Children are more likely than adults to significantly recover from severe brain injuries, and some neurologists say they would want to wait at least a year before concluding that a child had stagnated in that state with no hope for a better life.
''I wouldn't give up before a year," said Dr. Douglas Katz, medical director of the traumatic brain injury program at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital.
from: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/27/girl_with_damage_to_brain_is_sent_to_rehab_center/?page=2
It is the second paragraph that really worries me. Will THEY decide whether or not her life is worth living after a year or so?
That's what it sounds like to me. I pray they will change their minds to ever consider removing her feeding tube. While I'm sure it is no picnic to have considerable brain damage, it is also not worth killing someone over. There are worse things in life, giving up is one of them. Time should be on Haleigh's side, not against her.
These are the words I fear most. Whether the patient will "recover" is rapidly becoming the benchmark for euthanasia. Already, supposed chances of recovery are routinely used to argue for killing the patient. The presstitutes picked right up on it.
Nobody has a crystal ball. Nobody truly knows if a patient will get better or how much better. The decision to kill will be made in the dark. If poor prognosis is the standard for snuffing patients, there may be no more medical miracles in the future. Patients will be in the crematorium before God can hear anyone's prayers. Among them will be many who would have recovered, and all of them will have been denied their right to live.