After yesterday's post about depravity, I didn't think I'd immediately have another one so soon after. I am at a loss for words to say just how terrible "Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor’s haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan" is.
To the parents and medical personnel involved, I only have one Scripture:
You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13, English Standard Version).
And as if killing babies isn't bad enough itself (inside our outside the womb):
Earlier this month, an un-named doctor wrote of the agony of watching the protracted deaths of babies. The doctor described one case of a baby born with 'a lengthy list of unexpected congenital anomalies', whose parents agreed to put it on the pathway.
The doctor wrote: 'They wish for their child to die quickly once the feeding and fluids are stopped. They wish for pneumonia. They wish for no suffering. They wish for no visible changes to their precious baby.
Their wishes, however, are not consistent with my experience. Survival is often much longer than most physicians think; reflecting on my previous patients, the median time from withdrawal of hydration to death was ten days.
'Parents and care teams are unprepared for the sometimes severe changes that they will witness in the child's physical appearance as severe dehydration ensues.
'I know, as they cannot, the unique horror of witnessing a child become smaller and shrunken, as the only route out of a life that has become excruciating to the patient or to the parents who love their baby.'
According to the BMJ article, the doctor involved had presided over ten such deaths in just one hospital neonatal unit.
Notice how it is written to make us feel sorry for the parents. The parents!
I really don’t know what to say. 🙁