As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow document protruding from the pouch of her daughter's wheelchair, making sure it was clearly visible. Posted on 12/10/2007 10:11:05 AM PST by Sopater
As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow document protruding from the pouch of her daughter's wheelchair, making sure it was clearly visible.
In bold letters it warned, "Do Not Resuscitate."
The DNR order goes everywhere with Katie, including her 2nd-grade classroom at Laremont School in Gages Lake. The school is part of the Special Education District of Lake County, where an emotional two-year discussion ended this summer when officials agreed to honor such directives.
Now, district officials find themselves in the unusual position of having planned the steps its staff will, or won't, take to permit a child to die on school grounds. Although DNR orders are common in hospitals and nursing homes, such life-and-death drama rarely plays out in schools, where officials realize how sensitive and traumatic the situation could be for nurses, teachers and students.
Katie's brain was deprived of oxygen before birth. She can't walk, talk or do anything for herself. She is fed through a tube in her stomach and has an increased susceptibility to infection. Violent choking and coughing spasms have signaled a turn for the worse in her condition.
A Do Not Resuscitate order is a doctor's directive, issued with the consent of the family, that cardiopulmonary resuscitation will not be used if the patient suffers from heart or breathing problems. It can also prohibit using such devices as a defibrillator or an intubation tube. 
The new DNR policy puts Katie's school district at the forefront of a growing national debate about severely disabled and chronically ill children whose lives have been extended by medical advances -- and whose parents must face heart-wrenching decisions about the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Keep her home. Play with her. Read nursery rhymes, play music....
It is one thing for these wishes to be honored in a hospital, but I don’t think schools should be put in this position.
I agree with you in the sense that it’s not fair to force others watch someone die if they don’t choose to watch.
I just wish more people would see it as an honor to be with someone....friend or relative, right up until the end. Too many see it as too ‘icky’ etc.
Its the one time it’s all about them and not about you at all.
So your argument is that if I can be demonstrated not to uphold a moral principle, then the moral principle itself does not exist?
Hopefully you are aware of the flaw in that argument.
You have no right to make decisions for other parents.
And the parents, in their turn, have no right to make decisions for me.
If their child is dying in front of their eyes and they do not lift a finger to help her, that is their decision. And if a fellow human being is dying in front of my eyes and I do lift a finger to help her, that is my decision.
These parents do not have the authority to rob me of my conscience or my moral agency.
Nothing frightens me more than people who grab control of other people’s children because they “know better.”
Boo.
Unless of course your 12 year old daughter wants an abortion, then the school doesn't even have to tell you.
NCLB (No Child Left Behind).
Glad to hear it. That wasn’t clear from the article, given that “special education” classifications in public schools consist mainly of ADD (including a lot where acting like a boy is the only symptom) and dyslexia. The girl in NJ a few years back who was attending elementary school with a DNR order WAS in a classroom where the other students were there for academic instruction (possibly “special” in the ADD/dyslexia sense, but certainly a classroom where normal academic goals were being pursued).
“I just wish more people would see it as an honor to be with someone....friend or relative, right up until the end. Too many see it as too ‘icky’ etc.
Its the one time it’s all about them and not about you at all.”
I just wish the parents of this poor little girl felt that way, then none of us would be discussing it and none of the people who may be forced to witness her passing would be having to think about it.
Being with a family member when they go is one thing, being forced to act as the grim reaper for a child you’re supposed to be teaching is going way too far.
This little girls death will be an extremely unpleasant thing to have to bear witness to and the parents should have the good grace to not subject anyone other than themselves to it.
Absolutely nothing I've said could lead someone to that conclusion.
It is up to the parents if they want to stand aside and watch their child die. The state cannot compel them to keep her alive.
If anotehr person sees a fellow human being dying and tries to help her, the state cannot compel that person not to help.
It is the parents who are trying to use the power of the state to compel other people to act against their own moral judgment.
I am not advocating using the state as a weapon against the parents.
hooray!!!! you are so far the only poster on this thread that makes any sense at all...... I applaud you ( I was watching this thread to see if anyone would make sense, you win )
No, it's not fine to teach that homosexuality is okay - at least not with me.
And this child is not just in a wheelchair. She is incapable of doing anything required for learning in a school environment (i.e. reading, doing math and so forth). I also do not believe it is right to put a child who is so close to death in with other children. How traumatizing it would be for them to have to witness this child's death. It is also not fair to expect the school system to just stand there and let her die.
No, this child should not be in school.
And again, that is a liberal argument that preaches YOUR opinions should trump the parents'. If I teach my children that homosexuality is wrong, and a teacher thinks that's "homophobic" and "unhealthy," are you arguing she has a right to overrule my decision?
But I guess since you, in the grand liberal tradition, know better than everyone else you have been given a moral duty to make decisions for others.
Thank you for bringing your painful personal experience to this thread. Though my position isn’t based on first hand experience, as yours unfortunately is, I come to the same conclusion. And as a taxpayer, I would be very angry indeed if any taxpayer-supported institution caring for your daughter didn’t respect your wishes that she not be artificially resuscitated again. You know much better than any government bureaucracy or self-appointed busybodies what’s the most compassionate choice for your daughter.
I have to side with the school on this one. A child who cannot speak for herself having a DNR order? I wouldn’t honor it.
Parents make decisions for their children, not schools.
IDEA - the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It’s a federal law that was passed in the 70’s requiring schools to try and educate all students, regardless of their disabilities. I was once paid to “tutor” a legally blind, permanently disabled child who could not walk or talk.
That's a very magisterial statement.
I can personally testify that intubation is extremely unpleasant.
This little girl deserves some peace and happiness with God, she has endured enough.
She certainly deserves peace and happiness - but we really do not have access to her sentiments in this matter at all.
What I do know is that no one has the right to force someone to violate their conscience and lose their peace and happiness by compelling him to do something immoral.
HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE A SEVERELY DISABLED CHILD?!?! HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER CARED FOR A SEVERLY DISABLED CHILD?!?
HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE HEART-BROKEN EVERYDAY ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOUR CHILD AND WANT EVERY BIT OF HAPPINESS FOR YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER THAT YOU CAN SQUEEZE OUT OF LIFE?!? BUT CONVERSELY TO REJOICE IN THE BLESSING THAT YOUR CHILD BRINGS TO YOU AND EVERYONE AROUND HIM EVERYDAY?!?
I DO!!!
MY GOD! SOME OF YOUR HEARTLESS COMMENTS ARE BEYOND ME! I AM NOT EXPRESSING AN OPINION ABOUT THE MOTHER’S DNR DECISION, I AM COMMENTING ON OTHER OPINIONS THAT ARE BEING VOICED HERE.
AND YES, I AM YELLING!!!!!!
Pam
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