Aborted baby 'not a dwarf'

news.com.au ^ | 07Apr02 | GERARD McMANUS

[nickcarraway]

Aborted baby 'not a dwarf'

By GERARD McMANUS

07Apr02

THE 32-week-old baby who was terminated because doctors at the Royal Women's Hospital believed it would be born with dwarfism, may in fact have been normal, a federal MP has claimed.

Handwritten theatre nurse notes written at the time the baby was delivered state that the "the baby doesn't look small" and other medical records also suggest there was considerable ambivalence about whether the baby girl was a dwarf or not.

Senator Julian McGauran, who has been demanding a Medical Practitioners Board inquiry into the case, has told federal parliament that he had been given evidence to suggest that the hospital had misdiagnosed the child's disability of dwarfism.

"The greatest deception of all had (sic) occurred," Senator McGauran told the Senate. "The baby did not have dwarfism, but was found to be normal on delivery."

The Royal Women's Hospital maintains strongly that the original diagnosis made in January 2000, a few weeks before the termination, was correct.

"There was no evidence of a misdiagnosis at the time, and genetic testing was carried out which confirmed the diagnosis," spokeswoman Sue Driscoll said.

However, the hospital's own clinical notes written just four days before the termination are less certain, Senator McGauran claimed.

"It is unlikely, but possible, that the baby is a normal small baby," the doctor's notes say.

The baby, who was named Jessica by her mother, was aborted in February 2000 after the mother learnt from hospital doctors that she may be born with dwarfism.

Doctors say they agreed to the mother's desperate requests for a termination because she was suicidal.

The doctor who performed a "fetal reduction" on the baby in his surgery rooms said yesterday he did not see the baby when it was delivered stillborn hours later at the Royal Women's Hospital.

Senator McGauran said the Medical Practitioners Board was bound to fulfil its responsibilities in investigating complaints about the doctors involved.

"These matters really do require investigation and clearing up, matters of illegality, unethical practice, misdiagnosis and misreporting," he said.

The State Coroner Jacinta Heffey ruled late last year that she did not have the jurisdiction to investigate the death of a baby that had been born dead.

[jwalsh07]

Bitch.

[garv]

Intellectual and moral dwarfism is genetic among the pro-abortion set.

[DLfromthedesert]

An infant at 32 weeks is viable. How can this be legal in any jurisdiction? Dwarfism is not lethal.

[ventana]

Good work tonite, nick. V's wife.

[moyden]

The liberal is a sadistic thug.

[Ciexyz]

32 weeks is eight months. Many preemies are born at seven and eight months and survive. This is outright murder.

[Ciexyz]

If the mother was suicidal at the thought of giving birth to a "dwarf", how will she feel now, learning that the baby probably was "normal"?

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Fetal "reduction"?? What the heck is THAT? I haven't heard that undoubtedly PC term before.

It was predicted that eventually things like this would happen. Unfortunately, this "mother" will probably portray herself as the victim now and sue everyone in sight.

[dead]

They write this like it's some kind of tragedy all of a sudden, as if dwarf murder is somehow benign.

[Ciexyz]

Hope that this woman's next try at pregnancy doesn't result in Down's syndrome, Tay-Sachs or sickle cell anemia. Anyone imperfect doesn't have the right to live (sarcasm, of course).

[f.Christian]

...trial-error--natural selection...back to frog school--pond!

[dead]

If the mother was suicidal at the thought of giving birth to a "dwarf"...

I'm sure she was never suicidal. To get a late term abortion, you need to claim a threat to mother's "life or health", which basically means you have to make up some reason.

[jwalsh07]

Many preemies are born at seven and eight months and survive. This is outright murder

Babies have survived after only 20 weeks in the womb. And you are right, this is murder and stinks of Nazi Eugenics.

[SarahW]

It does no one any good for you to overstate the chances the baby was not afflicted with dwarfism. The baby was not "probably" normal by any ones account except yours.

If genetic testing confirmed dwarfism, any ambivalence in the notes by nurses would be irrelevent.

I've seen babies with dwarfism and they look like small normal babies.

[nickcarraway]

Last fall, I was having dinner at a good friend's parents' house. His mother, a pediatrician, was telling me that when she was pregnant with my friend's younger brother she was sick and had a fever for an extended period. Her doctor told her the baby was in trouble and she should abort it. It was so chilling to hear that doctors had wanted to abort someone that I had known for ten years. He was born perfectly healthy, of course.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

In the end, does it really matter either way?

