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 ...
Theology really is a neglected discipline in our schools.
But I flatly stated over and over again that I am not. Her parents and her doctors have decided, and as a matter of fact I disagree. But that doesn't give me the right to make decisions for her family.
You, however, seem almost enthusiatic about being the ultimate arbiter when it comes to other people's decisions.
How big of them.
The fact that they are dying while at school does not make it right.
I maintain that children should not be dying in schools, they should be dying at home with their loved ones around them.
Show me scripture or catechism that requires the administration of defibrolators, intubations or CPR. The Catechism of the Catholic Churchs says that food, and water and reasonable care must be provided, but that extraordinary medical intervention is not mandated. I don’t know of any requirement in scripture.
If I am in the area of this child and the child starts choking and passes out. The parents are forcing me against my conscience to not help the child. Maybe I could clear their air tube, maybe I could prop her up, maybe I could do many other things that would bring about a resuscitation that doesn't involve CPR. That is how they are forcing, thru a court order, to try to coerce my conscience.
If they want this DNR order to be carried out then they should have the guts to be there and enforce it when it happens.
For someone who disagrees, you are certainly striving mightily to argue that letting her die is for the best anyway and - even more contradictorily - that those who disagree should be legally forced to violate their own consciences.
You, however, seem almost enthusiatic about being the ultimate arbiter when it comes to other people's decisions.
I understand that you are willfully creating straw men and deliberately ignoring my very obvious point.
But for those entering the thread here, I'll explain again.
The issue is whether the parents of this child have the right to dtermine the decisions of other people - specifically whether tehse parents have the right to force other people to watch a human being die without helping that dying person.
Again, the parents have every legal right to stand idly by and watch their child die.
They have no right to tell other people to do the same.
They do not have power over my conscience or anyone else's.
The parents are selfish jerks,if they force somebody else's kids to participate in this. then they should sued into poverty
“As far as the parents ‘squeezing’ Uncle Sam for money...”
I believe it is Katie’s constitutional right, as opposed to the children of people who brought them here illegally or snuck in illegally to birth an anchor baby, to have ‘equal access’ to whatever level of education she can achieve.
I think it’s under the “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” clause...
“Two words:
Federal funding”
School districts do NOT make money off educating severely handicapped children. It costs them money.
It depends on the DNR...
Nothing you’ve described is heroic efforts.
If they don’t want simple comfort measures (like you described) then I agree, she should stay home.
I wouldn't either.
And I can't imagine having a DNR order for my child... just the thought makes my heart skip a beat...
No one stands ‘idly by’ when someone they love is dying. They’re in a special place that none know of unless they’ve been there. It’s extremely unpleasant and not one thing you do or don’t do is the right thing.
And again that’s like arguing a parent’s rights disappear when the child goes out in public.
The parents and the doctors have issued a DNR order. I’m sorry you feel you’be been placed on the Earth to make decisions for others.
For those that don't like it, complain to your congress member.
I agree with you.But this kid belongs in hospice or a in hospital, other children should not forced to participate in this.
No one has the right to traumatize other peoples kids
I would hazard a guess based on the picture above and the fact that this is a ‘special school’ she is not the only one in a critical or delicate physical condition
Let's break it down:
(1) There is no moral requirement to use extraordinary means to keep someone alive. Neither Scripture nor the Catechism specifically address defibrillators, intubations or CPR as belonging in the category of extraordinary means - but I would argue that the use of defibrillators and CPR at the very least are not extraordinary means in the current context, but rather very ordinary means.
I would think that a ventilator would be extraordinary in the case of an individual who simply cannot breathe on their own. Typically a person who is defibrillated or receives CPR can breathe on their own as soon as they are stabilized.
(2) Whether or not these qualify as extraordinary means is immaterial, because the real question at hand is: is it moral to prevent someone else from helping a dying person?
It is clear from Scripture and the Catechism that coming to the aid of those in distress is not morally prohibited.
(3) And so the moral issue is: do the parents have the moral right to stop a classroom aide from performing CPR on their child? And the answer is: they do not.
Mary Sowers, Principal
Laremont School serves students exhibiting severe to profound mental impairment and/or multiple disabilities. Laremont presents an educational option for students with acute medical needs, requiring extensive support services, best delivered at a centralized site. Feeding, personal care and positioning these students are very labor-intensive activities, which occur daily at Laremont. A comprehensive program of physical, occupational, and speech and language therapy as well as nursing services and concentrated supervision and care are cornerstones of the total Laremont program.
The school's curriculum emphasizes the teaching of functional skills, with particular emphasis placed upon communication, activities of daily living (ADL’s), recreation/leisure skills and vocational skills.
Whenever feasible, instruction is delivered in "natural" settings, including frequent excursions into the community.
Therapy and instructional goals are developed in a collaborative effort, by each student's team, led by the classroom teacher. Therapy services are provided in an integrated manner, with specific enabling activities incorporated into the classroom routine.
Laremont School encourages the community and parents to participate in the provision of quality educational services, by becoming involved with parent support groups, the Parent-Teacher Federation (PTF), or by attending the many informational programs offered throughout the school year.
Laremont’s mission, as with all of the Special Education District of Lake County, is to provide “Exceptional Service for Exceptional Students”.
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