In today's news cycle (at least on Google News, which is where I get All My News with the exception of DKos), is the story of "Ashley", a mentally-handicapped nine year old girl whose parents elected to have her subjected to:
- a total hysterectomy
- removal of her "breast buds"
- high estrogen treatment to inhibit her normal growth
Why? Below the fold.
The medical procedures were designed to keep Ashley in a state of suspended childhood forever.
In a remarkable blog written by Ashley's parents, they defend "The Ashley Treatment" as a humane, caring decision made by loving parents, so that they or a subsequent caregiver can better respond to Ashley's physical and emotional needs as she ages.
Frankly, I am at a loss as to what society's ethical and moral reaction should be to this. On one hand, the parents' arguments are sound and well-reasoned. On the other, these procedures are on the "slippery slope" of medicine - there is no knowing where it might lead.
Ashley's parents' have this to say:
The objection that this treatment interferes with nature is one of the most ridiculous objections of all; medicine is all about interfering with nature. Why not let cancer spread and nature takes its course. Why give antibiotics for infections? Even an act as basic as cutting hair or trimming nails is interfering with nature.
Some question how God might view this treatment. The God we know wants Ashley to have a good quality of life and wants her parents to be diligent about using every resource at their disposal (including the brains that He endowed them with) to maximize her quality of life. Knowingly allowing avoidable suffering for a helpless and disabled child can’t be a good thing in the eyes of God. Furthermore, the God we know wants us to actively share our experience and learning with the rest of the world to help all "Pillow Angels" and other special need children in reaping the benefits of the "Ashley Treatment".
I believe that the principle of a "Right to Life" is necessary but insufficient; it is "Quality of Life" that should be our most important goal.
During the Terry Schiavo fiasco, the right-wing made the argument that there is always the possibility, however slim, that treatments will be discovered for brain-damaged individuals that could reverse years of deterioration.
Seeing that this same group has thwarted the medical research that could actually deliver such a treatment, this simply means that "a miracle might happen". Miracles delivered by Jehovah, no doubt, and only to God-fearing Christian heterosexual families.
One thing is certain. The political sea change that took place 2006 means that "The Ashley Treatment", and all the bio-ethical debates to come in this country, will be true, reasoned debates, not shrill religio-political posturing.
Your thoughts?