Here Here!

In a message dated 2/6/2002 5:35:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> As a young adult with cerebral palsy, I remember being extremely shocked
> when I heard via the media that Robert Latimer had murdered his young
> daughter, Tracey. She was said to have severe cerebral palsy, and was
> unable to walk, speak, or move without assistance. The view of the media
> at the time was that this was a "mercy killing", and that any sentence
> given to Robert Latimer should be lenient. This outraged me at the time,
> and it still does. I do not believe that the killing of Tracey Latimer was
> merciful. Due to the fact that she could not speak, she could not choose
> to be killed, as did people such as Sue Rodrigez, who had ALS. Her father
> murdered her with carbon dioxide. If Robert Latimer had killed one of his
> able bodied children, he  most likely would  have received life in prison.
> Susan Smith, a mother in the United States who murdered her three young
> children by sending her still idling car into a lake, did. The punishment
> should have been no less for Robert Latimer, and Tracey's life should not
> have been seen as any less valuable than that of an able-bodied child.
> Robert Latimer's sentance made me wonder why society thought my life less
> valuable than those of my able-bodied peers.
>
> It was said that Tracey Latimer was suffering. As a person with cerebral
> palsy who suffers from chronic pain, and has endured several of the same
> medical procedures as did Tracey Latimer (including the hip operation
> which Tracey's parents did not allow her to undergo, called a femoral
> derotation osteotomy), I can attest to suffering. I also know how much
> having both orthopedic and neurosurgery can improve an individual's life,
> rather than increasing suffering, as Robert Latimer seemed to think. I
> also know many people with cerebral palsy who are thriving while being
> given daily tube feedings, yet another pricedure that the Latimers would
> not allow physicians to perform for their daughter. Tube feedings have
> allowed many people I know to put on weight, thrive for the first time,
> vocalize for the first time in their lives. It makes giving much needed
> nourishment and medication to people with severe diusabilities much
> easier, and many families that I know are NOW ABLE TO ENJOY MEALTIME,
> RATHER THAN STRUGGLE THROUGH IT, because their child with a disability has
> a feeding tube.
>
> Though surgeries bring short term suffering, they often allow people to
> make longterm gains that would have been impossible had they not undergone
> the procedure.
>
> I realize that the Latimers lived in a rural area, and thus did not have
> as much access as they needed to things such as Respite Care, the
> Victorian Order of Nurses, or Extend A Family (an organization that
> screens volunteer families and trains them to look after the needs of
> children with multiple disabilities), so that families can be given a much
> needed break several times a month.
>
> However, if the family was near its breaking point, things such as
> involving the Children's Aid Society should have been followed through.
> This way, Tracey Latimer would have become a ward of the state, and would
> have received the medical care she desperately needed. Her family could
> have had access to visit her at any time, and would not have had the
> burden of caring for her.
>
> What Robert Latimer did was murder his daughter, and not allow her choice
> or quaity of life. The social implications of the case are wide. I often
> wonder if my life will be as valued as my able-bodied contemporaries,
> should anything ever hapen to me. It is hard enough for people with
> disabilities to prove themselves worthy, whether this be in school, in
> locating a place to live, or holding down a job. We need to be on an even
> playing field with our peers and fellow Canadians. Yet the Latimer case
> proves that, even in the age of inclusion, we are not. For Tracey's life,
> smile, laugh and dancing eyes were not valued by the courts, or the
> majority of Canadians. As a person with cerebral palsy, I worry about the
> long term implications of this. If the lives of citizens with disabilities
> are not valued by society, will services such as nursing care, therapy, or
> funding for equipment also be cut? Society needs to value life as
> something sacred, whether one is rich or poor, disabled or not. Everyone
> is a human being and should be treated as such.
>