Are you kidding me?

[BrattishTaz]

A waste of resources? Caring for a baby? How much more does it cost to keep the child in the hospital than letting the family take him home? The family seems to understand he will not get better, they just want him to be at home when he passes. Should that not be their decision? The government should stick to national security and building roads and stay out of family matters. If they want to reduce spending I am sure they can find plenty of other programs that are wasting taxpayers' money.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
Sorry, but this hits a nerve. It's like saying GM's benefits are corrupted by my father, who is a medical retiree and has spent the last 15 years with severe health issues, PICC lines, IV feedings, no guts (he has a stomach, 3 feet of intestine, and a bag to empty). Yes, in 15 years, he's probably racked up close to a million dollars in care. He's had hospice twice, is never going to be "healthy" (unless someone starts growing guts and what not). For some reason he won't die, probably doesn't have the best quality of life, but he still wakes up each morning, and still gets enjoyment out of life and living.

We brought dad home to die, a few times. He stopped IV feedings once to die. For some reason he didn't. He's still costing GM a lot for his meds and ostomy supplies (I think it's about $5000+ a month).

Of course, my dad, another "waste of resources", is active in a variety of things, including helping neighbors and friends review their property taxes to repeal changes, active in the Tea Party, tutors in History, and also runs one of those unclaimed land contract businesses.

What's this to do with a brain-dead baby? Health care is not only for the healthy people. You can't pick and choose who should get it and who shouldn't. The kid doesn't know whats going on, so OF COURSE you should take the parents in consideration - they know and feel what's going on, and let them take the kid to die. I would like to know how the excuse of causing more "suffering" to a vegetative, brain-dead child can be used?? How can you cause suffering to someone who is no longer capable of any brain activity?

 

[justbugged]

Quote:
I didn't think you even could Fight Anencephaly, I thought you got the time you got, and that was it, 2 days max?

My daughter died anencephalic three days shy of 11 months. There were no heroic measures taken to prolong her life. That was a very bad year in our lives. At least she died in my arms, and not alone or in someone else's arms. She was similar to this little boy.

But I do know that once you take your child to a hospital even here in the USA, a parent has no rights regarding the care that their child gets. If you disagree with the treatment the hospital simply relives the parents custody, and the treatment will go on as the doctor wants it to. Parents have a frighting limited custody of their children if they are sick.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Someone needs to remind the doctors of the hypcratic oath. By choosing who will live like this they are using the work of mengal instead.

 

[kla37]

It really scares me to see governments do this kind of thing. Reminds me of Nazi Germany under Hitler when he murdered all the weak, sick, and retarded children.

 

[babyrnlc]

This kind of thing is why I was really against government getting into the health care. Patients are already loosing rights to doctors and insurance, when you add government panels into the equation, there it goes!

Already there are clients forced into surgery to have their babies. Because of the no VBAC rules in some states, women cannot have a vaginal birth after having a c-section, even when ACOG says it is ok.

I am almost a midwife and we do homebirths on healthy low risk women. They choose homebirth so they have some say in whether they get interventions that are uneccessary. Studies have shown on low risk women under the care of a certified midwife, the outcomes are as good if not better, and have less interventions and better breastfeeding rates.

Yet, with lower cost and similar outcomes, we still have to fight insurance companies to cover the costs. Some states it is not an issue, but in ours, maybe half of the insurance companies cover it.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
Big, big hugs.

 

[elizabethbinary]

Quote:

I kinda find it a bit offensive someone comparing a hospital not giving a child a surgery to Hitler killing millions of children, gypsies, gays and *ahem* Jews.

Not the same. Really.

And soooo not Mengel's work, either.

This is a tragedy, but compared to the Holocaust, really?

 

[chickened]

You are right bad comparison not even close.
Quote:

I kinda find it a bit offensive someone comparing a hospital not giving a child a surgery to Hitler killing millions of children, gypsies, gays and *ahem* Jews.

Not the same. Really.

And soooo not Mengel's work, either.

This is a tragedy, but compared to the Holocaust, really?

 

[Thegrayeyedgirl]

Quote:
I am a nursing student and hope to become a pediatric hospice nurse specializing in anencephaly. It is very rare for a family to fight for life support for one of these babies, usually when it is done it is for a organ-transplant study. I think there is a lot we still need to learn about the brain. I have read many testimonies written by parents of these infants challenging the belief that these children are completely unaware of their environment. New discoveries about the brain are being made as we speak. Recently, a boy was discovered on a scan to have no cerebellum but can still perform many of the tasks he is not supposed to be able to do without it, like talking and using fine motor control.

It is true that the damage done in anencephaly is much more severe and that most will not live more than a few days. However, some babies have more intact brain tissue than others and may very well be capable of feeling and purposefully interacting with their environment. That's the situation neuroscience is in, there is too much we don't know about the human brain. I'm not saying we should hook up every one to a respirator and put tubes in every orifice. It is the practice of nursing to give the child the right to die with dignity at the discretion of the family. I do consider them alive and worthy of being recognized as a living being who can be loved and cherished as much as any other child irregardless of their capabilities or time on this earth.

As for this child, I read the article about him and the parents even said they were willing to take him home with a tracheostomy so that he can die at home with his family. I have no idea why the hospital (?) (or is it just some panel of people who make these decisions?) has a problem with that. THAT is what they should have done the moment the parents gave their consent. The child would die and not be their problem anymore, he would just die at home, with his family, comfortable, not in a cold hospital. They are the parents and have the best for their child in mind. Whether this child is given life sustaining treatment or not, I don't think this hospital (?) really has the interest of the patient in mind. I think the parents really just want to have some say over their baby's life, or at least that was the impression I got. If a miracle happens, that is wonderful, give him a chance. If the child has a will to live he will live, if he is to die, he will die. Nobody in that condition should be forced to live, but there is always room for the hand of God.