[gogogodzilla]

I dunno... Some mercy killings are necessary.

Like if the newborn had two heads and a spine formed outside the body; who's life expectancy was measures in hours.

I thinks that would be a permissable mercy killing, if the parents agreed.

But these rules are too vague. To say that the infant must be suffering with no future treatment leaves the definition of suffering up to the doctors.

What if they judge that blindness or mental retardation is 'suffering'?

A blanket ban is not the answer, but neither is this.

[ScreamingFist]

But these rules are too vague. To say that the infant must be suffering with no future treatment leaves the definition of suffering up to the doctors.

Excellent points. My cousin gave birth to a child with his liver on the outside, he had many operations and is now 20 something and lives a full life. Would the Dutch doctors have called him untreatable?

[Monterrosa-24]

Why would mercy killing be necessary if the child has terminal deformities? He or She will die anyway. In the meantime, measures used to treat them might provide a learning experience for the medical staff....certainly a better experience than just giving a lethal dose of painkillers.

[w1andsodidwe]

Like if the newborn had two heads and a spine formed outside the body; who's life expectancy was measures in hours.

I thinks that would be a permissable mercy killing, if the parents agreed.

I disagree.

A couple years ago, I saw a TV program about these two little girls who basically shared the same body from the waist down. They walked, talked, went to school, swam,etc. Why would you be OK with the doctor killing them.

Spine outside the body, is basically spina bifida. I could never agree that this should be a resaon to kill the children. Often they are born with spinal fluid backing up to the head, but a shunt can be inserted to prevent brain damage.

[hinckley buzzard]

Its requirements include a clear diagnosis and prognosis; that the newborn baby must be suffering hopelessly and unbearably with no prospect for future treatment; that both parents must give their informed consent;

Your reservations are apt. This is an emotional document, intended to assuage the consciences of the killers and persuade the parents, not a scientific one. There is no objective definition for example, of what "unbearable" means- or what if the administration of analgesic or narcotic medicines can reduce the "suffering" to "bearable" levels.

It is akin to the fundamental Hitlerian concept of the "medicalization" of killing as elucidated by Dr. Robert Jay Lifton in his epic 1986 work The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide.

This document is not intended to make it "legal" or "ethical," but to make it easy.