Kill the disabled babies..Eugenics rears it's evil head

[undergroundpanther]

The college is arguing for "active euthanasia" to be considered for the overall good of parents, sparing them the emotional burden and financial hardship of bringing up the sickest babies.

Their submission to an ethical inquiry into increased survival rates reads: "A very disabled child can mean a disabled family. If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome."

Geneticists and medical ethicists are supporting the proposal - as are some mothers of severely disabled children - but a prominent children's doctor described it as "social engineering".


http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1639102006

How long until it's proposed gay kids are not worthy of life or black kids or kids who aren't snowflake white and genetically pure? You destroy biodiversity you destroy life itself.

[Wonk]

1. Yeah, we really need this debate tonight :/

:popcorn:

[jillan]

2. As a mother of a "disabled" child

who is the absolute sunshine in my life...

I think you should repost this another day.
Right now everyone is too pent up about tomorrow.

This is too sick for my brain to handle tonite.

[undergroundpanther]

4. Ok.

I'll repost. But I think there may be others that may find the post informative or whatever. I wasen't expecting a debate more of letting it be seen. Sometimes articles like this get shuttled away forgotten and nobody knew it was written. That is why I post it.

[bananas]

5. unfortunately

when we talk about things like "the Friday night news dump" we are talking about real things.

k&r my friend

[Nite Owl]

3. Or it's too expensive to care for the child

and the parents don't have the money. That happens in this country already to the uninsured. No money and no health insurance or the insurance you got doesn't want to pay and the tubes are pulled or the treatment not given.

[papau]

6. "Eugenics" is not the same as heath care cost discussion - although result is

The point I believe is that in a world where there is no limit on what can be done to sustain life - and its cost, but there is a limit on actual economic resources for heath care, one gets health care denial decisions that do indeed mean death.

In Oregon they made up a list of procedures that would be covered. Anything else one used private resources or previously purchased catastrophe insurance. When resources ran out - you die.

It sounds like they are applying these same facts of life to the cost of care of the newly born.

Harsh - but is it eugenics?

[DemExpat]

7. Here in Holland this is practice offered for cases where

doctors and family want to prevent further suffering and pain of extended treatments and operations with little prospect for substantial improvement for the very seriously disabled newborn.

I very much support this compassionate option - with proper and strong safeguards - and don't see it as extending into issues of skin color, sexual orientation etc.

Personally I fear for the possible eugenics in advocating/requiring fetal screening and testing of all pregancies, (with pressures for abortions) but in this case, where the suffering of the baby and future prospects are concerned I see it as a way out of suffering that is only made possible with medical advances.

The college's submission continues: "We would like the working party to think more radically about non-resuscitation, withdrawal of treatment decisions and active euthanasia as they are ways of widening the management options available to the sickest of newborns."

Although the college says it is not formally calling for active euthanasia to be introduced, it wants the mercy killing of newborn babies to be debated by society.

I gave birth to my children at home here with a doctor who would have allowed me to let my baby die in my arms if it had been born with a terribly serious defect with little hope for cure or with prospects of years of painful surgeries and treatments, so I do understand the dilemma of parents of babies born or taken to hospitals where this might not be allowed in many circumstances.

DemEx