A Pro-Life Episode of House

Christine writes about a recent episode of House, and its pro-life message. Since this one aired this week it was particularly good timing since we just had the 4th anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death.

This is Sick

Couple Sues Quebec Hospital for Not Dehydrating Disabled Infant Daughter to Death
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

MONTREAL, March 17, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) - A Quebec couple have launched a $3.5-million lawsuit against Montreal Children's Hospital for allegedly putting their infant daughter back on artificial food and hydration without their approval.

Marie-Eve Laurendeau gave birth to Phebe Mantha at LaSalle Hospital in November 2007. After a difficult delivery Phebe was transferred to Montreal Children's Hospital in serious condition and put on life support.

According to the lawsuit Laurendeau and Phebe's father, Stephane Mantha, were told by doctors that their daughter had little chance for survival and advised them to take her off respiratory support and hydration, to which they agreed.

After withdrawing respiratory support, however, it was found that Phebe could breathe on her own, and the hospital's ethics committee reversed the parents' decision to withhold fluids and food from their baby.

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Phebe is now almost 18 months old and, according to a CTV report, smiles at her parents. The parents say that Phebe's mother has had to quit her job to take care of their daughter and they are now living on only one income.

"I would tell them to come to our house for a week and see what it's like to live with a child like ours," said Mantha. "See the involvement that's needed -- the time and energy in terms of everything involved in our life."

How inconvenient that their daughter lived and they have to take care of her. My family would have done anything to be doing that for my sister right now.

Pope's Opposition to Euthanasia is Personal: Cousin had Down's and Was Taken by the Nazis

Pope's Opposition to Euthanasia is Personal: Cousin had Down's and Was Taken by the Nazis

NORTH HAVEN, Connecticut, April 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Many people are expecting Pope Benedict XVI to speak out in defense of human life and against abortion during his visit to the United States next week. What few people realize, however, is that the pope knows first-hand what happens when a society refuses to defend the most defenseless of its citizens.

As a boy of fourteen, Joseph Ratzinger had a cousin who had been born with Down's Syndrome, only a bit younger than himself. In 1941, German state "therapists" came to the boy's house and probably informed the parents of the government regulation that prohibited mentally handicapped children from remaining in their parents' home. In spite of the family's pleas, the representatives of the Nazi state took the child away. The Ratzinger family never saw him again. Later the family learned that he had "died," most likely murdered, for being "undesirable," a blemish in the race and a drain on the productivity of the nation. This was Joseph Ratzinger's first experience of a murderous philosophy that asserts that some people are disposable.

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The War on the Weak

I just read this selection by Wesley J. Smith about Waging War on the Weak. Its a quick read, but very informative, I suggest taking a moment or two and reading through it, its chilling.

Four months ago, a little girl in Samoa was born with serious disabilities. Doctors did not believe the baby could survive, so they urged the parents not to feed their daughter. But the parents loved their daughter and snuck food to Miracle. Beyond all medical expectations, Miracle survived.

Ponder, if you will, what I just wrote: Miracle's parents had to sneak food into the hospital! This wasn't even a feeding tube case. Had the parents acquiesced and permitted Miracle to starve, her death would have been akin to being exposed on a hill—the method ancient Romans used to rid themselves of “defective” babies.