This story is a few months old, but its incredibly sad. A little boy born with a defective small intestine. He had surgery, but doctors discovered that his entire small bowel had died, and as a result, he couldn't eat or drink, and there was nothing that could be done for him.
He was given high doses of morphine as he starved to death - after 13 days of life:
Jailan's story: a life too short | Parent Exchange
If the condition had been discovered during the pregnancy, surely it would be kinder to abort Jailan than to give birth to him and watch him starve and die?
And surely it would be kinder for parents to have the option to euthanase their sick children, so they do not have to suffer like this?
Jailan may not have felt pain, given the morphine he was on, but his parents, and relatives had to stand by and watch him grow smaller and weaker, until finally, he died of starvation and dehydration.
I do not understand how some people consider this is a better death than a termination in the womb.
He was given high doses of morphine as he starved to death - after 13 days of life:
On the 20th of April 2013 my sister went into labour three weeks early and my baby nephew was born at 1:30am on my daughters birthday.
One week earlier my sister began having a few contractions so she went to the hospital. When a scan was performed the doctors noticed that the babys small intestine appeared to be blocked, so my sister was transferred to John Hunter Hospital. The surgeon said baby Jailan had bowel atresia and that when he was 12 hours old he would be sent to theatre to cut out the blockage and reattach the intestines. The doctor was confident, and assured us that he had performed this surgery numerous times with high success rates.
We were upset that bub had to have surgery, but reassured that it was a relatively easy and fairly common operation.
Jailan's story: a life too short | Parent Exchange
If the condition had been discovered during the pregnancy, surely it would be kinder to abort Jailan than to give birth to him and watch him starve and die?
And surely it would be kinder for parents to have the option to euthanase their sick children, so they do not have to suffer like this?
Jailan may not have felt pain, given the morphine he was on, but his parents, and relatives had to stand by and watch him grow smaller and weaker, until finally, he died of starvation and dehydration.
I do not understand how some people consider this is a better death than a termination in the womb.