Disabled Baby - A Perfect Source Of Human Spare Parts?

TORONTO, April 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A two month-old child at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, described in the media as "dying," has defied doctor's predictions and continued to live after the removal of a respirator. The respirator was removed in the expectation that the child would stop breathing, and that her heart could then be harvested for transplant. Her parents have expressed their disappointment that another child who is being cared for at the hospital will now not receive their daughter's heart.

The case has created a stir in Canada, with numerous commentators debating the ethics of the case. Some disability rights campaigners have pointed out that the child's condition is not "terminal" and have warned that in seeking to make the girl an organ donor, the hospital may be making a "quality of life" judgment about the child. They are also concerned that the issue is being inflated in the public mind by the media's misrepresentation of the child's condition.

Kaylee Wallace was born with a condition called Joubert Syndrome, which causes a malformation of the part of the brain that that controls balance and coordination. Among the symptoms of Joubert Syndrome is an abnormal breathing pattern which means that Kaylee requires assistance breathing while she sleeps. But medical literature on the disorder does not describe it as a "terminal condition." Indeed, depending on the severity, some patients recover normal sleep patterns later in life.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, doctors removed the respirator and Kaylee was expected to fall asleep and stop breathing. After she stopped breathing, her heart could be removed shortly after cardiac arrest. But Kaylee did not fall asleep and continued to breathe, causing doctors to remove Kaylee from the organ donors' list in accordance with the hospital's ethics policies.

Kaylee's parents, Jason Wallace and Crystal Vitelli, have asked doctors to try again. Wallace said, "If she's going to die, we got to keep trying."

"I want my child to pass on because she can't survive, and to save that child."

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"Hurry up and die, your organs are needed by someone else" - is this the way those guys understand recycling?!

On the other hand, we shouldn't be surprised. If it became socially acceptable to destroy a disabled baby while he's still in the womb, no wonder some parents don't mind taking away life of a disabled baby that has already been born. In both cases, the same logic is used - it's for the baby's own good, so he doesn't suffer too much. And you see how socially conscious the parents are - they're not doing that out of their personal convenience (like that Quebec couple that sues the hospital for not dehydrating their daughter to death,) they want to save the life of another child...

Still, a baby is not a car that you can take apart so that spare parts could be used to fix another vehicle. Just like any of us, little Kaylee Wallace has all the rights to live whatever number of years God is willing to give her, without being rushed to the morgue just because someone else thinks that her life is not worth living. Here's an example of a devoted mother that cherishes every moment she could have with her daughter, baby Faith Hope, that was born with anencephaly. For her - this is a baby, not a source of human spare parts. Too bad, little Kaylee Wallace isn't lucky enough to have such devoted parents.