Doc: Baby May Need Wheelchair

Fox News ^ | Monday, January 02, 2006 | AP

[stm]

ATLANTA — An Iraqi infant brought to the United States for treatment of severe birth defects is "interactive and playful," with good mental function, but will likely wind up using a wheelchair, her doctor said Monday.

[meanie monster]

i read that posted yesterday :( prayers to the baby!!!!

[CindyDawg]

How about, just the baby may survive and continue to be a happy child?

[HighlyOpinionated]

Let's hope that the impression "infidel America" makes on the baby's father and grandmother is so positive that they return to Abu Ghraib and spread the good news.

The Iraqi Hospital could have contacted any developed County in the world for assistance with this baby when she was first born. What was their reasoning for lack of compassion? Because the baby was a girl? Because the family was poor?

I hope that this family learns that in the USA, we take care of our children whether they're poor or rich, no matter what disability they have. (And taxpayers pay for it.)

This child would have had in-utero surgery and been born whole and complete if she'd been born in the USA.

And MAMA needs to be given a supply of Folic Acid pills so that the next baby is born without Spina Bifida.

[Chuck54]

How about, just the baby may survive and continue to be a happy child?

Agree. I have a nephew, 25 years old now, born with Spina Bifida. He has been in a wheelchair all his life, is well educated, has a great job, drives his own truck, and is more adjusted than most of his peers.

He doesn't even consider himself physically challenged, enters 3-5K races and enjoys life immensely. Most would envy him.

[CindyDawg]

That's right. I was watching this interview. The doc didn't act like he even wanted to go there. He was talking about how it was incrediable that she had survived as long as she had without surgery and what good shape she was in and how he felt she would have a good recovery.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In utero surgery for spina bifida is still pretty experimental and by no means result in complete repair of the defect.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYD/is_5_37/ai_83759842

And folic acid only prevents about 50% of spina bifida cases. The rest have other causes.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Unfortunately, I think the prospects in Iraq for a wheelchair-bound woman, who also is very unlikely to be able to have babies, is very very bleak. She's an adorable little girl, but I'm afraid any hope for a happy life beyond puberty is entirely dependent on her living in a Western country.

[CindyDawg]

Well, they won't know the exact entent of damage until after her surgery. Maybe if she is wc bound she will be able to make a difference in her country for the Iraqi diabled though.

[Chuck54]

I have always, 60+ years, viewed the glass as half full.

See tagline.

[CindyDawg]

That's a tough one. The Grandma was very courageous. Word is spreading. She had to have heard something to know that the soldiers might be able to help her baby.

[CindyDawg]

Mine tends to stay about 3/4 full:') When it starts getting a little low, I've learned where to go to fill it again.

[USS Alaska]

Charles Krauthammer uses a wheelchair. Is there any right thinking human that would suggest that the world would be better off without Charles? Many physically handicapped people lead very happy, productive lives. I hated that slanted headline.

[Chuck54]

I like your optimism........ :)

[Cheburashka]

Unfortunately, I think the prospects in Iraq for a wheelchair-bound woman, who also is very unlikely to be able to have babies, is very very bleak.
---
Let's wait and see what kind of country Iraq is in twenty years before we write off the kid's life.

[HighlyOpinionated]

My daughter's father-in-law and her husband have spina bifida occulta as does their first born. However, folic acid kept their second born from having the disability and she's pregnant with another and has been taking her folic acid all along.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Folic acid is effective where deficient intake of it, or a mild inability to use it properly, is the underlying cause of spina bifida. However, that is only about 50% of cases. There have been some women who have had a baby with severe spina bifida, taken plenty of folic acid subsequently, and had another baby with severe spina bifida anyway. If folic acid deficiency were the only cause of spina bifida, it would have been wiped out in the U.S. by now, since it's been several years that practically all grain-based staples including "junk food" have been laced with folic acid.

[MamaB]

We have an older friend who had this and is in a wheelchair. He is the most well adjusted person I know. He never lets anything get him down. When I was getting death threats, we went to his apt. to stay overnight. He lives in the Houston, TX area now. I miss him. BTW, hubby was out of town.