Victory for women's rights: Mother wins right to end disabled child's life

[awesome31312]

VERY progressive!

I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

Come on guys, don't like abortions? Don't get aborted. Don't like slavery? Don't buy a slave.

As reported on ITV News

"A mother has made legal history after she won a High Court case to end the life of her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter."


You can read the full article here
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-26/mother-wins-right-to-end-disabled-daughters-life/

[TECSHARE]

VERY progressive!

I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

Come on guys, don't like abortions? Don't get aborted. Don't like slavery? Don't buy a slave.

As reported on ITV News

"A mother has made legal history after she won a High Court case to end the life of her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter."


You can read the full article here
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-26/mother-wins-right-to-end-disabled-daughters-life/

I am not sure how I feel about this one. While I believe life should be respected and protected, I also understand that some people will never recover to any decent quality of life, and additionally the medical system will bleed you dry until you are so far into debt you can't afford to live your own life any more. Doctors are capable of keeping people alive a lot longer than in the past, and they are often more willing to do this even if there is no quality of life for the patient, just because it is profitable for the doctors to string the patients life along with ventilators and IVs. This seems more like the right to be allowed to die to me.

[awesome31312]

VERY progressive!

I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

Come on guys, don't like abortions? Don't get aborted. Don't like slavery? Don't buy a slave.

As reported on ITV News

"A mother has made legal history after she won a High Court case to end the life of her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter."


You can read the full article here
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-26/mother-wins-right-to-end-disabled-daughters-life/

I am not sure how I feel about this one. While I believe life should be respected and protected, I also understand that some people will never recover to any decent quality of life, and additionally the medical system will bleed you dry until you are so far into debt you can't afford to live your own life any more. Doctors are capable of keeping people alive a lot longer than in the past, and they are often more willing to do this even if there is no quality of life for the patient, just because it is profitable for the doctors to string the patients life along with ventilators and IVs. This seems more like the right to be allowed to die to me.

Shouldn't the kid decide?

[ACAB]

I am not sure how I feel about this one. While I believe life should be respected and protected, I also understand that some people will never recover to any decent quality of life, and additionally the medical system will bleed you dry until you are so far into debt you can't afford to live your own life any more. Doctors are capable of keeping people alive a lot longer than in the past, and they are often more willing to do this even if there is no quality of life for the patient, just because it is profitable for the doctors to string the patients life along with ventilators and IVs. This seems more like the right to be allowed to die to me.

Most of the parts I agree with this. If kid suffers and there is no possibility to live a decent life, this hard choice should be open to choose. This is a very hard decision anyway.

[Vod]

I'd say this is more a victory for human rights than women's rights.  Still, good news.

[awesome31312]

I wish I could exercise my right to abort politicians 

[TECSHARE]

VERY progressive!

I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

Come on guys, don't like abortions? Don't get aborted. Don't like slavery? Don't buy a slave.

As reported on ITV News

"A mother has made legal history after she won a High Court case to end the life of her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter."


You can read the full article here
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-26/mother-wins-right-to-end-disabled-daughters-life/

I am not sure how I feel about this one. While I believe life should be respected and protected, I also understand that some people will never recover to any decent quality of life, and additionally the medical system will bleed you dry until you are so far into debt you can't afford to live your own life any more. Doctors are capable of keeping people alive a lot longer than in the past, and they are often more willing to do this even if there is no quality of life for the patient, just because it is profitable for the doctors to string the patients life along with ventilators and IVs. This seems more like the right to be allowed to die to me.

Shouldn't the kid decide?

He may not be able to from the looks of it.

[pedrog]

Nancy Fitzmaurice was born blind and suffering from hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia, which left her unable to talk, walk, eat or drink.

I don't think the child could decide anything.

And I don't see how this is a victory for women's rights, it's a victory for human rights in general.

[bitsmichel]

Nancy Fitzmaurice was born blind and suffering from hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia, which left her unable to talk, walk, eat or drink.

I don't think the child could decide anything.

And I don't see how this is a victory for women's rights, it's a victory for human rights in general.

The child must have been unable to decide anything. She was blind and unable to talk, walk, eat or drink - how would she be able to decide?   

