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(UPDATE)Mum's torment over Baby RB (UK Baby dies)
(UK )The Sun ^ | 11-15-09

Posted on 11/15/2009 6:41:51 PM PST by pillut48

THE mother of a severely-disabled little boy known as Baby RB told today how she cuddled him with his father as they switched off his life support system.

The young boy was the subject of an emotionally-charged High Court case after his father challenged doctors who argued that the child's life support should be switched off "in his best interests".

The father later withdrew his objections and the judge agreed he should be allowed to die in peace.

His mother today revealed the couple cuddled him as they switched off the machine on Friday. The child died shortly afterward.

(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: deathpanels; moralabsolutes; obamacare
"...the doctors caring for the little boy said he would lead a "miserable, sad and pitiful existence" and should be allowed to die."

Related followup story here:
Tragic baby RB’s mum bedridden with grief

THE mum of tragic Baby RB was bedridden with grief last night after his life-support machine was turned off.

She cannot face leaving her home and has hardly eaten or drunk since the 13-month tot died at 1pm last Friday.

The mother endured a seven-day High Court battle with the severely disabled boy's dad - who wanted to keep their son alive.

But the father finally agreed with her and doctors that the child's ventilator should be turned off.

A source close to the family said the mum, 24, is "catatonic" with grief.

She said: "She is struggling to cope. She spent 10 hours at her son's bedside every day. Now she doesn't know what to do with herself.

"She has been struggling to get out of bed and just lies there crying."

The unnamed parents, who have parted, were with their son when he died. The mum said: "The last thing I told him was that I loved him."

The tot was born with a rare neuromuscular condition called CMS.

1 posted on 11/15/2009 6:41:52 PM PST by pillut48
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To: pillut48

What a horrible thing to go through. May God give them both strength.


2 posted on 11/15/2009 6:50:17 PM PST by tsmith130
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To: pillut48

I don’t know anything about this condition, so I can’t say what I would have done or would have wanted to do, but will say that the decision rightfully rested with the parents and not anyone else.


3 posted on 11/15/2009 6:52:11 PM PST by mountainbunny (Mitt Romney: Would you buy a used car from this huckster?)
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To: pillut48

These doctors and the judge are a bunch of child killers. The blood of this innocent child is in their hands. I bet they must feel real good about themselves. They must be the toast of the liberal class in the UK. I have more words, but I know they are not appropriate. I do know that God has received this child into his kingdom.


4 posted on 11/15/2009 6:52:18 PM PST by ABQHispConservative (A good Blue Dog is an unelected Blue Dog. Ditto Rino's!)
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To: mountainbunny

This seems like a tragic case, but not a Schaivo-esque situation involving a feeding tube and uncertain authority.

This looks like it was a ventilator. As difficult as it is to say, I do not believe that anyone has the right to say, in effect, “the taxpayers of my country must keep my child (or any loved one) alive as long as I say so, regardless of futility or cost.”

Just as we can see into the future of Mr. Obama’s death panels, one could also see a future, given medical advances, of thousands of people on ventilators, at obscene expense, alive only because their next of kin insisted on it.

There is a BIG line between euthanasia and allowing Nature to take its course.


5 posted on 11/15/2009 7:03:19 PM PST by jaybee
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To: pillut48

Correct headline: UK baby KILLED; Choked to death by NHS Death doctors


6 posted on 11/15/2009 7:05:20 PM PST by JimWayne
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To: pillut48

ping


7 posted on 11/15/2009 7:11:23 PM PST by christianhomeschoolmommaof3 (Best thing about Cash for Clunkers is that 90% of the Obama bumper stickers are now off the road.)
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To: pillut48

Sounds like she is having some terrible regrets along with losing her child.


8 posted on 11/15/2009 7:16:40 PM PST by visualops (Freepin' Pre!)
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To: jaybee

Were you aware that the baby in question had FULL brain functioning, and was aware of his surroundings and responded to the people and stimulus around him?

