As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow document protruding from the pouch of her daughter's wheelchair, making sure it was clearly visible. Posted on 12/10/2007 10:11:05 AM PST by Sopater
As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow document protruding from the pouch of her daughter's wheelchair, making sure it was clearly visible.
In bold letters it warned, "Do Not Resuscitate."
The DNR order goes everywhere with Katie, including her 2nd-grade classroom at Laremont School in Gages Lake. The school is part of the Special Education District of Lake County, where an emotional two-year discussion ended this summer when officials agreed to honor such directives.
Now, district officials find themselves in the unusual position of having planned the steps its staff will, or won't, take to permit a child to die on school grounds. Although DNR orders are common in hospitals and nursing homes, such life-and-death drama rarely plays out in schools, where officials realize how sensitive and traumatic the situation could be for nurses, teachers and students.
Katie's brain was deprived of oxygen before birth. She can't walk, talk or do anything for herself. She is fed through a tube in her stomach and has an increased susceptibility to infection. Violent choking and coughing spasms have signaled a turn for the worse in her condition.
A Do Not Resuscitate order is a doctor's directive, issued with the consent of the family, that cardiopulmonary resuscitation will not be used if the patient suffers from heart or breathing problems. It can also prohibit using such devices as a defibrillator or an intubation tube. 
The new DNR policy puts Katie's school district at the forefront of a growing national debate about severely disabled and chronically ill children whose lives have been extended by medical advances -- and whose parents must face heart-wrenching decisions about the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I’m with you. I for one could not stand by and watch a helpless child die, no matter how badly her parents wanted her dead.
The child is unable to consent to this. It’s tantamount to a postpartem abortion. What passes for “love” these days, just turns my stomach. And dragging the entire school system into this death wish?
Me neither. Only people who are of sound mind should be able to make that decision.
I’m of the opinion that the only people that should honor a DNR request be medical professionals.
Why is this child in public school anyway? What about the needs of the other children?
I don’t understand, if someone is that near to death that they need DNR with them, why are they even in school?
Nopt to be cold, but why would any parents let a kid out of their sight for 6-8 hours a day when every day could be their last?
I don’t get why a child like this is in school anyway. What can she gain from it? If the point is to give the parents some respite from caring for her, there are other ways to accomplish that.
Good question.
WHY THE BLEEP IS THIS CHILD IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL????
Why can’t she be at home? What is she getting out of this institution?
In your heart, you know the answer to this, that is, if the DNR isn't enough.
I was thinking the same thing.
I’m with you, I don’t understand why this child is in school, first off she can’t walk, talk, do anything for herself and her brain was deprived of oxygen at birth, what can she possibly be learning, secondly, if my child was this close to death I would not let her/him out of my sight, I’d want to spend every waking moment with my child.
I agree with each of the above statements.
How did we get to the point in this country where a DNR order can infringe on the moral conscience of everyday Americans?
This response and others like it simply enable this child's family's need for attention and in-your-face parading their child to teach the rest of us a lesson.
The first thing that popped into my mind: why is this helpless human being sent to school at all? Other than to freak out the rest of society, is my guess; other children included.
Makes me sick.
Sorry - I responded so fast I hadn’t read your messages saying the same thing. I am sure the parents want breaks from her care, but that is why there are nurses and state respite care.
It always bothered me terribly when I’d go to a conference for parents of kids with learning differences and the parent would say that the child was being mistreated day after day at the school. HELLLOOOO? Take him out of there! Same thing here. This child would be happier in her home, maybe with a nurse taking her to the park each day, etc.
Let the schools educate those who need to learn.
I would guess that she is in school because her parents want to warehouse her there for several hours each day.
Under IDEA, signed in 1976 and reauthorized by every president since, every child has a right to a free and appropriate education. Appropriate for her is going to look much different than a child not disabled.
Besides, what you you do with her? Put her in the boiler room like schools used to do and pretend they don't exist?
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