Sometimes Being Pro-Life Means Being Pro-Death
While our fundamentalist-in-chief rushes in to do his duty as head of the largest church in the world, formerly known as the United States of America, a Dutch doctor euthanizes children out of suffering. The New York Times' Gregory Crouch tells the story of Holland's Dr. Eduard Verhagen:
A father of three who spent years tending to sick children in underdeveloped countries, Verhagen became a pediatrician with the sole intention of saving lives, not ending them. And that is exactly what he did until Sanne was born on his ward four years ago with a severe form of Hallopeau-Siemens syndrome, a rare skin condition.In the best-case scenario, she would live until her 9th or 10th birthday and then die of skin cancer.
Her skin would literally come off if anyone touched her, leaving painful scar tissue in its place.
The top layers of mucous membranes inside her mouth and esophagus fell away any time she was fed, which was done by tube.
Verhagen tried to evoke the kind of pain he says Sanne was in. He clenched his fists and mimicked the way she balled her tiny hands. Her cry was not that of a normal, healthy baby but the shriek of an extraordinarily sick one.
And her vital signs - heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration - reflected those of a child in extreme stress, Verhagen said.
Pain relievers seemed to be useless.
Making matters worse, Verhagen and his colleagues had to bandage Sanne's scar tissue knowing they were contributing to a vicious circle: Every time they replaced the bandages, a little more skin fell off. Before long, Verhagen said, Sanne resembled a mummy.
Her parents demanded an end to her suffering, which moved Verhagen to consider euthanasia.
Fearing criminal prosecution, Verhagen and hospital officials refused and eventually sent Sanne home, where she died of pneumonia half a year later.
Verhagen felt he had failed Sanne and her parents, believing all three had suffered longer than necessary. "We were very unhappy," he said.
He and his colleagues started familiarizing prosecutors with difficult cases, even including them on daily rounds.
And they developed a protocol, published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, that is both a checklist and a how-to-guide for Dutch doctors who are considering ending a baby's life and still want to stay out of jail.
Now, he is suddenly in demand as an expert in the medical and ethical issues surrounding infant euthanasia and not exactly sure what to make of all the fuss. "It's weird," he said. "I want to be a normal pediatrician, not Dr. Death."
The decision to end a child's life is obviously an emotional one, Verhagen said, and not just for the parents.
Once everyone - doctors, parents and social workers - agrees there is nothing more to be done for a child medically, a time is fixed to start administering a deadly intravenous drip of morphine and midazolam, a sleeping agent.
Horrible, huh? So much less humane than letting a child shriek in pain every day until death naturally comes! Most obscenely, Jack Kevorkian is rotting in jail, and the Bush brothers are well-place on the outside, wielding their Christianity over all of us. Oh yeah, and as Bush did recently, don't let me forget to wish the country "Happy Easter."
People in America make fun of the French (America's favorite punching bag lately), and but I sat next to a very interesting man in a café last month, who told me how outrageous it would be in France if some head of state were sworn in on a Bible. Hah! That's only the beginning for us. And ironically, many people in this country seem to have a sense of superiority over the religious fanatics in the Middle East. So, you live in a tract home instead of a clay-brick hut. A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist is a fundamentalist. Primitives, all.
The thinking behind all of these savage simple-minded people is that life is given by god and thus somehow precious, magical, and we must, by any means necessary work to preserve it. We should all have the right to end our lives at any time we see fit, not as others see fit. But this is what happens when you live among the savage simple-minded people. Religion forms their worldview on all matters and you are left with cavemen in suits running around deciding how you will live YOUR life. "The best lack all conviction, the worst are filled with passionate intensity."
chris "world teacher" volkay at March 21, 2005 8:05 AM
Our religious nutcases aren't as bad as the middle east religious nutcases. Most of ours only pay lipservice to God and say things that make me smack my forhead.
Remember shortly after the fall of Iraq, when the Iraqis got to celebrate their Shia festival for the first time in fifty years? What was the festival? They beat themselves over the head with swords. My roommate at the time called me in to show me the tv and said, "Dude, I know I was a little for this war, but I don't think I want these people voting."
When our fundamentalists stop making ignorant remarks about homosexuals and start hanging them, then I'll really worry.
Little ted at March 21, 2005 10:52 AM
Ted --
A friend of mine (a self-proclaimed "liberal Muslim chick") who's been living in the United Arab Emirates for the past couple of years sent me a very distressed letter the other day, detailing just how brain-damaged her associates are on matters related to sex. An excerpt:
"We were actually introduced by a muslim friend of ours to another friend of ours with the editorial comment "they like queers..." like this is a problem. Needless to say he is not my friend anymore."
She has a lovely loft space, lots of good cafes, and a posse of witty gay friends waiting for her to return to California, and I can't understand why she just doesn't come home to us NOW!.
Life in 2005... sick and getting sicker.
Leener
Lena at March 21, 2005 6:15 PM
So the hard question is this: is it possible to give Bush credit for any of his policies, even if he is loony-toones on the religious front? Regardless of how fucked up the folks in the Middle East may be, is it possible to say that things are better now than they were 2 years ago? Is it possible to say the same about Libya or Syria? Can we do that? I think we can, and if so then, acknowledging the divisiveness of religion, do we really have that much to worry about?
Chris Wilson at March 21, 2005 11:31 PM
Bush cannot take responsibility for Libya as Ghaddafi was going to make good with us regardless of anything Bush did. Ditto Ukraine, as per responsibility.
I don't see why Syrians are any better off.
Here's what I will say: that stuff in Lebanon would NEVER have happened had we not invaded Iraq. My biggest problem with the democracy for the middle east thing is and always has been that the populace seems more hostile to us than the dictators, and the Islam in the middle east is more of a danger to US citizens than the authoritarianism. As I said in a previous topic I hope to God that I'm wrong so American troops died for something that doesn't end up hurting America in the longrun.
Lena-if it's any consolation I think this anti-gay stuff is going to blow over (in America, that is) as soon as Americans realize exactly the kind of scum that are pushing it. You can bet Texans are going to be mad if they find out DeLay took their money to pay child support to his bastard kid (they'll only believe he's being framed for so long). He falls, then two or three others fall and it'll be like a deck of cards. Things always happen that way. I don't think you'll see blanket acceptance, but you might get near-universal tolerance in your lifetime, which is all I think anyone (gay, Flyer's fan, accountant, etc.) is entitled to in the first place.
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