[cherry]

tears and prayers as well, but this little boy was in the hospital for a year...a year....no culture, no society, no govt not even a millionaire family could afford to keep a sick one in the hospital for a year....most of us could not afford it for one month...

do all of us deserve one full year in a hospital...the 300 billion of us?....it can't be done....

what makes human beings os arrogant to think they can reverse naturally occurring tragedies?.....every sickness or disorder...every injury?

this poor little tike could have gracefully gone to God long ago...his status hasn't changed....his condition has not improved nor was it ever to improve.....

we use all of God's gifts to make things better in this world, but would God expect us to break every rule of nature to keep someone breathing?...I can't imagine so... Some things belong to God alone.

I know I'll get flamed, but that's okay...its just my opinion....

[Brad’s Gramma]

Well then, using that logic....He (God) must not know what He’s doing as He let this child live that long.

NOT a flame.

[LucyJo]

My problem is the manner in which it is being handled.

The father wanted an operation that would allow him to take the baby home and care for him there.

That was denied him.

They plan to administer a large dose of sedative when he is taken off the ventilator. Depending on the type and strength of the sedative it could affect his breathing, so they would never know whether or not he could actually breathe on his own. Doctors are not incapable of error.

I understand the premise of your comments, and I agree up to the point of men playing God by “helping” the baby to die. After everything possible has been done to help the person to strengthen and breathe on their own, the decision about whether or not they can live on their own should not have interference from anyone playing God. In this case they are “helping” him to die.

I would have wanted that operation and a sufficient amount of time to tend the baby on my own to see if there could be any improvement.

[IIntense]

Cherry, I'll get flamed along with you if that happens. I'm pro-life, 100% against Obama, Pelosi, Reid and every congressman who said "yes" to this insane health care bill and their callous approval of abortions..

If the only thing that kept this dear little child alive was living in a hospital, then, painful as it is, he wasn't going to have any real life without a miraculous solution to heal him.

As a mother I can imagine the pain of the parents and family, but for this little guy's sake, letting him go just might be the right thing to do. He obviously can't survive on his own.

So very sad.

[SatinDoll]

You’re right, Cherry. I don’t like what the doctor’s are going to do, but he cannot breathe on his own nor move any muscles. He is imprisoned in his own body.

If he can’t breathe on his own he will never have a decent life. This is a horrible condition for anyone to be in, much worse than prison.

I know that none of us like this, but if any of you were in this state for a year and knew it would be the rest of your life, would you want it to end?

[waxer1]

You said that beautifully. I agree with you. It should be the parents choice. As I have said here before, My husband and I had to make that choice for our little boy. Was so hard to do. In the end we did the right thing.

Just because we can keep a person alive indefinately, does not mean that we should.

God Bless those parents

[wintertime]

I was wondering if the parents could have been trained to care for him at home? Many parents are capable of taking over very complex nursing duties.

[July4]

Within the year, a polio victim who spent most of her life in an iron lung, passed away after reaching old age. She had, despite her immobility and inability to breathe unaided, earned a college degree, written a book, and participated in her community.

Dear God, please remind us over and over that life is precious. Every life.

[wagglebee]

but this little boy was in the hospital for a year...a year....no culture, no society, no govt not even a millionaire family could afford to keep a sick one in the hospital for a year....most of us could not afford it for one month...

do all of us deserve one full year in a hospital...the 300 billion of us?....it can't be done....

what makes human beings os arrogant to think they can reverse naturally occurring tragedies?.....every sickness or disorder...every injury?

I seem to remember reading about a group proposing these ideas before, I just can't seem to remember who it was who proposed them . . . oh wait, now I remember.

“This person suffering from hereditary defects

costs the people 60,000 Reichmarks during his lifetime.

People, that is your money. Read ‘New People’.”

[John Leland 1789]

Well, our daughter was born with very little brain tissue. The neurosurgeons said that if she lived to be 4 days old they would be surprised, but only then would they install a shunt to relieve the hydrocephalic pressure.

The shunt was leaking at 21 days and had to be revised. Only then did we fully understand the acuteness of her condition.

The doctor took us in a completely dark room with the baby. He chatted with us while our eyes grew accustomed to the dark. Then he placed a flashlight shining into the baby's “soft spot.”

Her cranium lit up from ear to ear -— unbelievably translucent. “There,” he said, “Look for yourselves, this child virtually has no brain—she is USELESS(!)-—she could never be any more than a severely retarded vegetable. Now, let us revise the shunt and take her away. I'll prepare the papers-—the state will take her-—go home and forget she was ever born.”

That was the expert testimony we received IN 1979:

“SHE IS USELESS.”
“SHE COULD NEVER BE ANY MORE THAN A SEVERELY RETARDED VEGETABLE.”
“THE STATE (Florida) WILL TAKE HER.”
“GO HOME AND FORGET SHE WAS EVER BORN.”

That “useless” child turned 30 this past July.

She is a math whiz.
She is a musician.
She is a poet extraordinaire.
She works at a Christian day school in Alabama.

If something like Obamacare had been implemented by 1979, our daughter would not have made it.

I'm grateful there was no Obamacare then, and I will continue to fight against anything like Obamacare now.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

But healthcare is free in England and much better than what we get here in the US. /sarcasm