It has occurred to me this week that we learned a lot from Terri's murder and the biggest thing was to avoid letting the media create a frenzy and set the agenda.
It is profoundly heartwarming to me that, as we reflect on the days of Terri's murder, Father Frank Pavone, the Schindlers and many other pro-lifers preserved Terri's Legacy by saving Baby Joseph.
Threads by NYer, RedMDer and me.
Baby Joseph flown to U.S. hospital
LONDON, Ont. - A dying Windsor, Ont., infant's five-month odyssey in the spotlight took a dramatic turn Sunday, when his parents accepted an offer to fly him to the U.S. against the advice of a London, Ont., hospital.
(Excerpt) Read more at torontosun.com ...
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Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life Leads Covert Mission to Rescue Baby Joseph
Baby Joseph being put on the plane for transport to the United States
STATEN ISLAND, March 14, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Under cover of darkness, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, arrived in Ontario, Canada, Sunday night to rescue Baby Joseph Maraachli from the London Health Sciences Centre. For two weeks, doctors at the hospital in London, Ontario, have been delaying the baby's transfer to a hospital where efforts to save his life will not be officially labeled "futile."
"I knew, after this dragged on day after day, that I needed to be here myself to get Baby Joseph to safety," said Father Pavone. "He needs to be in a hospital that cherishes life over the bottom line. After around-the-clock negotiations, this really became a race against time." Father Pavone was accompanied by Priests for Life staff, who were there to assure the transfer proceeded smoothly.
Baby Joseph and his father, Moe Maraachli, were flown with Father Pavone to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo., on a specially equipped air ambulance provided by Michigan-based Kalitta Charters, and sponsored and paid for by the New York City-based Priests for Life.
"If there is a chance this boy can live, we have to explore every option," said Father Pavone, who was to arrive back home in New York earlier today after weekend speaking engagements in Cleveland. Instead, he flew to Detroit and then on to Canada, vowing not to leave the country until he had Baby Joseph and his father with him.
"Priests for Life staff toiled through the night for many nights, working in concert with dozens of people to make this possible," Father Pavone said of the nighttime rescue mission. "Now that we have won the battle against the medical bureaucracy in Canada, the real work of saving Baby Joseph can begin."
Father Pavone said Baby Joseph's transfer was accomplished through the efforts of a number of people, including his parents; family spokesman Sam Sansalone; family attorney Claudio Martini; Bobby Schindler of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Dr. Martin McCaffrey, a neonatologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Medical School; the Rev. Pat Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, D.C., and attorney CeCe Heil from the American Center for Law and Justice, also in D.C. Father Frank also thanked the many other Canadian pro-life groups and individuals who have been consistent and heroic in their advocacy for Baby Joseph and for all the vulnerable.
"We are united across national boundaries to continue to work together for a Culture of Life," Father Pavone said.
SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center opened in 1956 and was named in memory of Cardinal John Glennon, Archbishop of St. Louis from 1903 until his death in 1946. The hospital was a fulfillment of Cardinal Glennon's vision of a health-care facility open to all children in need of medical care. The hospital is part of SSM Healthcare, which is run by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. The system has 19 acute-care hospitals in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Fox News Article: EXCLUSIVE: 'Baby Joseph' Gets Second Chance at Life in U.S.
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Watch a video of Fr. Pavone with Baby Joseph
ST. LOUIS -- A video just released by Priests for Life shows Father Frank Pavone, national director, interacting with Baby Joseph Maraachli in his hospital room at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center here. The video shows the baby moving his hands and rolling in his bed. The hospital in Ontario, Canada, where he had been a patient since October, declared that the baby was in a persistent vegetative state, but doctors at Cardinal Glennon have told Father Pavone that he is primarily breathing on his own and is responding to touch. "Hospital officials were very, very happy," Father Pavone said today.
Video: Fr. Frank Pavone with Baby Joseph in St Louis Hospital
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Baby Joseph Maraachli to Get Tracheotomy Today or Tomorrow
Baby Joseph Maraachli, the 14-month-old Canadian infant who was denied the medical procedure in his country, will get a tracheotomy either today or tomorrow that will allow the child to live another 6 months.
