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Increasing number of disabled Israeli children sue for not being aborted
LifeSiteNews ^ | 11-10-11 | Christine Dhanagom

Posted on 11/10/2011 10:42:39 PM PST by ReformationFan

JERUSALEM, November 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “Wrongful life” lawsuits, in which doctors are held liable for not discovering fetal abnormalities that might have prompted parents to abort their child, have become so common in Israel that the government has set up a committee to investigate the issue, New Scientist reports.

According to magazine, wrongful life claims are more prevalent in Israel where a higher rate of genetic disorders caused by consanguineous (connected by kinship) marriages has fueled a “pro-genetic testing culture.” The county has seen an estimated 600 wrongful cases since the first in 1987.

While similar lawsuits in the United States and Canada are often brought by the parents of disabled children, it is common in Israel for the children themselves to demand compensation for the fact that they were not killed in-utero.

Asaf Posner, a medical malpractice lawyer who sits on the government’s Matza committee which is charged with investigating the issue, has obtained judgments averaging around 4.5 million shekels (about $1 million U.S. Dollars) for clients with spina bifida and cystic fibrosis.

Posner defends the lawsuits, arguing that the medical profession would “become corrupt” without criticism.

Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, a medical ethicist at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, disagrees. Steinberg has criticized the lawsuits as psychologically damaging.

“I find it very difficult to understand how parents can go on the witness stand and tell their children ‘it would have been better for you not to have been born,” said Steinberg, who also sits on the Matza committee.

Steinberg claims that some malpractice lawyers are travelling to small communities around the country where inbreeding is more common in search of potential clients.

He also noted that the prevalence of such lawsuits has caused doctors to overstate the likelihood that an unborn child may have a disability, possibly driving an increase in the number of abortions.

“More testing means more false positives – and that means more abortions, because geneticists don’t always know if results indicating the possibility of chromosomal abnormalities are meaningful. I’d like to see a study of aborted fetuses to see how many are diseased,” he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; abortions; avrahamsteinberg; christinedhanagom; dhanagom; disabled; israel; jerusalem; matza; prolife; rabbisteinberg; righttolife; steinberg; wrongfullifesuits
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To: LMAO

One thing that is off is that they talk about inbreeding and then later chromosomal abnornmalities. That sounds like Downs, which is not caused by inbreeding.


21 posted on 11/11/2011 1:07:33 AM PST by firebrand (It's almost too late.)
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To: ReformationFan

What an upside down world. Wrong is right. Right is wrong.


22 posted on 11/11/2011 1:52:05 AM PST by johngrace (1 John 4!- declared at every Sunday Mass.)
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To: presently no screen name
Needs a teleprompter. Corpsmen.

I think he's smart, not genius. But he is a lazy person who just doesn't give a crap at times. Also, the drugs he used (and may still) probably didn't help, either. As for muslim, I think he's too lazy to learn about and practice any religion.

23 posted on 11/11/2011 2:10:45 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Razzz42

I may be wrong but I think in Jewish tradition going way back the baby is viewed as a human being at the end of 40 days. But this seems to be a legal straitjacket that poor people who need help financing their lives under extreme circumstances have to go through. The government is now looking into this and we’ll see what they come up with. It’s an issue I never heard of before.


24 posted on 11/11/2011 4:06:44 AM PST by idov
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To: Persevero

Why don’t they become jewish suicide bombers and work for the military.

Doesn’t this speak more to inbreeding and a community screwed up spiritually than to any suffering.

They need to take their issue up with God - the originator of their lives and see if there isn’t a better purpose for their being born than hating their lives and their parents and their world. Maybe love is the answer. Maybe they’re getting too much governmental help.


25 posted on 11/11/2011 4:19:31 AM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: ReformationFan
When I first saw this headline I thought it was some kind of tasteless Jewish joke from The Onion or Scrappleface. Unfortunately, it appears to be true.

With every passing day I become more convinced that the Germans may have lost World War II, but the Nazis still won.

26 posted on 11/11/2011 4:28:14 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: Razzz42
I believe Jewish faith doesn’t recognize life beginning until the newborn’s first breath. I’m sure I’ll be corrected if wrong here on F/R.

