The Ugly Discriminatory Face of Medical Futility
This story out of the UK illustrates the ugliness of medical futility. Under the theory, medicine is being devolved from a life-saving enterprise to a life-saving enterprise if we approve of your life's quality. But if we don't and you want to live (or your family wishes you to continue on)--then medicine becomes the decider that it is your time to die. From the story:
A couple fighting for their daughter's right to live were yesterday celebrating her return home from hospital.Amber Hartland, six, suffers from Infantile Tay-Sachs, a rare incurable brain disorder that has left her paralysed.She is back with her family after being treated in hospital for a chest infection. Doctors say it is time for Amber to die and are taking legal action to stop her going to intensive care again. Mr Hartland, of Cwmbran, SouthWales, said: "She should live while she's comfortable."
Can you imagine doctors suing to keep from having to treat a sick patient?
This isn't the first time in the UK, either. When the parents of David Glass brought him to the ER for resuscitation, because the boy had developmental and physical disabilities, the doctors not only refused, but put him on an unnecessary morphine drip clearly intended to end his life. The parents saved their son's life--no thanks to the doctors--and then sued for the right to have their son treated if there were another medical emergency. And the doctors won the right in court to say no!
The new theory seems to be that if you are going to die in a few months, why not get it over with? And if you don't agree: Tough toenails. And they wonder why people are losing trust in medicine.
Labels: Futile Care Theory. New Eugenics. Human Exceptionalism. Medical Discrimination
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 8:12 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
So, how disabled is "too disabled" according to these doctors? Paralyzed? IQ below a certain threshold? Profoundly autistic? My oldest has Asperger's and global apraxia. At first blush he comes off as retarded because his motor skills are so clumsy and his speech is pretty impaired. I shudder to think how these doctors might (not) treat him if he was wheeled in with a serious medical problem. Perhaps he'd need a little MedicAlert bracelet that reads "My IQ is really in the high 120s!" or some such, just to be safe...
After reading this it only reinforces why I as a disabled person fear being hospitalized. I sincerely doubt I will be treated with the same respect as a person who walked in the door.
William, my MIL had a serious illness a few years ago. It looked for a while that she might not make it. One of the doctors asked my SIL how long her mother had been an invalid. My SIL said, invalid hell, they'd been out shopping when she suddenly felt ill and asked to be taken home, the day before she was hospitalized. The doctor expressed shock. After this my SIL saw a difference in their attitude toward my MIL. I find this kind of horrifying.
She made a complete recovery, by the way.
Your experience is not horrifying to me. The story you told is well within what I would sadly expect when meeting an MD for the first time.
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