On 11/21/06, Meg N. Carter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I think people accepting people with disabilities has gotten MUCH
> worse....
> Not only in the work force but in social settings too.  Meg (mild LH 23,
> Denver, CO)



The Church of England has joined the discussion on medical treatment for
babies with severre disabilities (My thanks to Dave Reynolds and Inclusion
Daily Express).  Back in '61,when I was first diagnosed with hydrocephalus,
the neurosurgeon presented my parents with the option of "letting nature
take it's course."  That would have meant death or severe cognitive
disabilities.

*Church: Doctors Should Be Allowed To Let Some Babies Die
*By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
November 13, 2006

LONDON, ENGLAND--Leaders of the Church of England have issued a statement
saying that doctors should be allowed to withhold treatment from some
preemies and babies with disabilities even 'knowing it will possibly,
probably, or even certainly result in death'.

According to a story in Sunday's The Guardian, the church's Mission and
Public Affairs Council wrote in a letter to the Nuffield Council on
Bioethics that the burden placed on a family of taking care of a child with
a severe disability -- along with the economic cost to the health care
system of keeping such a baby alive -- ought to be taken into account when
deciding whether life-sustaining treatment should be removed.

However, the letter's author, the Right Reverend Tom Butler, wrote that
doctors would "never be justified to decide not to save a fetus or neonate
because that fetus or neonate was not considered worth saving."

One week earlier, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
suggested that the deliberate killing of babies with disabilities be
considered as a treatment option. The college suggested in a Sunday Times of
London article that "active euthanasia" should be considered for the overall
good of families, and to keep parents from the emotional and economic
hardship of raising a child with disabilities.

The Nuffield Council is expected to introduce its own report later this
week.

Many disability groups have opposed legalizing euthanasia for babies and
adults. They have argued that, among other things, making 'mercy killing'
legal puts vulnerable people at greater risk -- especially when the lives of
people with disabilities are considered less valuable and the cost of health
care is so high.

*Related:
"Some sick babies must be allowed to die, says Church" (The Observer)*
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1945866,00.html
*"Neonatal medicine - the moral maze" (BBC)*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6122124.stm

---
Kendall

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

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