He was killed, as surely as Terri Schiavo was. :*(


9 posted on 11/15/2009 7:17:13 PM PST by pillut48 (CJ in TX --"God help us all, and God help America!!" --my new mantra for the next 4 years)
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To: jaybee
This looks like it was a ventilator. As difficult as it is to say, I do not believe that anyone has the right to say, in effect, “the taxpayers of my country must keep my child (or any loved one) alive as long as I say so, regardless of futility or cost.”

I don't think that the cost to the state should be an issue, since the state insisted on taking over health care, though I'm sure it always is and always will be

I do agree, though as to your larger point, and am not comfortable standing in judgment of these parents - I understand the positions both of them took. May God grant them peace.

10 posted on 11/15/2009 7:18:42 PM PST by mountainbunny (Mitt Romney: Would you buy a used car from this huckster?)
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To: jaybee

You’ll love Obamacare!

Wait’ll its your turn, watching them kill you, aware but helpless.


11 posted on 11/15/2009 7:23:39 PM PST by editor-surveyor (The beginning of the O'Bomb-a administration looks a lot like the end of the Nixon administration)
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To: pillut48

Prayers for them. That had to be the most heart wrenching thing to suffer, the death of an infant and to know it was your hands. Regardless of how justified it was, you know pyschologically they will suffer with that guilt.

I can’t say I would want my child to live in a hospital every minute for the rest of their life. I am just sorry these people were put in this horrible position.


12 posted on 11/15/2009 7:24:16 PM PST by autumnraine (You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out!)
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To: wagglebee; narses

Here we go again!


13 posted on 11/15/2009 7:25:06 PM PST by editor-surveyor (The beginning of the O'Bomb-a administration looks a lot like the end of the Nixon administration)
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To: ABQHispConservative

I don’t think this case is the same as Schiavo or just the state not wanting to pay, or even the parents not wanting to have their child live. This mother spent 10 hours a day with her child, that is not a mother who doesn’t care.

I have had family that had to decide on life support... it’s not an easy decision and not for someone to judge.


14 posted on 11/15/2009 7:28:10 PM PST by autumnraine (You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out!)
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To: pillut48

Yes, and that’s all he had. He couldn’t even breath without a tube down his throat. Couldn’t be held, couldn’t eat, couldn’t play, couldn’t do anything at all but lie in a bed and get stuck with needles. Quite a life there.
At least Terri could interact with others, limited as that was.


15 posted on 11/15/2009 7:32:04 PM PST by autumnraine (You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out!)
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To: jaybee

And this wasn’t just a ventilator. The baby’s lungs were filling up with fluid and had to be drained every couple of hours, and his condition was degenerative (earlier in his very short life, he’d been able to manage without a ventilator at least for a few hours at a time). He’d never been out of the hospital, and was never going to get out. Just suffer more and more and more until even all the machines and procedures couldn’t keep him alive anymore. They did the right thing letting him go (and probably should have done it a few months ago).


16 posted on 11/15/2009 7:52:23 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: jaybee

There is a BIG line between euthanasia and allowing Nature to take its course.

so let’s see....might as well get rid of iron lungs, respirators, heart/lung machines, feeding tubes, IV’s, and just let nature take its’ course


17 posted on 11/15/2009 8:10:59 PM PST by terycarl (lurking, but interested and informed)
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To: autumnraine

We had to make a decision in June about removing my mother’s ventilator. It is the most agonizing, horrible, dreadful thing you ever do. It’s not an easy choice, or one made because it’s just becoming a hassle dealing with someone in the hospital. I would have sat there every day for the rest of my life if it would have helped her in any way possible. But she was dying and all we did try to make it as painless as possible. Heavily sedated, she was gone in 5 minutes. I will never judge someone else who’s made this decision.


18 posted on 11/15/2009 8:34:28 PM PST by ktscarlett66 (Face it girls....I'm older and I have more insurance....)
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To: pillut48

RIP.


19 posted on 11/15/2009 8:35:19 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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