longer have a quality of life and any wire or tubes to keep me alive are not to be used and if used to be disconnected immediately. Signed, a seal of notary, witnessed and attested to that I was of sound mind when it was drawn up. A Living Will is honored over here and even a doctor or family member can't go against it. Many hospitals now require you have one and it is kept in your medical files if you are admitted to the hospital. The hospital near me keeps copies of Living Wills with the blanks to fill in and gives it to the patients admitted to the hospital so they fill it in and it is put in their files.
One can run into real problems if a DNR is not signed by a patient and they are kept alive with tubes, oxygen or whatever it takes and they can last for months and even years just a vegetable.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
the childs father has withdrawn his opposition to allowing the child to die
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
The doctors switched off his life support and he died shortly afterwards
Posted 1 week ago #
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