There was this news about killing babies with severe disabilities to ease the family burdens:
SENIOR doctors are urging health professionals to consider permitting the euthanasia of seriously disabled newborn babies.
The proposal, by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology, follows the increase in the number of such children surviving because of medical advances.
The college is arguing for “active euthanasia” to be considered for the overall good of parents, sparing them the emotional burden and financial hardship of bringing up the sickest babies.
And one smartass from Malaysia who calls himself Murali said:
Murali, Malaysia / 11:28am 5 Nov 2006
I think the idea of euthanasia of seriously disabled newborn babies is a timely one.Only those who are in the medical profession will be able to see beyond the uproar of those who see this as ‘social engineering’.The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology are right when saying that a very disabled child can mean a disabled family as the birth of such a child,especially into a poor or loosely adhered family could be devastating,for both the family and the child concerned.If a childs life is to suffer for eternity, would that not be called punishment and not life? How can idealists call putting this poor child out of such misery wrongdoing?Can a poor family even contemplate continuous medicall costs of such a child, and disregard whether there is food on the table or clothes to keep warm?Can a dysfunctional family of poor socioeconomic background deal with such challenge adequately?I think those who are in opposition of this idea should come up with better reasons, rather than get emotional without sound factual,economical and humanitarian grounds as such.
and one angmoh hentam him :
There are starving nations with people living with disease and famine, do we kill them because they would be “better off” in our eyes. You cannot pass judgment on the life of someone else, that is not our right nor never should it be.
So I beh tahan, pasted part of my blog entry in comment #26:
Lilian, Malaysia / 4:58pm 5 Nov 2006
I am a bereaved mom of a 28-weeker who died when he was seven months old, after struggling for 4 mths in the NICU.
My opinion is – If the medical staffs have the means and machines to keep a baby alive, they should. The child will make his/her own decision if they want to respond to it. That next breath, that next struggle to keep their foods and lots of medicines down, that last push for the heart to pump – these are the child’s effort. Each child is a gift from God and only God has the right to take the life back.
My advice to parents is to have faith in that child of yours and have faith in God. I pray that all the medical staffs will be guided by God and not their own intellect. I pray that it is a life of a child that they think of and not the money factor and the challenges of the family members. Doctors’ duties are to save lives, not be the economy planner or meddle with families wellbeing.
Now, I wonder….since Murali is so lansi-lanyong claiming that ‘only those in the medical profession’ (meaning him lah) can understand the issue……I wonder….just wonder if he is one of the hospital janitor or the morgue delivery boy who got fed-up putting dead bodies in the bag at odd hours. Then, Murali got this brilliant idea. Aha! Now they can schedule my job of stuffing bodies because they only do the killings on Mon, Wed, Fri at 9 am. I can now watch Astro without having to buy a recorder. I got time, I got time…
Trust me, some of the comments are dead funny. Like comment number 24 :
….after the sick babies are killed …next we can move go on to the old and infirm… empty the nursing homes, your death now to be decided by some doctor of Medicine “here dearie …luv put this bag over your head will you”…the good doctor intones “you won’t feel a thing” …. soon after they they move on to the ‘disabled’ …give em the gas pipe they’ll say …and when the disabled are all dead and gone they can move on to the homosexuals and Jews..
The Nazis had it all figured out didn’t they?
and this one, #17:
the value of life is dropping like a stone……..
it all starts with believing that we are not a purposeful creation, but just a mutated fish, which in turn was just a mutated hydrogen atom smashing randomly into a few carbons…….when scientists take a bunch of dead chemicals and form a living being, I’ll believe in atheistic science. Don’t hold your breath. (more comments and news on Scotland News)
Hope this does not make your Monday bleak. I don’t know why of all 30+ sources of the news from all over the world, I stumbled upon one Murali-ass to pick on. Thank you, Murali for putting Malaysians as being very ‘intellectual’.
Okie, I got the margin right this time.
IMHO : medical are suppose to save life, not prolong suffering. Miracle do happens but not always. It is cruel to talk about euthanasia. But for most terminal disease patient, prolonging life is like living hell. Sometime human being don’t want to let go, it is matter of time the patient body and soul being “wear out”. Sometime the patient relative didn’t realize the doctor also suffering : the incapability to cure but ability to prolong suffering.
While on economy point of view, it is ironic that a well-plan national health care system will prolong the patient life with lots of pain killing practice. While for country with poor health care system, the patient medical condition can destroy the whole family.
I will rather opts for the alternative : Give time limited sustaining medication to the patient and dispatch them out of the hospital to enjoy the world. It is better than let the patient die inside the hospital.