'How could our doctor call my baby retarded?' Grieving parents claim NHS staff asked (tr)

Daily Mail ^ | Dec 03, 2017 | STEPHEN ADAMS

[Oshkalaboomboom]

The grief of Hannah and Ben Day when their baby daughter Iris died at five months old was incalculable.

To their heartbreak was added the agonising question of whether her life could have been saved if a vital heart operation had not been delayed three times, as an inquest heard last month.

Still, as they look back now, the parents cherish the memories from every day of Iris’s short life.

But it is a life that would never have begun if they had followed the shocking proposition by NHS staff to abort their baby 37 weeks into the pregnancy because she had Down’s syndrome.

Now Hannah and Ben have spoken to The Mail on Sunday of their horror at being asked to consider ending Iris’s life just three-and-a-half weeks before she was born – and of their disgust when one doctor used the repugnant term ‘mentally retarded’ to describe a child with Down’s.

Last night the Days, a professional couple who met while working in the City, said they felt like they were treated like ‘an annoyance to the NHS’ from the moment Iris was diagnosed with the genetic condition in the 36th week of pregnancy.

Ben, 41, an insurance broker at Lloyds of London, said: ‘From the outset, we felt like we were steered towards an abortion.’

Hannah, 29, added: ‘I just don’t agree with this notion that, if the baby’s not perfect, it shouldn’t be brought into the world. Because Iris was an IVF baby, for us she was our little miracle. She was so wanted – and every day with her was precious.’

The case raises unsettling questions about attitudes towards Down’s syndrome in the NHS, amid concerns that a new, highly accurate pre-natal test for the condition could lead to more babies being aborted.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Full title: 'How could our doctor call my baby retarded?' Grieving parents claim NHS staff asked if they wanted to abort their daughter at 37 WEEKS because she had Down's syndrome

This is a disturbing trend, led by Iceland which proudly claims to have had 0 babies born with Downs syndrome, of aborting or refusing to treat babies with defects. A very slippery slope.

[nevermorelenore]

My neighbors drove to Colorado to do late term abortion because the doctor told them the baby would have health issues. They sought no second opinion. I grieve for the baby boy who was murdered, and for the souls of his parents who made this choice. Sometimes doctors are wrong

[Dr. Sivana]

There is a problem with doctors pushing abortion. A recent "wrongful birth" suit for millions provides a reason doctors may feel under pressure to do so, though it doesn't justify it.

That said, the words "mentally retarded" taken out of the context of kids' name-calling in school is descripitive. Is a Downs' child's mental capability retarded, kept at a lower level than it should be? Of course it is. It doesn't say the child is evil, or unloving (quite the opposite with Downs), or worthless. It is just saying that learning will come slower and harder for him, and with a lower ceiling.

One might say that would be fine except for the fact that the expression has been used for taunting. Yes, and when those are blacklisted, new terms take their place, "riding the short bus", for instance. Just like "handicapped" became "disabled" became "differently-abled", etc., doesn't fix the problem, it just makes everything harder to describe.

If the doctor said the child will be a "retard", that is clearly different, as it makes his essential characteristic out of his handicap, as opposed to simply providing part of a medical description of his health (Downs' kids often have heart conditions, etc., too).

For the record, I have a Downs' brother-in-law, who is a joy to the family. He is mentally retarded, though we have no need to discuss it.

Our world is a sadder place because so many Downs' children are killed instead of loved.

[Vaquero]

This is government sponsored ‘FREE’ healthcare at its best.

[teeman8r]

My nephew was diagnosed in utero as a downs baby... he is a doctor now

[exDemMom]

“Mentally retarded” is a descriptive medical term. IMO, the way to fight back against using the word “retarded” as a pejorative is to refrain from doing so and to explain that “mentally retarded” is a medical condition, not an insult. The problem with finding a new phrase to describe the medical condition is that whatever new phrase is coined will soon become a pejorative.

The other issue here is that there is an attitude among certain medical professionals that some lives just are not worth living. The mentally retarded fall directly into that category. The medical professionals who feel that way push parents into aborting their “imperfect” children, and no doubt feel perfectly justified in withholding needed medical treatments from those children on the basis that their lives are worthless. These children used to be used in medical research, a practice which is now considered ethically indefensible because they cannot consent to being experimented on. However, the fact that the medical profession has now come to see that conducting research on these kids is unethical does not mean that the medical profession has advanced ethically in other areas regarding disabled children.

In general, the views of the left contain major cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, they want to kill off anyone who cannot be a productive member of society, whether due to disability or age. On the other hand, they want as few people working and as many people being burdens on society (i.e. dependent on government handouts) as possible. These two views are diametrically opposed. But there is no consistency in leftist views.

[I want the USA back]

Well, first of all, what do you expect from the government running hospitals and the medical profession? The government wants you to have an abortion (cuz you’re Christian, idiot) so as to take the burden off the NHS. You wanted the government to give you “free” healthcare, and in return you got the goverment telling you to kill your baby. What did you expect?

[Tax-chick]

The problem with finding a new phrase to describe the medical condition is that whatever new phrase is coined will soon become a pejorative.

Very well said.

[Nifster]

Exactly why I didn’t take any such test years ago

Don’t take the test if you don’t want the answer

[BenLurkin]

Ping

[Mrs. Don-o]

Nevermore: "Sometimes doctors are wrong."

True. And abortion "doctors" are always wrong.

Tagline.

[alexander_busek]

es, and when those are blacklisted, new terms take their place, "riding the short bus", for instance. Just like "handicapped" became "disabled" became "differently-abled", etc., doesn't fix the problem, it just makes everything harder to describe.

You are absolutely correct!

And before there was "handicapped," it was "crippled." Each new expression seems to have a half-life of about twenty years.

Regards,

[Atticus]

If anyone reading this is interested in this subject I urge you to read Power of the Powerless by Christopher De Vinck. It is by a school teacher who grew up with a severely (underscore severely) disabled brother who was supposed to die in infancy and who lived to be 33. Read it and ask yourself if your own life is worth any more than that of Mr. De Vinck’s brother, Oliver. Reminds me I am due for a re-read.

[dhs12345]

No doubt doctors and scientists can be wrong and make errors.

They are playing God.

Worst of all diminishing the value of life changes the public’s attitude towards something that we know so little about. Similar propaganda happened in Nazi Germany. Beware.

[right way right]

Our side just lets this happen and nothing changes because we are unwilling to do what it take to stop it because it may involve a little violence.
I’m sick of hearng about it without any effective action.

[SaraJohnson]

Given socialists like to cover up their abusive government activity, how much of this kind of abuse really goes on in England? How many innocent people do they murder with carelessness. Same with our VA, but on a smaller scale.