Schools Ponder Role As Child Nears Death

[fierceawakening]

from BFP, Bint, MissCripChick, and others:

Schools Ponder Role As Child Nears Death

As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow document protruding from the pouch of her daughter's wheelchair, making sure it was clearly visible.

In bold letters it warned, "Do Not Resuscitate."

The DNR

Comments

[rkt]

Lake County is one of the richest counties in Illinois.

I haven't gone back to other posts regarding this situation, but I wonder what, if any, class plays in all this.

[britgirlsf]

From Wrin's comment...

"Katie's input is certainly valuable, but I don't think it's the only thing I'd consider in a complex situation, should I be a physician responsible for conferencing with the parents on this issue."

Holy fucking shit, do you even realise that you are talking about this child as if her opinion on whether or not she wants to live is almost irrelevant? Are you aware of how thoroughly dehumanizing that is? When it comes to a person's life, how can anyone else's opinion ever be more relevant than theirs?

I really hope that nobody involved in this situation is talking to Katie that way. "Sorry, dear, whether or not you want to go on living is only one of a variety of factors that we're going to consider, and frankly one of the less important ones."

I don't even know you and I want to smack the shit out of you right now. Are you not aware of the implications of the statements you're making, or are you just fully convinced that Katie doesn't count as a person?

[belledame222]

"imput"

"We value your opinion. Please hold. Here is some light music."

[amberite]

I could see both sides with the Ashley thing, more or less. I'm not going to go over my opinions on that; I don't want to be a pest.

This... is chilling.

I'm really bothered by the fact that everyone is covering up some basic stuff such as Katie's ability to communicate and her clear cognitive activity.

This is a VERY fucked-up precedent. The decision to die is a very big deal -- more so than sex or drugs. They're effectively trying to euthanize her by neglect. They're treating her like a potted plant they're going to let die, because they left it over vacation and feel too guilty and awkward to water it. But she's not a fucking potted plant; she's a person, fully sentient and capable of making her own decisions. And there's not a *word* about how she feels about dying.

Only one thing would make it OK, and that would be some indication from Katie that she wants the DNR order

[fierceawakening]

I could see both sides with the Ashley thing, more or less. I'm not going to go over my opinions on that; I don't want to be a pest.

I'd prefer that you didn't, honestly. I'm too worn out from this recent spate to be comfortable with "it's okay to take out someone's uterus if you have to carry her."

I don't like to behave in a censor-like manner, so if you do say that I'm not going to do anything. But really, "we can take body parts out of someone at will" is just not something I want to hear people calling sensible right now.

[amberite]

That's why I said, originally, that I didn't want to go over my opinions and didn't want to be a pest. I would have preferred the topic be left alone.

Apparently, though, I'm being more of a pest by withholding them, because the blank fills in with 'we can take body parts out of someone at will'. I don't like want you to think that's my opinion.

So instead of withholding my opinions, I'm going to say: that it's definitively not OK to take out someone's uterus without their permission. And that internally driven body changes can also be experienced as mutilation/violation, and I simply don't ever know what another person will or won't experience that way. Lo, my opinion, which gloomily doesn't provide a rationale or prescription for anything whatsoever. I don't like anything that smacks of programming the fate of another person, so I mostly stayed away from the debate when it was active

[amberite]

Argh. I wrote this really long comment, and it got lost somewhere between China and LJ.

So I'll try to condense the essentials.

I didn't want to talk about my opinions, but it sounds like keeping mum translates in internet-ese to "we can take body parts out of someone at will". And I don't want to be saying that, even by omission.

So: It's definitively not OK to take out someone's uterus without their permission. At the time the whole debate came up, I was processing the fact that puberty had been done to me without my permission. People can experience this as a violation also.

I stayed out of it then, and tried to stay out of it now, because I don't feel comfortable with anything that remotely smacks of deciding another person's fate. It's a non-opinion-opinion. It doesn't provide a rationale or prescription for moral guidance. Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.

This case has convinced me you were quite right about the Ashley case; that the essentials of the thing were wrong, and set a very bad precedent. Hence my use

[anonymous]

I know I'm kind of late to this discussion, but I just wanted to let you know that you have it somewhat wrong here. Katie's communication was very limited. I think that the Tribune probably made it seem like she was more communicative than she really was. As for what she was choking on, I believe it was saliva. I was there for some of the suctioning and it was really hard to watch! I can't imagine doing that every day, sometimes for hours at a time, but everyone around her was dedicated to taking care of her! The purpose of the DNR wasn't to just let her die and do nothing, but to make her comfortable. Her condition had deteriorated and was continuing to do so. She did eventually die last year. Her neurological system had declined and her body had quit being able to take in any sort of food and believe me, they tried everything. She lasted so much longer than anyone ever thought she would. In the end, Katie died peacefully surrounded by the people who love her! I know that it seems cruel to have a DNR for a 7 year old

[fierceawakening]

Thanks for stopping by

[anonymous]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-05-28/news/0905270867_1_school-nurses-dnr-resuscitate... )

[fierceawakening]

Thanks for listening to me, and again, thanks for stopping by.