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

There are many stories out there just like that. Scary.

[Cicero]

Do you think we should have open season on dwarfs?

[fightinJAG]

And if the mother was suicidal, how could the doctors possibly have believed that her "desperate pleas" constituted informed consent? How can a person in this state make any rational decisions about her health and body?

On another sad note, genetic testing is hardly foolproof.

[TxBec]

one of mine was born at 32 weeks. he'll be 14 this year. disgusting.

[glory]

Doctors say they agreed to the mother's desperate requests for a termination because she was suicidal

Well there you go, the mother "felt" she was suicidal. Better to have let her end her own selfish life. I'm sorry, but this strikes a cord with me because I gave birth to my son in March of the same year. Judging by the weeks she was at in the pg and the time of termination, we were due around the same time. How dare her!!

Wonder if this pathetic wench is suicidal now that she found out her baby was normal. What will she terminate this time to gain her sanity?

[Castlebar]

It does no one any good for you to overstate the chances the baby was not afflicted with dwarfism. The baby was not "probably" normal by any ones account except yours. If genetic testing confirmed dwarfism, any ambivalence in the notes by nurses would be irrelevent. I've seen babies with dwarfism and they look like small normal babies.

Have you ever seen Labor Secreatry Robert Reich?

[Larightgirl]

My best friend just gave birth to a precious baby boy, he was born when she was only at her 30th week of pregnancy and to everyone's surprise he was a healthy 5.1 lbs, and didn't even require a respirator. What a little blessing he is. I guess that's part of the reason this story really gets to me...I'm just sitting here in tears thinking about the horrible murder inflicted on this precious angel by a "doctor". What is this world coming to?

[MIgramma]

When my sister-in-law was pregnant, her doctor told her that her unborn had some abnormality, I forget just what now. Anyway, in the same breath, he asked her when she wanted to schedual the abortion! <p.My sis told him that was not an option and delivered a healthy, normal boy. Must be more money in abortions than normal deliverys?

[SarahW]

My point was the facts are enough, so stick with the facts. Didn't have anything to do with Robert Reich.

[jwalsh07]

When my daughter was pregnant with triplets they wanted to "cull" out the small one to give the other two a better chance. My son in law, a large former marine, and daughter dissuaded the OBGYN of that notion real quick. Next OBGYN!

Today, my granddaughter Alyssa is one and a half, still smaller than her brothers and still whipping their butts. :-}

[jwalsh07]

I've seen babies with dwarfism and they look like small normal babies

They are small normal babies, normal for dwarfs. Why don't you poll some dwarfs on what this mother did and report back?

[retrokitten]

I usually stay away from the abortion threads, but this one is just so weird. I cannot even fathom freaking out because I was about to deliver a baby who happen to be a dwarf. I may be a little upset thinking about those obnoxious people who may say stupid things to my child and thinking about the challenges that will lay ahead for him or her, but that is true of every parent and child, dwarf or not. I know there are certain types of dwarfism that causes some health problems, but alot of people born with dwarfism are just smaller then average and nothing else is different.

I happen to agree that 8 mos. is murder. Why not just give the baby up for adoption if the family didn't want the child?

[GovernmentShrinker]

The term "fetal reduction" has been commonly used to describe the procedure in which a high order multiples pregnancy (i.e. more than twins) is reduced to a smaller number by the early removal of one or more fetuses, in order to give the remaining fetuses a better chance of survival and good health. I've never heard it applied to the complete termination of a pregnancy before.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'm very strongly pro-choice, but even I would agree that this is going over the line. Dwarfism causes only minor physical problems and no mental problems, and at 32 weeks the baby could have been delivered in perfectly good condition. I'd grant the mother the freedom to terminate the pregnancy by an early delivery if it was that important to her, but I can't quite imagine why these doctors felt an abortion was appropriate under these circumstances. And who NAMES their fetus only to abort it for pretty trivial reasons? And if there's a reliable genetic test for dwarfism, it obviously could have been done BEFORE the abortion, instead of afterwards. There's a lot in this story that just doesn't add up -- I wonder if there are significant details we haven't heard.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

My thoughts too. I had heard of the term in relation to multiple babies but never just one baby. I guess that's the complete reduction, to ZERO!

