What a wonderful story. Sadly most Americans are so obtuse that they wouldn’t make any attempt to save a child with any disability.
I am more than skeptical about this story. I am unaware Idespite the writer’s claim) of ANY doctor who would advise a woman to abort a child. This is not only against the canon of ethics it is also AGAINST the law and is an actionable item that the medical board would love to know about.
Further there is no name of the hospital in Modesto where this so called incident took place. IF in fact a doctor made the recommendation to ‘sign over’ the baby there is no actual ability for a hospital to take charge of such a child.
Nothing in this story rings true. Cleft palate has been well understood for over 50 years and has been handled seamlessly since the 60s.
I am ringing the dumb bell because this story is entry made up. It is so far outside the norms of medical practice in the US as to be laughable
Hell, I can remember a kid in my highschool decades ago that had a hare-lip that looked EXACTLY like this kid’s, and the kid I’m talking about was from a wealthy, upper-middle class professional family. The general consensus was that his hare-lip was kinda cool, and it made him different, but different in a cool way.There was no ostracism, no shunning, no talking behind his back. He was accepted. As was the ONE black kid, named Willis, ONE black kid in a school with a student body of 2000) whose father was a Baptist preacher in a nearby town (Northern suburbs of Chicago) in a tiny storefront church that serviced a small totally black population who were arrayed throughout a number of local towns.Guess what-—everybody liked him too!This was in a highly-rated High School whose student body was at least 50% Jewish, and the sons and daughters of dentists, doctors, lawyers, engineers,etc.
Just remember as far as we know, we all have but one day to live; today.
Make the best of it, love those you are with.
Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die.
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Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
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Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Please tell me this was a Khmer Rougue doctor, or a Nazi concentration camp doctor.
Doctors do this all the time these days.
My daughter went to see the doctor when she was pregnant with her first child a few years ago, and had an ultrasound. The doctor said that the baby MIGHT have Down’s Syndrome, and recommended that he should be aborted. My daughter refused. Her son, now about three, is normal. But so what if he had been a Downe’s syndrome baby? They are very special people, from all I have seen of them, and I’ve known a fair number of Downes people, of all ages.
Similar experience with my mother, who was in a nursing home for quite a while. Occasionally she’d be sent to the hospital, with breathing problems from pneumonia or the like. Almost invariably, the doctors in charge at the hospital would try to get me to agree to have her taken off food and medication. I refused. I think she lived a difficult but happy life in the nursing home, until her end finally came, and she died peacefully.
No hearsay about it. The medical profession no longer takes the old Hippocratic oath in some medical schools. Not all doctors, but too many of them, have that sort of attitude.
While the parents were obviously focused on saving the life of their son, they could have helped a lot of other people by noting which doctors wanted their baby dead.
If other parents can just find out about medical people with attitudes like this, they can avoid them. And eventually it is going to “leave a mark” on their career. Hospitals and HMOs start to notice if more than a few patients start avoiding certain medical people.
Importantly, no one has to give a reason, nor should they, of why they refuse the services of a particular doctor. They have a legal right to ask for a different doctor.
What really sends up the red flags is when being referred to a particular kind of doctor, like an OB/GYN, they request “any doctor, except for Smith or Jones.” Rejecting a doctor when you haven’t even met them definitely attracts attention.
After all, it's a very pleasant and peaceful way to die, isn't it?.
I’m commenting on the basis of having been an NICU nurse for many years. There is a huge difference between a “cleft lip and palate” and a “bilateral cleft lip and palate” that this infant had. A bilateral cleft takes multiple, expensive surgeries as the infant grows so this isn’t a simple, surgical fix. Secondly, I am aware of ethics panels advising and pressuring women to abort. I’ve seen it. Also, when I got pregnant at 35, my Ob’s office nurse repeatedly tried to pressure me into having AFP screening done, to the point of having a screaming tirade. At least as a nurse with experience in the area I could defend my position and have the strength to not be intimidated and back down. This story neither surprises me or sets off my “BS meter.”
Beautiful story. Some people think they are god and will make choices reserved for the real God.