Now there's a cheerful opening title to start the morning of January 20th, 2006! Remember the big Terry Schiavo case in Florida, the one where the husband was given the right to starve and dehydrate his wife? Well, the media's at it again in a race to kill an 11-year-old girl...

So there's this amazing story. About a beaten girl, mistreated by her family and then the government agency charged with protecting her. A kid who is currently defying a court-okayed death order and fighting for her life, despite the experts who were ready to bury her.

This is happening in Boston. You go to the Boston Globe site, you scroll a little, and you come upon "DSS sought early end to life support." Nice positive headline, isn't it? How about "Abused 11-Year-Old Fights for Life." Or, "So Much for 'Vegetable'"--which might be closer to where I'd go with it.

I am probably just being grouchy, but I want everyone to know this kid's name. Haleigh Poutre, eleven years old. They said she was a vegetable. They said she had no hope. A court, earlier this week, okayed taking her off life support—"letting her go" as they say. (The one arguing for keeping her alive, in this terrible story, was her stepfather...who faces homicide charges if she winds up dead.) Well she's breathing on her own today.



This little girl is as innocent as you get. There is no husband, claiming she'd want to be dehydrated. There is no spouse vs. parents controversies to confuse matters. This is a girl who was dealt an awfully bad deal in life who clearly wants to live, regardless. And has the power, just by fighting her fight, to teach us a stirring message, an essential one: to err on the side of life. Folks didn’t in her case, but she's doing her best anyway. Good luck, kid. And thanks.

Not to reopen old wounds (and arguments), but, if you can spare a prayer today, make it a two-parter: That Haleigh gets what she needs and that we learn.

Sometimes I truly believe Hitler would be somewhat proud of the U.S. We kill babies by the millions--and get paid very well to do it. We bump off grandma and grandpa when they're too frail. We have doctors legally prescribing drugs that will kill people (so much for the Hippocratic Oath). Der Fuehrer believed, and practiced this, 60 some years ago. The only difference is that he also eliminated the handicapped, the less than perfect. How long till we here add them to the list?

(Cue the organ.)

Nah, just some prayers that this little girl survives and recovers completely.

I'm waiting for Senator Frist to give his video diagnosis.

Ya know, if I ever suffered such a fate, I'd want every tax dollar be spent to keep my wasting flesh alive for decades, while my brain activity had long since ceased.

I want to become a burden on everyone. I want to crap and piss on myself. I want to waste away. And if I were a Jesus-freak, I'd want the world to keep my soul imprisoned in inanimate flesh for several decades.

Personally, I'd want the media to stay out of my damned personal business.

These decisions have been made by families for many years without interference or intervention by the media or the government. There is no respect for private family matters anymore.

If the kid can come back and be well, great, but just to keep her alive for the sake of saying she is alive (for someone's political purposes), no way.

It hasn't stopped you so far, so what's the difference?

So we should go ahead and kill her because you think it's best? Never mind, of course, the fact that when the court order came down to pull the plug, she awoke and responded to doctors. So much for being in a "persistent vegetative state." Let's hope her progress continues to go well and that this "vegetable" can live out her life.

[ January 20, 2006, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]

One of the main problems here is that apparently, the only parent who can speak for her, her stepfather, is the one who beat her.

It is interesting that Karen Ann Quinlan, who was the focus of the first right-to-die case, also kept breathing on her own for years after her ventilator was withdrawn. As in this case, the point was not to kill the person, but to let her die in peace, which is what finally happened to Ms. Quinlan. Apparently this girl is similarly able to breathe on her own - the doctors could not know that until they removed the ventilator, which as MIB noted, was part of a custody case as to whether the man who put her in her condition should then dictate her care.

According to yesterday's Boston Globe:

link: Boston Globe coverage

In other words, the cases of Ms. Schiavo and this little girl are very different - Ms. Schiavo had not only not improved when her feeding tube was finally withdrawn, she had deteriorated and was continuing to deteriorate (i.e., her brain was actually atrophying). The article makes the point that if anyone could have any recovery from the kinds of injuries this girls suffered, it would be a child because of the "elasticity" of children's brains.

Medicine is not an exact science - each case must be taken independently. It appears to me that in this case the physicians have re-evaluated their prognosis based on new evidence. That is exactly what you would like them to do.

In all likelihood, any improvement in this girl's condition will be minimal, and may reverse itself with time because of the extent of her brain damage, but no one can accurately predict the outcome.

edited to add: In other words, no one is trying to "kill" this girl. Oh, and the response we are talking about is the girl's apparent ability to release an object when asked. She did not suddenly sit up and ask for chocolate milk or anything.

[ January 20, 2006, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: CPT_Doom ]

The little girl's birth mother, who ironically had to give up Haleigh as a result of her own abusiveness, says she is in favor of removing the tubes and letting Haleigh "rest". If this were to ever be used in a political way, it should be to show what horrible parents heterosexuals can be and that they shouldn't be allowed to adopt.

What does Tom Delay have to say? He's an expert on such things.

"Terri Schiavo is not brain-dead; she talks and she laughs, and she expresses happiness and discomfort. Terri Schiavo is not on life support."
March 20, 2005

Is Big Brother Bush on vacation? Maybe he can swoop in and sign some legislation.

GO COWBOYS!

GO RAZORBACKS, ERRR, I MEAN LONGHORNS!

GO BOTH!!!

GO POKES! GO PLAYOFF!

GO RUN AND HIDE!

GO POKES, SWEEP THE EAGLES! check

How'd the playoffs go?

Same as they went for you.
How was the Christmas Eve game?

Tally ho ho ho

Hey MIB - Maybe you should rush her room with some bottled water, and while you're in Boston dont forget to drop in on Bernard Law....oh wait, he got promoted to the Vatican, never mind.

9-7 and playing golf...

CHOKE!

Missed you in the football threads! Way to hide!

From Super Bowl to last place.
CHOKE!