[RnMomof7]

My daughter is a social worker. She knows of one female OB/GYN doctor in our area that has told 4 women she knew to abort as the baby was a "midget"..One refused and gave birth to a normal child.

Those are incredible numbers in one practice I would think . And those are only women that my daughter knows

I have to wonder if this is a pattern

[usconservative]

Many preemies are born at seven and eight months and survive. This is outright murder.

I'm here to tell you that's true. I was born at 7 months, two weeks. Fully developed. Mom & dad took me home a week later (this was 1962, when they didn't kick new parents out of the hospital within 24 hours) and I'm no dwarf. I'm 6'2" 230 pounds.

This was out and out MURDER.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Nazi eugenics was government-imposed eugenics. Eugenic decisions made by individuals are no more the same thing than homeschooling is the same as mandatory attendance at government schools. I don't agree with the eugenic decision that this individual made, but I think it's very important to recognize that it wasn't made by a government decree for the purpose of advancing the government's interests.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I wonder if it might be code for fetal development problems which are commonly drug-related. Plenty of doctors who serve communities where that's a big problem are no doubt inclined to reduce the number of low-birthweight, drug addicted babies born to mothers who won't take care of them OR give them up for adoption (and if they aren't white, their chances for adoption are near zero anyway). Too many of these kids have serious developmental disabilities, and just end up staffing the street gangs if they don't die earlier from parental abuse/neglect.

[Revelation 911]

- how many years was Billy Barty viable? (sarcasm)

"Dwarfism is a condition that affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S. alone, and there are over 100 different types of dwarfism. Most Little People are born to families with no history of dwarfism. Even today, in the most open-minded and prejudice-intolerant society ever in recorded human history, people with dwarfism are still subjected to degrading stereotypes, societal barriers, and attitudinal barriers. We endure everything from job discrimination and reduced social opportunities to physical abuse and open public ridicule on a daily basis." .....and now infanitide

[Doctor Don]

Shudda let the mother commit suicide. She is a murderer and murderers should die.......the baby was killed anyway!

[Burr5]

Let me tell you guys a story you must hear: It is from Glenn Beck (a talk show host whom I'm coming to love). It seems that his wife had just delivered a very sick child, one which the doctors doubted would survive for long. They did a brain scan to find the cause of the baby's nearly continuous seizures and found a terrifying image. The doctor called Beck into a room to show him the brain scan. "Mr. Beck, I want you to prepare yourself," he said. "In these kinds of pictures, the black areas indicate damage to the child's brain resulting from a series of strokes." Beck looked at what he was presented, and saw that the interior of his child's cranium was almost entirely black. She would never be able to sit up, to feed herself, to speak, to lead any kind of a decent life, the doctor informed him. To allow the child to die would be a reasonable, and understandable decision in this kind of a situation, he was told. And to Beck's lasting shame (his words), he seriously considered allowing her to expire, almost as much to avoid the complications he and his wife would have to face as to avoid the tragedy that this litle girl's life would certainly become. However, they resisted this advice, and their daughter survived. (If I was a melodramatic person, I would delay you by pointing out that Beck took a commercial break at this point in his story.............Okay, we're back!) And when the story resumed, we learned that this little girl is now in the ninth grade at her school, having left the eighth grade with a "B" average. As Glenn put it so bluntly that it brought tears to my eyes: "THE DOCTOR WAS WRONG." Can anyone doubt that this current crop of "pro-choice" eugenicists are not to be trusted?

[dead]

Too many of these kids have serious developmental disabilities, and just end up staffing the street gangs if they don't die earlier from parental abuse/neglect.

Best just to kill them then, I guess, if they'e liable to be troublemakers.

[Revelation 911]

"THE DOCTOR WAS WRONG." yet he/she still practices with pomposity no doubt

[LadyDoc]

You don't "abort" a 32 week old. If it was born naturally, it has about a 90 percent chance of living at 32 weeks. This is infanticide.

Little People of America web site

[Darksheare]

Welcome to FR.

Thread is from 2002...

[SandyInSeattle]

I think you might be lost.

[It's me]

I wonder if she is more suicidal now...

[rimtop56]

I met a woman some time ago whose doctor told her that the sonogram showed that the baby "had no head," and of course recommended abortion. She refused and had a perfectly normal, healthy baby.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

So she murders her baby just because the child would have been short?

Lousy stinking piece of sh*t! I hope she never has another moments peace as long as she lives.