The Eye of the Beholder

There's more than one way of putting a baby to sleep, I suppose:

Each year in Holland at least 15 seriously ill babies, most of them with severe spina bifida or chromosomal abnormalities, are helped to die by doctors acting with the parents’ consent. But only a fraction of those cases are reported to the authorities because of the doctors’ fears of being charged with murder.

Things are about to change, however, making it much easier for parents and doctors to end the suffering of an infant.

A committee set up to regulate the practice will begin operating in the next few weeks, effectively making Holland, where adult euthanasia is legal, the first country in the world to allow “baby euthanasia” as well.

Isn't that wonderful news? First the aged and infirm; then the "terminally" ill; now little infants. It's a brave new world, folks. Aren't you glad you're part of it?

A visit to Groningen’s intensive care unit for children last week demonstrated how rare it is for infants, in an age of extremely sophisticated, high-tech medical treatment, to experience extreme pain. Even so, life and death decisions are made by doctors every day.

Huh? Let's see if I can follow this tortuous logic: 1. Ending suffering is the reason for taking these fatal measures. 2. Extreme pain is rare in infants. 3. But these decisions are made every day. Isn't this contradictory?

“It is in some ways beautiful,” said Verhagen, describing the moment when severely pain-racked children relax for the first time since birth. “But it is also extremely emotional and very difficult,” he added.

Suffering's cessation is a wonderful thing, without a doubt; but we're talking about death, here, not anesthesia. What a sick mindset that dubs death "beautiful."

I think a real doctor is one who attacks his patient's ailment with every means at his disposal, looking only to the beneficial, the helpful. Whatever happened to "First, do no harm."? Those who fight for their patients' lives with sweat and tears, striving until the final moments when the end comes, and doing everything in their power--those are the ones I admire. I have nothing but contempt for so-called doctors who shrug and give up and stroll away to their next body with a number.

It's interesting how societies devolve over time. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the primary response from most doctors and scientists would have been a sense of urgency toward cures or better pain management. Now, it's pull the plug. Stop the life support. Terminate feedings.

How beautiful.