Joseph was rescued late Sunday from the Canadian hospital by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, who paid for a private specialized medical plane to take the boy to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri so he could have the medical procedure before his parents take him home, where he will likely die soon from a degenerative neurological condition.
A team of specialists at the Catholic hospital have evaluated Joseph, who was “in serious but stable condition,” on arrival from London, Ontario Health Sciences Centre. In a statement released earlier this week, Dr. Robert Wilmott, Cardinal Glennon Hospital’s chief of pediatrics, said Joseph “likely will have a tracheotomy performed by the end of this week to facilitate his transition to a skilled nursing facility.”
His parents want the tracheotomy done so he can die at home with his parents and family rather than at a hospital. Dr. Robert Wilmott, Cardinal Glennon Hospital’s chief of pediatrics, said Joseph “likely will have a tracheotomy performed by the end of this week to facilitate his transition to a skilled nursing facility.”
The terminally ill child is expected to get the procedure done either today or tomorrow and Moe Maraachli, Joseph’s father, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he just wants to take his son home “and let him breathe.”
“Let me take him home and let him breathe. If he will die, he will die because he’s sick, naturally,” he said. “I fight for him because that’s my job for my son. He’s never given up, because I’ve never given up.”
Meanwhile, Moe says he plans to catalog the events of what has happened with Jospeh for a potential book that can help other parents of disabled children learn how they can fight for proper medical care and treatment for their little ones.
Pavone talked about the rationale behind helping the infant.
“We’re not saying that people should be kept alive at any cost. Nor are we saying that there’s any specific treatment plan here that we’re imposing,” Pavone said. “What we’re saying is ‘Give the baby reasonable care and listen to the parents who want to give the baby a second chance in an American hospital.”
The family of Terri Schiavo understands the plight of a patient denied medical care and Terri’s brother Bobby Schindler has been helping Joseph’s parents get him to the United States from Canada. He applauded the rescue and is glad Joseph will be receiving proper care.
“This is a great victory for Baby Joseph, his family and for all the people and organizations that were committed to helping this precious child,” he said. “I’m just delighted that a groundswell of support began once we met with the family in Canada, and thankfully, Priests for Life followed with their help. Not only is this significant for this child but for all the medically dependent whose lives are at risk of health care rationing.”
Schindler added: “Baby Joseph was hours from being pulled off life support at LHSC before his situation made national headlines, forcing the hospital to cease its efforts to end the baby’s life. Fortunately, through the advocacy of various organizations and countless people, Baby Joseph was transferred to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis.”
Joseph has been at London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, since October with a rare deteriorating condition that is not improving. The doctors who have cared for him want to remove his breathing tube but Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader took their battle to court to allow the tube to be removed at home, so the boy can die surrounded by his family.
A Superior Court judge in London, Ontario, dismissed the request of the Canadian couple to overturn a decision requiring the removal of their baby’s breathing tube in a hospital instead of at home.
Joseph cannot breathe on his own since he suffers from a severe and fatal neurological disorder. His sister, Zina, suffered from a similar condition and died years ago.
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Father Frank Pavone: Who is Baby Joseph Maraachli and Why Should I Care?
The world has taken notice of a 14-month old baby from Canada whose family has been fighting the medical establishment since October to help their child breathe. Moe and Sana Maraachli were refused a tracheotomy for their son because the apparently fatal neurological disease that the child has renders further intervention “futile.”
Working with many others, we at Priests for Life arranged to have the baby transferred to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St Louis, and I went on the medical jet to pick up the baby and his father on Sunday night March 13. Now, the child has another chance at getting better care, and the family another chance at maximizing the time they can spend with their child.
A lot of media has accompanied the event. One reporter who was not too interested in covering the story asked, “Who the hell is Baby Joseph and why should I care?”
The short answer is, Baby Joseph is all of us.