For Jewish children life begins after the head has emerged from the birth canal. To kill the child at this point is murder and a capital offense. An unwarranted abortion prior to this time, though neither of the above, is still a very serious sin.

Jewish law holds that for non-Jews life begins after the third month. Any abortion after this time is murder/a capital offense. Again, an unwarranted abortion in the first three months is neither of these, but still a very serious sin.

Jewish/Noachide law not only allows, but requires the death of the child if the mother's life is in danger (the child in such case is classified as a rodef, a "pursuer" about to kill someone, and such a one must be killed to protect the life of the pursued if there is no other solution).

At a certain point for both Jews and non-Jews, however, the child may not be killed even to protect the mother's life. I believe this is the point of "ensoulment" (described above).

This is, of course, my own poor understanding of this complicated subject.

27 posted on 11/11/2011 4:29:35 AM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu.)
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To: ReformationFan

““I find it very difficult to understand how parents can go on the witness stand and tell their children ‘it would have been better for you not to have been born,” said Steinberg, who also sits on the Matza committee.”

If the case is “wrongful birth” why would the parent tell the child “it would have been better for you not to have been born”.

If the case is “wrongful birth” because the child was known to have genetic defects, the CHILD, not the parent would be making the abovementioned claim.

Somewhere, a product of the Columbia School of Urinalism was allowed access to a computer. Never let a “urinalist” near a computer - articles such as the one under discussion all too often result.


28 posted on 11/11/2011 4:34:25 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: Persevero

A post natal abortion?


29 posted on 11/11/2011 4:37:54 AM PST by Daveinyork
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To: ReformationFan

Lawyers convinced themselves that kids who whine “I wish I never was born” might have a case. Shameless.


30 posted on 11/11/2011 5:13:03 AM PST by Oratam
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To: ABQHispConservative

“What the hell is wrong with these Israelis?”

I worked for an Israeli company. The Israelis were socialists first and Jewish (meaning religious) fourth or fifth down the list. Religion only came into the equation when needed. Socialism is all about working the system to get an advantage over the other co-equals. For example, they loved the “free” health care system, but always talked about bribing their way to the front of the queue. Suing for free money is what’s in play here. The end result will be that more babies are aborted; perhaps for faults such as big noses or different colored eyes.


31 posted on 11/11/2011 5:20:28 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: ReformationFan

Easy solution. Give ‘em each a bottle of whiskey, a pistol, and one bullet.


32 posted on 11/11/2011 5:23:06 AM PST by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: Gen.Blather

Yep. People think that someone claiming to be Jewish is talking about religion. Many of them are talking about race.


33 posted on 11/11/2011 5:54:08 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: ReformationFan
[Medical malpractice lawyer] Posner defends the lawsuits, arguing that the medical profession would “become corrupt” without criticism.

Chutzpah!

34 posted on 11/11/2011 6:11:05 AM PST by Moltke (Always retaliate first.)
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To: Right Wing Assault

He’s a conman - shifty not smart.

He may be lazy but not when it comes to the things he wants.

He’s not a self man made, he’s been enabled all his life.

People considered intelligent fall for his sh!t.

Intelligence is over rated. Common sense is where it’s at, IMO.


35 posted on 11/11/2011 6:18:02 AM PST by presently no screen name
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To: presently no screen name

“.........I am not convinced he has a low IQ
Needs a teleprompter.
Corpsmen.

.........I am also not convinced he is a muslim.
BO: my muslim faith
GS: you mean your christian faith”

Oh sure, there are indications, he may be, I’m just not certain.


36 posted on 11/11/2011 10:04:47 AM PST by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
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To: Persevero

Gotcha. I’m not certain either.


37 posted on 11/11/2011 12:37:31 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: xp38

That won’t stop a lawyer.


38 posted on 11/11/2011 12:45:49 PM PST by haroldeveryman
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To: ReformationFan

What would Solomon do?


39 posted on 11/12/2011 6:03:32 PM PST by RichInOC (Sarah Palin is at war with the left. Most Freepers are just playing the video game.)
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