Excerpt:
... In all these cases, the phrase "will not recover" was used, it seemed to Not Dead Yet protesters, as a kind of shorthand to justify the withdrawal of life-sustaining measures.
And this, perhaps more than any other point, was one we heard made from the Not Dead Yet camp: that people who were seriously disabled with "no hope of recovery" were seen as burdens on society in terms of their costs, their medical care, their needs.
People in the disability rights movement, by and large, are people who have serious disabilities. Virtually none of them will "recover." To them, the phrase -- its constant and patently unexamined use -- signaled an attitude much in evidence throughout society: that people who could not recover would be better off dead. Or that their families, or society, would be better off -- economically, certainly -- if they were dead.
That is a hard message to hear. And even if your disability is not on the surface anything like Terri Schiavo's, even if you can think and speak and write and work, if your disability is so serious that you require a feeding tube or a breathing tube or even a catheter -- and if you're not going to recover -- you fear being treated like Terri Schiavo. Maybe sooner, if you're admitted to the hospital for something unrelated like pneumonia or a tubal ligation and told that you should sign a "do not resuscitate" order -- something a number of our readers have reported happening to them. Maybe later, if your disability progresses to a point where you need more equipment, more assistance. But looming always.
Justifications come from the 'crats.
The tragic events surrounding Haleigh Poutre reflect the extraordinary challenges our social service agencies face with limited resources to support our most needy children and families. We need a safety net for these children but that can’t be done without sufficient resources.
Letter: When children are at risk
This is a rewrite of yesterday's story.
Duhart and his wife Yvonne were among 39 foster “all-star” parents honored personally by DSS Commissioner Harry Spence in May during an awards ceremony sponsored by the Department of Social Services and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
‘All-star’ foster dad charged in rape
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