Are we headed back to Aktion T4?

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On the euthanasia of children with disabilities who have life-threatening but treatable conditions:

http://autisticadvocacy.org/2014/10/asa ... tzmaurice/

It appears that this is starting to be practiced again. I hope we can put an end to this.

I read the article and it revolves not so much about disabilities but about what the doctors decide what sought of "quality of life" the child would have?

In this context the the medical thinking is disability merely adds another layer of difficulty for the parent. At the end of the day if the parent wants to keep their child then the doctor's perception of what is humane should be relegated.

Each case has to be handled differently. In extreme cases if the quality of life so low that the child may never wake up or have difficulty breathing without life support then (regardless of disability) the parents have a real dilemma. Of course the boundary between assisted suicide and switching of life support is a little fuzzy.

If on the other hand the parent is convinced by the doctor that a child with a disability is going to be hardwork and not to bother trying to save the child on that basis alone then some level of criminal intent by the doctors and negligence on the part of the parent is realistic.

I am developmentally disabled, and I personally think my life is not worth living. If by dying I could free up resources for somebody more deserving of life, great. I wouldn't presume to decide that for anybody else, however.

I'm against ASAN on this one. I think delicate decisions like this should be made by the family and medical professionals and if the patient is able, then by him/her.

Our society needs to become more comfortable with death and spend more time focusing on quality of life. Euthanasia is not a substitute for inadequate pain medication. It is a legitimate way to cope with an unbearable life.

The girl was in constant pain with no chance of recovery.
Keeping her alive to suffer because of some "principle" is, in my mind, utterly evil. Developmentally she was a 6 month old baby so obviously can't voice an opinion on this or any other matter. This being the case it is the responsibility of her parents to make these decisions for her. On the advice of medical professionals they knew she was suffering and that there was no chance of an improvement of quality of life. I would not want either of my kids to suffer like this and whilst it would break my heart I would probably make the same decision.

The only issue I have with this is the manner in which she died. This could have been done more humanely but I understand that legally the withdrawal of fluids is the only option as euthanasia is still illegal in the UK. A lethal injection would have been far more humane but, mainly due to archaic religious views, this is not allowed.

I am disgusted at this case, killing a child by withdrawing fluids is barbaric.

_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Depriving someone of liquids is obviously going to increase their suffering ~ i'm sure there were more humane (if not entirely legal) ways to end this child's suffering!



Years ago in Spokane (right next door to my own town of Spokane Valley), one of the hospitals chose not to continue medical care for a baby born with severe birth defects. The doctors had even gone to the extent of having security forcibly removing the father from the hospital, and not allowing him to see his son. Many around here believed a lot to do with this decision lay with the fact that the parents were on public assistance (local redneck bigots had a field day writing hate letters to the parents wishing their child dead), and that they were an interracial couple. Thankfully, an out of state hospital provided care for the baby, allowing him a few more years of life.