(no subject)

[techdragon]

I am having a hard time processing this....

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20041130%2F1754217753.htm&sc=1103&photoid=20010410NY190

EDIT: [AS IN] I can't seem to form an opinion on this subject as presented in the article. I don't know whether or not to be for it or against it - for this specific ideal.

Comments

[wolfka.livejournal.com]

I may very well be lambasted for this - but i am a supporter of legal human euthanasia. And i guess, i think if the parents are in agreement with the doctor's decision... then it would be okay to do.

But i don't have kids... and maybe my opinion would change if i did. But it's just my opinion, and i can accept being thwapped over the head for it.

~megan

[kitnish.livejournal.com]

I'm used to having unpopular beliefs. :) I support legal human euthanasia too. While I think life is precious and should be protected, when a person is suffering and in pain with no hope for recovery, who are we really serving by making them live until they die of "natural" causes? Them, or us?

[wolfka.livejournal.com]

I have to admit mine stem from watching my grandpa die a lingering death with lung cancer, as well as, seeing euthanasia being carried out on animals. If it's okay to do to animals why isn't it okay to do to humans? Humans are animals too... no matter what the creationists would like you to believe.

But as i said before - i don't have kids - i do have a pit mix though.. and i know that if he ever gets too sick, or bites someone badly i will have to put him to sleep. I will have to kill him. That is not something i am comfortable with but it is my responsibility. I am sure i will have plenty of people tell me it's "not the same..." and perhaps they are right... but it will still hurt like hell to kill something i love so much.

But this topic like all emotionally charged topics are subject to perception. And how i can equate human life to animal life? I am sure it's not normal... sorry guys, never said i was.

~megan

[techdragon.livejournal.com]

I haven't formed an opinion yet... it is hard for me to process. I support legal human euthanasia when the person is able to make a decision about their own situation. I always think of the worse when 'others' make the decision for them - as in the case of children. People might do it for insurance money or other horrible reason.

Also, medicine is always changing. 15 years ago a child with leukemia had a 10% chance of survival - now that chance is 85%. But that is here is the US not in a third world county? Does that allow those parents to make that sort of decision when it wouldn't even have to be though about in the US?

I just don't know.

[kitnish.livejournal.com]

I guess I was reading the situation there as legalizing euthanasia for babies who will have to live on life support their whole lives, or who are severely deformed and in pain, not just ill children, since the doctor in the article was saying it would only affect about 10 cases a year. It would be a hard thing to regulate. You'd have to rely heavily on doctors making ethical recommendations. I hadn't thought about the insurance angle. I just can't conceive of people who would hurt someone else for money, so it didn't occur to me. :(

[techdragon.livejournal.com]

I think that the article focuses on infants but unfortunately I always think of ...where will this lead to next? Because that's how laws change, by thinking of the next logical step. If you allow the process for an infant on life support what about the two year old, or the three year old?

I hate it but some time I think the worst of what human kind can do. I try not to read the news because I can't get images of human cruelty out of my head. Like the mom, who cut her baby's arms off, in 'post partum depression'. That stuff make me ill... this issue, I have no idea.

I think that responsible parents should have the choice. I also think we should be at a place, medically, that we should know that there is a problem before the baby is born or even before the 3 month abortion cut off date so decision can be made before birth. That is my opinion but it is hard to say.

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the late-term abortion procedures available to the mother of a child with spina bifida are far more cruel and painful than an injection of sedatives after birth. And prior to the last trimester it can be very difficult to diagnose.

[techdragon.livejournal.com]

See... more information I just didn't know.

ACK! this forming an opinion thing is hard than it looks! :)

[asaka.livejournal.com]

Doing it for the insurance money won't work, though I think people might still try because people are blaring idiots.
Life insurance will not cover intentional death, be it suicide or euthanasia. And often, life insurance will not cover infants because there's suspicion there from the get go.

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

I felt horrified when I heard the initial teaser for this story...but then I heard the doctor himself speak on NPR. The 5 babies euthanized so far were already in the process of dying from severe spina bifida, were undergoing intense, irremediable pain, and the doctors were begged by their parents to end the childrens' suffering. The doctor made it quite clear that the hospital was bringing this to the attention of the media and government in order to be given a very clear set of legal guidelines.

I acknowledge that this is an extremely slippery slope, but after hearing the doctor speak I feel confident that he was/is acting in an honest and ethical manner, with full involvement of both doctors and parents in the decision. If my child were suffering horrible pain without possibility of relief, and were terminal, I have to say I would seriously consider euthanasia, just as I would like someone to do the same for me.

[muse-de-nuit.livejournal.com]

I know it sounds bad to "euthanize babies," but I had a cousin with severe spina bifida who lived for about two months in the most wretched pain I've ever seen. She convulsed almost continuously, mouth permanently open in a silent scream, hands shaking violently clenched. It was horrific. I was only about 13 at the time, and I grew up on a farm (where animals born with deformities were promptly put down to end their suffering), and so it was inconceivable to me that they couldn't do anything for this tiny human being. I only hoped that her serious neural defects kept her from *consciously* suffering... hoping that only her most basic animal brain functioning was operational... but even then I wouldn't want to see any creature suffer like she did. An overdose of sedatives would have been a blessing, in my opinion. I think if the doctors determine that the infant is terminal and they can not control his or her pain... and the parents make an informed decision to have to the procedure... then infant euthanasia should be legal. Of course, that's just my opinion along with a little background on how I developed it.

[asaka.livejournal.com]

Along the same lines as my pro-choice stance: I don't support killing babies. But I do support mercy. And I do not think euthanasia is "murder". Granted, a baby can't make decisions for themselves, but on the other hand, you can see when they are in pain and are going to die anyway. What's the other option? If it's known they're dying, then they will die. Just either in a long and painful way or in a short manner. Nothing would have happened that wouldn't have in the other scenario aside from some pain and suffering can be skipped over.
This is why we euthanize our pets when they get so sick they are dying too. And I don't say this to belittle babies at all because I love my cats deeply.
I think the media makes too much of this. In fact, I think the media is corrupt once again, but that's for another post. Rather than sharing news and facts they now have taken the role of sharing and enforcing opinions. Damn them.

[obafugakum.livejournal.com]

I support a hospital policy that lets the parents and doctors make this decision together. Is there room for abuse? Yes, but there always is. Could this lead to other less ethical policies, or doctors pressuring parents (or vice versa)? I won't say it can't happen. But the policy that was stated in the article I found very humane.