 |
| Woodjie posing with a Holter monitor. |
I've always advocated for non-discrimination when handing out very limited organs. Who is to say which life is the most valuable? Base these decisions on whether the recipient is strong enough to survive surgery and associated therapies and other medical criteria, not whether the patient is autistic. Hellooo, eugenics:
"Karen Corby of Pottsville, Pa., had just been informed by a doctor that a much-needed heart transplant for her (autistic) son, Paul, had been denied. To add insult to heartbreak, after hearing the bleak news over the phone she was told by the cavalier physician to 'have a nice day.'" Article here.
If you live in Pennsylvania, contact your state reps and ask them to support "Paul's Law."
I agree with you. Who's to say an autistic child might not one day be the one to discover a cure for cancer? Autistic is different, not profoundly retarded.
ReplyDeleteYes, autistic people range from intellectually gifted to definitely not, just like anyone else. :)
DeleteThat is not fair and I don't think it's legal, I alway understood you were on a waiting list and if you were able to survive the surgery you were entitled to a organ if one came available.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the sound of this doctor he needs to be reported to your medical society.
Merle............
This is America. So pretty much we have a vast underclass and not much help for people at all. It's probably perfectly legal what happened to this family, but NOT morally correct.
DeleteThankfully, Woodjie is just fine but his heart is different. I just meant that there but for the grace of God, this could have been us as he is autistic. :)
We had a family friend who gave her own kidney to her Down's daughter. "And her sisters can give theirs if she needs another." I don't think she thought twice about it. She loved Amy.
ReplyDeleteThe article was well written, bringing up the horrific medical treatment of the purported "less thans" in the past. Yes, it is Eugenics...."we" get to decide who is worthy.
We haven't learnt much, have we??
Delete