The dollar value of a human life

[quikchange]

This BizWeek article about preemies brings up the issue of how much money it is worth spending to save a human life. A popular knee-jerk reaction is to claim that you cannot put a price on the life of a person. It's easy to demonstrate that this is not true. All I need do is point out the large number of people who die every day from causes are

Comments

[yellowtangfish]

Tony
That was an interesting article and ever more controversial comments left by other readers. You could definitely tell who the non-parents were by their tone. It's difficult to imagine the hard choices a parent might have to make. I have a close friend who just had her second child and both were serious preemies. The reason? She suffers from toxemia and has nearly died TWICE trying to get both babies further along so they won't suffer any problems once they are born. The first time it was a surprise that she got toxemia and the second time, it was further along in the pregnancy but still she got it. So she's had her tubes tied during the delivery( obviously it was a c-section). I doubt anyone would want to be her and Steve, knowing the uphill battles ahead of them. Unless you have been in that spot, I don't think it's fair to judge; that said, I"m not a fan of that much intervention that early on. Even when I was only about 12 weeks, the ultrasound technician thought she saw some problems with Jack's heart. My midwife shrugged it off and said not to worry, but I did. I knew in my heart that I wanted to know if something was wrong, and if it was terribly wrong, I'd want to make a decision. At the second ultrasound, I was lying on that table for over an hour while that technician went over every inch of the fetus and I knew in my heart, that if there were serious problems, I'd likely not continue the pregnancy...and that I had only a week or so to make that choice. See, if you know you're carrying a baby with serious health problems, you have only to 20 weeks to abort in Canada. I was relieved to know that we had a perfect baby but still,.... i wouldn't want to relive that hour ever again.
I can't imagine what a mother goes through when she's facing that type of a decision. I just thank God that i live in a country where decisions about continuing care come from the viewpoint of quality of life and not what the HMO says when it cuts you off.

[quikchange]

Your viewpoint on this is enlightening and very much appreciated. The question in my mind is whether God would like those of us born in rich countries (whose resources allow decisions about continuing care to be made based on quality of life) to share some of our resources with those who were born into relative scarcity.

[yellowtangfish]

I think God very much wants us to help our neighbours in need. And I don't mean only the ones in our own towns. The most enduring commandment Jesus left for us to follow was not pay your tithes, act like a Pharisee or act like the morality police- it was to love your neighbour as yourself.And in doing that, you loved and showed your devotion to Him.

20 Week Limit?

[quikfanclub]

I thought Canada had no restrictions on abortions whatever.
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Canada

Re: 20 Week Limit?

[yellowtangfish]

when it says Canada has no restrictions within the criminal law about abortions, it is referring to the fact that the Morgentaler's case resulted in that particular law being struck down. There has been no "law" that regulates abortions other than what is in the Canada Health Act. Because abortion is now a medical procedure, that is where all the regulations about it exist. Interestingly enough, most people who have strong feelings about abortions either way are often frustrated that it wasn't Parliament who struck down the Criminal Code section outlawing abortion because now there can be no real debate about the issue. Some provinces simply get around the issue by limiting access to medical resources, such as PEI. That way, it's not like they're actively denying abortions- it's just that there are no medical resources for them. In any case, the rate of abortions has hovered around the same number since 1989, with no real shift- about 100, 000 a year or so.