Posted on 01/25/2006 12:22:59 PM PST by SirLinksalot
After several months in this forum, I have never posted a vanity post before and this will be my first time, but I am posting this to find out whether anyone can help me find some moral direction on a life choice dilemma which is not different from the Terry Schiavo case...
I have a friend in Texas who was taking high blood medicine not knowing she was pregnant.
Very early in the pregnancy they took tests and were told that their baby will practically have no brain but being devout christians, they decided to go thru anyway.
Last week their baby was born and as predicted, without a brain but somehow she's breathing and "alive".
Now the parents are having second thoughts and just waiting for her to stop breathing and die.
What would be the most moral thing to do in this situation ?
Thanks for your feedback.
Tell them to do everything possible to stimulate the baby. Our great-grandson was born "without a brain". They said he would not live. He lived. They said he would be blind. He sees. They said he would be deaf. He hears. They said he would have no cognitive function. He laughs, he cries, he responds to and recognizes his family. He is growing and he is loved and cherished. He grew the right side of his brain. Then he grew most of his left brain.
Pray. We do not know what God can do. Miracles do happen. May God bless this family and give them a miracle.
Does it matter?, The diversity in the answers is quite impressive and educational.
It does feel like a "gotcha" kind of post, particularly since Sirlinksalot has not stuck around. But on the assumption that the question is genuine, I think people are right on the money here. Baptise the child (quickly), pray for his health, and support the family. There is really nothing else to do.
I am gratified that there is not a lot of discussion here about the utility of the life of this child. That way lies all sorts of horrors.
Nice to hear some good news out of Europe. Thanks. I'd like to believe there's hope.
Had this happen to my step sister. Just wait, the child will, most likely, die.
A short time to love and hold ones baby and a very trying time. May God bless them all.
I relate this story only to buttress the decision your friends made. My daughter was advised to selectively reduce one of her babies when she was carrying triplets because the Ob/Gyn said that one of the babies was "underformed" and it could adversely affect the other two. The Ob/GYN was fired in no uncertain terms and my granddaughter was the first born and is just as healthy and smart as her two 'younger' brothers.
Have the child baptized, first of all. Then, let God who brought the child into this world, take it back when He is ready. Everything happens for a reason. Prayers for the family and baby.
My heart goes out them and their child.
However.....
This child was born and lives to show us how merciful and great God is, not as punishment for anyone.
Billybob:
I truly believe that you and Mrs. Billybob made the right decision.
If it's known before hand that the baby has almost no chance of survival, don't allow the baby to be put through the agony.
And, while modern medicine may be able to prolong life of the newborn for a while, it's at a tremendous financial and emotional cost to the family.
Would it be right to wipe out the parents financial base for this one child, and deprive current or future children of the nuturing and material things that they need?
Feed the child with nourishment and love. Omg, how sad. If the baby is breathing, why are they saying he/she doesn't have a brain? How odd...
"no brain" I'm confused. I thought the brain controls the heart, lungs, and all bodily functions???
1. Pray
2. Feed the child, if it will eat by natural means.
3. Take care of it until it dies naturally.
You are right. The conversation it started is good. Me being the suspicious type, I think maybe he didn't stick around because the response didn't fit the template.
I may be wrong, but I've seen this method too often.
On the other hand, I agree with every one here. The child should be born, God gave it life, and it is rude for someone else, even the parents, to take it for convenience sake.
God will take it back on his own time, not ours.
From Alas, a Blog -
"Which countries have the least abortion? Belgium has an abortion rate of 6.8 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The Netherlands, 6.5. Germany, 7.8. Compare that to the USA's rate of 22. Even better, compare it to countries where abortion is illegal: Egypt, 23; Brazil, 40; Chile, 50; Peru, 56. ... If pro-life laws are the best way of reducing abortion, then why are the world's lowest abortion rates found in countries like Germany and the Netherlands, while some of the world's highest abortion rates are in countries that outlaw abortion?"
The blog failed to mention that Germany has a 3 times lower rate of abortion than the USA partly because abortion is, actually, illegal in Germany where it is legal in the USA. The fact that it is not punishable in the first 90 days doesn't mean the woman did not commit a crime and knows she committed a crime.
We will be lucky to see such a law in the USA. My point was: Germany is way more conservative than the USA on the subject of abortion and German women are 3 times less likely to get an abortion.
The question smacks of a hidden agenda in here somewhere, because from the story itself it's clear there is nothing that anyone can "do" about the situation.
Maybe the question should be more like:
"Since the parents can't do anything to cure their baby's hopeless condition, should they destroy him to make their lives easier, or should they just pray for the child and love it to the best of their abilities until God calls him/her home"?
In other words, do they accept their child the way he/she is, or do they reject him and send him back to God? The answer as to what the parents should "do" does not lie between the parents and their doctor, as one previous FReeper said; nor does it lie within the dreary confines of some Courtroom that seperates itself from God, but between the parents and God, Who created this child. If the story is true, God may well have created this child as an opportunity for one family to help redeem America from the chastisement we deserve for allowing Abortion to flourish and become an industry of death, body parts and 'research'.
Remember that Abraham asked God to spare Sodom & Gomorrah if He could find just ten holy souls in these cities, and God agreed. I pray that these parents will accept their wonderful little gift from God.
The story doesn't pass the smell test, IMHO. Besides the fact the baby could not breath on its own without any brain, the posing not responding clinches it. How can you have 70 posts over a topic like this and not stick around to respond?
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If you are for real, ok.
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I CAN ASSURE YOU THIS IS A REAL CASE. I am no troll, I have been here for many months and my posts bear out the fact that I am conservative through and through.
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