Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Yanking Life Support From UK Baby Demonstrates Dangers Of Socialized Medicine
thefederalist.com ^ | July 3, 2015 | Nicole Russell

Posted on 07/03/2017 11:34:08 AM PDT by Morgana

In a heartbreaking case in the United Kingdom, Connie Yates and Chris Gard just lost their final appeal in battling for their son Charlie’s life. This means the hospital where 10-month-old Charlie has been staying since birth will now legally remove his life support, essentially euthanizing an infant against his parents’ wishes.

Charlie was born last August with a rare disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage. Medical staff at the hospital believed he would not improve and it was best for Charlie to “die with dignity.” His parents did not agree, so the case went to a judge, who affirmed the hospital’s recommendation. The European Court of Human Rights concluded that the UK’s decision to deny the couple’s right to remove their son from the hospital to obtain care in the United States did not violate the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The UK’s system of socialized medicine provided the framework for the legal system to usurp these parents’ rights. It’s a two-headed dragon of law and socialized medicine that could easily pair to usurp parental rights in America as well. Courts Versus Parents

Unlike the United States, the UK has legal precedent that strongly supports state impositions on parental rights and child welfare. Within months of Charlie’s hospitalization because of his debilitating disease, the hospital lobbied to pull Charlie’s life support. His parents objected, hoping Charlie could receive experimental treatment. The couple raised more than $1.3 million via GoFundMe to come to the United States for that purpose. The two parties—three if you include Charlie’s court-appointed attorney—quickly came to an impasse, so the issue went before Britain’s legal system.

(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: abortion; charliegard; nhs; prolife; terrislist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 07/03/2017 11:34:08 AM PDT by Morgana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Duh!


2 posted on 07/03/2017 11:40:44 AM PDT by BigEdLB (To Dimwitocrats: We won. You lost. Get used to it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Socialized medicine is the selling of yourself to the government. THEY decide if you live, or die; THEY decide on your treatment for illness; THEY own you, lock, stock, and barrel.


3 posted on 07/03/2017 11:43:17 AM PDT by FrankR (FULL REPEAL, OR NO DEAL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
Socialized Medicine - "You don't have any right to conscience".

These parents should declare their Independence from a tyrannical out of control government and flee to the U.S.A. to seek asylum on Independence Day. UK Socialized medicine is a modern day George III.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

4 posted on 07/03/2017 11:43:35 AM PDT by frogjerk (We are conservatives. Not libertarians, not "fiscal conservatives", not moderates)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: frogjerk

They would need a lot of help to do that as the baby is on a ventilator and cannot be taken off of it. Perhaps Trump will send a medevac plane to get him. We will have to see.


5 posted on 07/03/2017 11:46:22 AM PDT by longfellowsmuse (last of the living nomads)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

They won’t let them bring their child home to die either.

This is all an exercise in government control-freak-ism.


6 posted on 07/03/2017 11:46:53 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

How very Nazi of them...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_unworthy_of_life


7 posted on 07/03/2017 11:48:45 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BigEdLB

Big Ed please! You know it, I know it but the left are very slow learners.


8 posted on 07/03/2017 11:49:12 AM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Just who does own the body you live in? Once they pay for the maintenance, the State.


9 posted on 07/03/2017 11:55:10 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

> Yanking Life Support From UK Baby Demonstrates Dangers Of Socialized Medicine <

Actually, it demonstrates the dangers of socialism, period.


10 posted on 07/03/2017 11:57:39 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog
the parents should be able to bring their baby home but if that requires a ventilator and all the equipment WHO is paying for this?...

its all well and good to try to keep people alive with machines but somebody's going to have to be the grownup and say enough...

11 posted on 07/03/2017 12:02:13 PM PDT by cherry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Sarah Palindrome was correct


12 posted on 07/03/2017 12:05:53 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the close)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
A mother from NJ recently criticized lifetime caps on insurance. What does she think will happen if we adopt UHC?

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/jersey_moms_healthcare_plea_for_3-year-old_son_goe.html

13 posted on 07/03/2017 12:09:11 PM PDT by Malcolm Reynolds
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cherry
but if that requires a ventilator and all the equipment WHO is paying for this?...

Apparently you either didn't bother to read or you missed this:"The couple raised more than $1.3 million via GoFundMe to come to the United States for that purpose."

14 posted on 07/03/2017 12:11:02 PM PDT by 2nd amendment mama (Self defense is a basic human right!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 2nd amendment mama

It doesn’t appear that money is a factor in this case. It is possible that Charlie is too unstable to move, meaning that even with a portable vent and medical staff to transport him, that he would most likely die from being moved. Without being on his medical team that is impossible to know. It is the only reason I can come up with for them ( the hospital to not allow it)


15 posted on 07/03/2017 12:19:03 PM PDT by longfellowsmuse (last of the living nomads)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
The phrase "death with dignity" is a euphemism adopted long ago by euthanasia advocates. Of course we all hope our own deaths will be "dignified," so it is a brilliant propaganda phrase (much as "choice" is a nice word used to disguise the ugly reality of abortion).

However the late Dr. Sherwin Nuland wrote that there really is no such thing as death with dignity. Other doctors say the same: All Death is Death Without Dignity

Still, the pro-death Left continues to use the phrase successfully to win the battle of public opinion. Remember how Terri Schiavo's husband used it against her parents, pretending that only he had her best interests at heart? And yet, when he legally killed Terri by denying her water, she died a prolonged, agonizing, horrifying death.

16 posted on 07/03/2017 12:32:59 PM PDT by shhrubbery! (NIH!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: longfellowsmuse

From another article, a group of specialists had determined that the experimental treatment would not be effective and the court followed that determination.

My question is, how would they know? The doctors who are offering the experimental treatment do not know whether it will work or not that is why it is called experimental.

I think it boils down to state control freakism. They wouldn’t even let the parents take their child home to die. Total state control freakism.

I hope and pray that Charlie gets a chance to live and grows up to tell the EU/UK courts to stuff it.


17 posted on 07/03/2017 12:56:36 PM PDT by joshua c (To disrupt the system, we must disrupt our lives)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: joshua c

I think they believe that his brain damage is irreversible. Also the specialists who developed the treatment would know how it works and whether it could reverse damage already done. Articles on Charlie’s case have sometimes conflicted so it’s hard to know the real story, but I have read that even the US doctor offering treatment doubts it will help Charlie.

Without having all the information of his medical team I am not willing to accuse the doctors who have cared for him so long of wanting him to die... just because they say so. Just my opinion.


18 posted on 07/03/2017 1:09:27 PM PDT by longfellowsmuse (last of the living nomads)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: longfellowsmuse

Moving Charlie is difficult but he’ll be out of that hospital and in God’s hands. Leaving him to languish longer is insane.


19 posted on 07/03/2017 1:11:23 PM PDT by glenduh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: glenduh

What if moving him causes him increased suffering or pain? Again not being on his medical team it’s not possible to say. It is my opinion only that Charlie probably has no idea of his surroundings, but I do believe that allowing him to go home to die would be the compassionate and right thing to do for his parents as long as it doesn’t add to his suffering.


20 posted on 07/03/2017 1:32:18 PM PDT by longfellowsmuse (last of the living nomads)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson