Haleigh Poutre Almost Victim of Euthanasia, Now Making Good Progress

Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- Haleigh Poutre was the victim of child abuse and was nearly killed via euthanasia when Massachusetts officials gave up on her after she entered a coma. Now Poutre, once termed "brain dead" by doctors, continues to improve and is speaking a few words, her grandmother says.

Sandra Sudyka, the girl's biological grandmother, is no longer allowed to visit her granddaughter and now says she is ready to speak to the media about Poutre's condition.

She told The Republican newspaper that she last saw Poutre on July 18 but indicated she was "doing well."

"She was bright-eyed and smiling. She is always responsive to us," Sudyka explained.

Department of Social Services had asked Sudyka not to talk with reporters about Haleigh, but since they will no longer allow her and Haleigh's biological mother, Allison Avrett, to visit the 12 year-old, she said she's going to talk to the media.

"I decided since they broke the deal, I am going to talk. People should know how well she is doing," Sudyka told the newspaper.

"They don't want people to know how she is doing after they wanted to pull the plug," Sudyka said.

DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro declined an interview with The Republican but said that the visiting privileges have been suspended, not terminated.

"I was saying to her 'I love you,' and she was trying to say 'love' and it came out as a vibration...'ove,'" Sudyka said.

Sudyka, who is working with an attorney to adopt the girl, said she has said hello, responds to comments and questions, speaks nonverbally and is able to write her name. Haleigh can't walk and is confined to a wheelchair.

Avrett, Poutre's biological mother, lost custody of her daughter after physically abusing her. Poutre was put into a foster home where her adoptive parents also abused her. Her adopted mother committed suicide after abusing Poutre so much she had to be hospitalized.

DSS took Poutre into custody and when she appeared to slip into a coma, the agency asked the state Supreme Court for permission to take her life. That's when Poutre began responding.

Poutre has been receiving physical, speech and occupational therapy since January 26 at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton.

Gov. Mitt Romney appointed a commission to look into how the state failed to properly handle the girl's case.

I just crawled down out of the woods unshaven and refreshed and am now catching up. Here is an update from ProLifeBlogs I noticed right off the bat and catching my attention...

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Experimenting on the Incapacitated

A recent article appearing in the Journal of Medical Ethics addresses the suggestion that medical experiments should be conducted on those who are considered in a permanent vegetative state. A chilling, if not frightening, account is reported by BioEdge:

What should be done with patients deemed to be in a "permanent vegetative state"? A discussion in the current Journal of Medical Ethics shows that there is a growing interest in using their bodies for medical experiments. They would be especially useful in studying the long-term effects of transplanting animal organs. The patients often survive for years, and if a virus affected their brains or other vital organs, very little harm would be done.
Some bioethicists have even contended that PVS patients are actually dead and can be treated as cadavers. But Dr Steven Curry, of the University of Melbourne, disagrees, partly because they aren't dead and partly because it would be too difficult to persuade the public that they are.
PVS patients are alive, he contends, but they have nothing to lose and they can contribute to the common good:

"Those who are in a PVS will not ever wake up, they feel no pain or discomfort and have no continuing interest in their own survival... these patients must also have a right to risk that life for the common good... The patients will not be able to have children and have no capacity for movement, so that their possible confinement does not violate the interest that underpins the right to free movement... Also, no risk of withdrawal of consent exists."
Ideally, of course, people should agree in advance to such experiments by enrolling in a register. But it is unlikely that many people will, as few people anticipate living in a comatose state for several years. Hence, says Dr Curry, it ought to be possible to get others to consent on their behalf "with reference to the person's values and stated preferences". ~ Journal of Medical Ethics, Oct

The utilitarian view of human dignity is apparent in the article and I see an implied proposition suggesting that the value of those who are considered PVS is linked to their contribution to the common good, which is enhanced by their use in experimentation. This seems consistent with the grisly reality of denying the intrinsic worth of humans. I wonder what would stop the same ethicists from asserting the legitimacy of organ harvesting from those who are PVS? For that matter, what about using those who, because of physical condition, can not longer contribute to society in what is considered a meaningful way? There is very little which cannot be justified when the standard for human dignity and value is linked to the perceptions of society.

Some bioethicists, including the euthanasia fanatics who sponsored Terri Schiavo's death via dehydration, believe that those in a PVS state are dead. This is, of course, a convenient redefinition for those who are anxious to experiment on others. Yet, it should be noted that Louis Viljoen awoke from a three year coma after he was administered a sleeping pill. Note that doctors had diagnosed Louis as being in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). They told his mother he would never recover.

Doctors gave Haleigh Poutre a death sentence by characterizing her as "virtually brain dead" and in a "permanent vegetative state". Less than three weeks later, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services pushed to remove Haleigh's feeding tube and respirator and won approval from the State Supreme Court to so. Despite her "hopeless" condition, and her status as "virtually brain dead", she began showing signs of improvement and was weaned off her ventilator. She is now in rehabilitation, able to eat scrambled eggs and cream of wheat, and has tapped out drum rhythms during physical therapy.

Experimenting on the Incapacitated

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I learned something this morning, that I must be a "Dominionist" as the attempts to label us and stuff us into an understandable box would infer. But the libs did it again, trying to use a "one-size-fits-all" box...

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto.

They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions.

In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody.

THE DOMINIONISTS / FAR RIGHT THREAT TO AMERICA

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"This district does not want a John Kerry Democrat representing them in Congress," says Florida state legislator Joe Negron. We are standing outside the St. Lucie County GOP headquarters, and Negron, as usual, is in a hurry. After our chat he will dash off to sign the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) no-new-taxes pledge. "I have a strong affiliation with ATR," says Negron, of the group run by Grover Norquist. During our conversation Negron repeatedly boasts that he is a "fiscal conservative.
The good news for Negron, 45, is that he is running for Congress in a heavily Republican district, Florida's 16th, which George W. Bush carried by 8 points in 2004, and where, according to a recent poll, likely GOP voters outnumber likely Democrats 47 percent to 32 percent. The bad news is that he has only five weeks to cobble together a campaign before November 7. He is taking the place of former Republican congressman Mark Foley, who resigned in disgrace, and under Florida election law, Foley's name must remain on the ballot. So Negron now has the unenviable task of convincing voters to pull the lever for "Mark Foley"--understanding that by doing so they'll actually be voting for Joe Negron.

Is Foley's Seat Really Lost?... His name is still on the ballot, yet a Republican might still win.

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Joe Negron is campaigning to fill the seat left vacant by Foley. Here is more on him and his challenge as written in Human Events...

Most Sunshine State sources agree that Negron is more conservative than Foley (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 79%), who was pro-abortion and backed hate-crimes legislation. However, Negron lost a special election run-off for the state legislature in 1999 to social conservative Art Argenio, and then won his state house seat in a rematch a year later. In both races, Associated Industries of Florida and the Christian Coalition backed Argenio.

In office, however, lawmaker Negron has been firmly on the right on almost all issues. Rated 100% by the Christian Coalition, he backed a parental notification law and the Terry Schiavo intervention. Negron also led the house effort for corporate tax credits to provide private school vouchers to disadvantaged children and was a founding member (along with present U.S. GOP Rep. Connie Mack) of the anti-tax Freedom Caucus in the Florida house.

Meet Joe Negron: Pinch-Hitting For Foley

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From LifeNews...

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- At a press conference in Washington on Wednesday, the family of Terri Schiavo unveiled a memorial to her life and legacy. The Schindler family made public the creation of a magnificent sculpture, entitled "Compassion" that is a tribute to her life and a reminder to not subject the disabled to the same kind of euthanasia death she endured.

Created by artist Ron Berry, the sculpture represents the compassion Terri Schindler Schiavo received during her last moments.

The sculpture depicts an angel comforting and shielding Terri with one wing and motions heavenward with the other in anticipation of Terri's death and her going to Heaven.

Four cherubs are perched around the base of the Compassion sculpture and they face away from Terri towards the four corners of the earth, charged with the judgment on humanity for allowing such a travesty to occur, the family said.

Terri Schiavo's Family Unveils Memorial Commemorating Her Life

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More Florida RINOplasty and deFOLEYation at work...

TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis are largely staking out the political middle to win the Florida governor's race, with only subtle differences dividing the two contenders across a wide array of social issues.

Unlike Crist's Republican primary opponent, Tom Gallagher, who veered far to the political right, the Nov. 7 contest is a matchup of two moderates who barely mention abortion, gay marriage, gambling or other such divisive issues as they campaign across the state.

"Usually, you expect the Republican candidate to be the more socially conservative and the Democrat tries to push back against that," said Darryl Paulson, a professor of government at the University of South Florida. "But if there's not much of a difference between the candidates, these issues are taken off the table, politically."

Crist, Davis struggle for distinction on social issues

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Lest there remain any doubt about how libs see the world through fogged over glasses, here is the latest fantasy of how they really think decent people prefer to see some innocents like Terri killed and would consider attempts to save her were bad.

There's even more for Republicans to be blue about. Folks in the usually solid red states of the interior West aren't high on big government or meddling social policies. That's bad news for today's GOP and good news for Democrats.

Snip

President Bush’s GOP, however, is making a Democratic pitch to libertarian-minded voters more credible. The Republican Party is rapidly losing its identity as the party of fiscal responsibility and small government. And Republican intrusions into private and local affairs — think Terri Schiavo — are making Democrats look comparatively restrained. It’s counterintuitive, but the current Republican fixation with social hot buttons could be a boon to Democrats in much of the interior West.

Ryan Sager: Purple mountains

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