[awesome31312]

Nancy Fitzmaurice was born blind and suffering from hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia, which left her unable to talk, walk, eat or drink.

I don't think the child could decide anything.

And I don't see how this is a victory for women's rights, it's a victory for human rights in general.

The child must have been unable to decide anything. She was blind and unable to talk, walk, eat or drink - how would she be able to decide?   

Checkmate pro-choicers

[aljunking]

Whaaat? Is she serious? How did she do it?

[awesome31312]

Whaaat? Is she serious? How did she do it?

I'll tell you how she didn't do it

She didn't do it Old Testament style by ripping her up with a sword

[ScryptAsic]

Nancy Fitzmaurice was born blind and suffering from hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia, which left her unable to talk, walk, eat or drink.

I don't think the child could decide anything.

And I don't see how this is a victory for women's rights, it's a victory for human rights in general.

How is this a victory for human rights? We are taking about a parent of a child deciding to end the life of a child whose life is already established.

At this point in the child's life there is no risk to the parent if the child's life is not ended. The child should be able to make this kind of decision on their own if it is found by the court they will never be able to life any kind of "happy" life that is without pain.

[jaysabi]

I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

You know this wasn't in America, right?

[CoinCube]

VERY progressive!
I can't believe we have come so far! America, the land of the free!

Come on guys, don't like abortions? Don't get aborted. Don't like slavery? Don't buy a slave.

I have no problem with this one very few people realize just how long we can sustain life unnaturally. Cant eat anymore we feed you through a tube. Sick to the point where you intestines cant absorb nutrients no problem we can feed you directly into you veins with TPN (liquid nutrients). Can't breath anymore no problem we will put you on a ventilator. Heart is shot we can put a mechanical LVAD (heart assist device in).

We can and will keep you going on and on while you family watches you gradually and progressively deteriorate. Eventually something will fail that we can't stop. We can not replace liver function yet. Also chronic infection may set in something that wont respond to antibiotics.

This poor mom has taken care of an extremely sick child for 12 years. A child that had no hope of ever growing into an healthy adult. A child that in any other time would have died naturally as an infant. Don't judge her unless you truly understand what she has been through.

[awesome31312]

It's so good that she waited twelve years to decide.

[awesome31312]

It's so good that she waited twelve years to decide.

A victim of the medical system? If her doctors had been honest with her at the beginning, if she was educated and informed what her child's life was going to be like and that there was zero chance for a normal life do you think she would have made the same choices?

Maybe she would, but I can tell you that at least in the US these discussion are often never had with parents. Instead parents are told that their child is very sick and needs this life saving "insert operation here" or they will die immediately.

You're assuming the doctors weren't honest

[jaysabi]

It's so good that she waited twelve years to decide.

A victim of the medical system? If her doctors had been honest with her at the beginning, if she was educated and informed what her child's life was going to be like and that there was zero chance for a normal life do you think she would have made the same choices?

Maybe she would, but I can tell you that at least in the US these discussion are often never had with parents. Instead parents are told that their child is very sick and needs this life saving "insert operation here" or they will die immediately.

I think a little of this is that we hold that life-saving measures prolong life in hopes that treatments can be developed, even if they're not immediately available. However, there are some medical situations where this is never a viable option, but the alternative (death) is always permanent and irreversible.

[CoinCube]

You're assuming the doctors weren't honest

Not at all. I am sure her doctors were good people who worked hard to save the life of a very sick child.
I am not at all certain, however, that the mother had any idea what she was getting into when she consented to various invasive procedures to "save" her child's life when she was an infant.  

The problem is a cultural one. We as a society are unwilling to ever let nature take its course.
Medicine does not focus on the long term but rather the immediate problem.

Combine that with a false belief among the masses that doctors can cure anything and a false hope that maybe they will someday invent something that can reverse severe brain damage and you have a setup for tragedy.

[DhaniBoy]

however, the attitude of a mother ending the life of her child by abortion, is a mistake that must be corrected, ending the life of someone else in the religious law and state law are not allowed, there are conditions where it is allowed, if the child is a life-threatening mother conceived him, hopefully can be given the best ...