After all, the problem underlying this case is not simply one particular hospital or the Canadian medical system. The problem is a philosophy of life that says that how valuable you are depends on how well you function. The problem is a philosophy of medicine that says that if someone is going to die anyway, there’s no benefit in prolonging life. The problem is a philosophy of suffering that says we can actually determine what somebody else’s level of happiness is, and measure their misery, and that if they don’t have the good sense to eliminate it, we can step in and do so against their wishes.
If we don’t think that we and our loved ones will be affected by this philosophy when it comes to our own medical challenges and decisions, we should think again. It’s happening every day, often with subtle or not so subtle pressure from medical professionals, who, instead of rendering medical judgments, render value judgments. Doctors are not supposed to judge for us the “meaning” or “value” of extending the life of a loved one, or our own life. Rather, they are supposed to judge for us whether a particular treatment or intervention will have certain effects on a loved one or on us. They need to leave it to us, in consultation with our family and clergy, to determine what meaning or value we find in the situation.
This is what the parents of Baby Joseph, together with Priests for Life and many others, are trying to say. Baby Joseph’s parents, who want to care for him no matter how long or short his life may be, were told that this life wasn’t worth extending. It’s time to draw a line in the sand and tell the medical profession that this is not their role. “Life not worth living” belongs to a philosophy that led to one of the world’s greatest holocausts, which ended with the declaration “Never Again.”
Our efforts on behalf of Baby Joseph can actually be summarized by those two words.
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Wesley J. Smith: Peter Singer Predictably Against Parents in “Baby Joseph” Futile Care Case
We have discussed the Baby Joseph futile care case here. He is the baby who a Canadian hospital wanted to force off life support against the parents will and whose parents want a tracheotomy to help him live longer and at home. The impasse was resolved when the parents were able to move him to a St. Louis hospital.
Well, now Peter Singer has come out against the parents. From his column in the NY Daily News calling continuing care of Joseph “Deeply Misguided: “
Joseph’s parents, who have previously had another child who died from the same disease, objected to the removal of the breathing tube. Instead they wanted an operation performed that would cut a hole in the child’s neck, so that a breathing tube could be inserted in it and kept permanently in place. Joseph’s doctors refused to do this. They acknowledged that the operation might prolong Joseph’s life, but said it would not improve his well-being. A Canadian tribunal agreed with the doctors, giving them permission to remove the breathing tube. Then Priests for Life, a Catholic -abortion and anti-euthanasia organization stepped in, chartering an air ambulance to fly Joseph from Canada to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, a Catholic hospital, in St. Louis, which will perform the operation the parents requested.
“We Rescued Baby Joseph!” says a page on the Priests for Life website. The organization’s director, the Rev. Frank Pavone, says he has been told that it could cost as much as $150,000 for Joseph’s stay in the pediatric intensive care unit. That doesn’t include the cost of the aircraft, which would have added thousands more to the bill. Priests for Life is, of course, asking its supporters to donate to pay these costs.
Here’s the irony. According to the most rigorous charity evaluation agency in the country, GiveWell.org, you can save a child’s life for about $1,000. All you have to do is give the money to their top-rated charity, Village Reach, which delivers vaccines and other urgently needed medical supplies to rural areas in developing countries. If Priests for Life were really serious about saving lives, instead of “rescuing” Joseph so he can live another few months lying in bed, unable to experience the normal joys of childhood, let alone become an adult, they could have used the money they have raised to save 150 lives – most of them children who would have gone on to live healthy, happy lives for 50 years or more.
Yet, this is the same Peter Singer who says that parents should be able to have their disabled babies killed.
So, we see the real utilitarian agenda here. And we see the hollowness of Singer’s “preference” approach to utilitarian decision making. It isn’t parental empowerment. It isn’t family intimate decision making. Their “preferences” don’t matter in a futile care imposition. In other words, the consistent through line of Singer’s approaches is the death of disabled infants.
We don’t have to choose between caring for profoundly disabled individuals and helping children who can lead “healthy, happy lives.” In fact, such thinking reveals the profoundly bigoted heart that lurks within the passive prose of Singer’s utilitarian advocacy.