New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | January 31, 2006

Cathy Young says pull the plug on feeding-tube buttinskis and their plans to bogart the Haleigh Poutre case.

Comments

|1.31.06 @ 10:58AM|#

All of us...must make sure that Haleigh gets every chance at life she can have.

Her care is not without a cost. Every healthcare dollar that is spent making sure that Haleigh gets every chance at life is a dollar that cannot be spent elsewhere. At what point do you realize that the money might save more lives if spent on immunizations for example? And what if people do not want their money going to keep her alive? All of this interference is only a minor example of why George Bush and Hillary Clinton are going to do their best to socialize healthcare. At that point we might as well abandon the concept of individual rights.

|1.31.06 @ 12:35PM|#

Malkin's column makes about as much sense as, uh, as your typical Michelle Malkin column.

Why aren't Hollywood celebreties working to save Haleigh, the way they worked to save Tookie? How about, because no one is trying to kill Haleigh, or end her life support?

|1.31.06 @ 12:44PM|#

Nobody seems really intent on not saving this girl's life. I take Young's point, but for me the question about this whole case has always been why on earth is that load of pig tripe who did this to her is still able to walk around on earth? It's an emotional justification, I know, and not necessarily rational, but this is why I support the death penalty. In my opinion, the adoptive mother did the only good thing of her entire life by killing herself.

dhex|1.31.06 @ 1:17PM|#

"Malkin's column makes about as much sense as, uh, as your typical Michelle Malkin column."

indeed.

Rob|1.31.06 @ 2:32PM|#

All of us�journalists, politicians, concerned citizens�must make sure that Haleigh gets every chance at life she can have.

followed immediately by

I would suggest, however, that the vocal champions of Terri Schiavo's "right to live" stay away from this case.

uh ...

Isn't Haleigh's unfortunate case a natural consequence of how the Schiavo case resolved? Which itself was a natural consequence of Roe v Wade, turning what should have been a states issue into a constitutional right to selective termination?

It's not exactly insightful, but I'll note that if you push away people who support your cause, you're going to have fewer people who support your cause. It sounds like the author needs to decide if her support for keeping this young girl alive can persevere thru working with people she does not like politically. People who, by the way, have been fighting the 'right to live' fight for a much longer time over many more battlefields.

|1.31.06 @ 2:34PM|#

I have no comment on the actual topic of the article. But when I saw the image lead, I couldn't help but think of...

http://www.fast-rewind.com/madmax24.jpg

Rob|1.31.06 @ 2:41PM|#

Don't get me wrong, what she says about the tactics of Delay, Hannity, et al, and the death threats to Michael Schiavo are exactly on. No movement can do anything with nutjobs doing extremist things like that. It only hurts the cause, doesn't help it. But on the other hand, you don't win supporters to your cause by pushing them away, and the ultimate goal here should be saving a girls life, not creating a coalition of people you like. And as a conservative leaning libertarian, it's awfully frustrating to listen to people who claim to be open-minded express disdain for anyone who espouses a religious / moral view tone to their beliefs, whether they try to impose that view on others or not. If libertarians ever want to win anything politically, they won't do it by telling people to stay away.

|1.31.06 @ 2:42PM|#

It sounds like the author needs to decide if her support for keeping this young girl alive can persevere thru working with people she does not like politically.

I think it's more a matter of not wanting to work with people who can only hurt her cause. If you're trying to get rid of affirmative action, for example, having David Duke as an ally is NOT going to help you. If you're trying to convince people that animal rights are a good thing, the Animal Liberation Front should be avoided at all costs. And considering how many Schiavo supporters told outright lies, like insisting that the woman was still capable of communication even though the autopsy revealed her brain had turned into Jell-o, I think it's a good idea to stay as far from those people as possible.

|1.31.06 @ 2:58PM|#

Also, once again, there is nobody arguing against providing treatment for the poor girl, now that the doctors realize their error. What would this grand coalition have the hospital do that they are not already doing?

|1.31.06 @ 3:35PM|#

What would this grand coalition have the hospital do that they are not already doing?

Buy a videocam and some shiny balloons.

|1.31.06 @ 4:03PM|#

Jesus balloons.

|1.31.06 @ 4:15PM|#

Jen,
"like insisting that the woman was still capable of communication even though the autopsy revealed her brain had turned into Jell-o"

That's not as far-fetched as you'd think: I'm typing this now, and my wife has long held that my head is full of Jell-o (well, fresh Spoo actually).

|1.31.06 @ 9:29PM|#

Some caution that the high cost of caring for comatose patients may become a financial incentive to end life support. Did such considerations influence the decision-making at the DSS?


Gee I wonder if could have Cathy? The problem is that if you give people the power to decide life and death, they are going to do just that and they are going to be driven by things like money and generally anything but the person's real prognosis and their best interests. That was what the Shiavo fight was about and Young was on the wrong side of it. Now with this case, we are seeing the results that everyone who supported Shiavo's parents predicted would happen and Young doesn't like it very much. Well Cathy, it sucks when people you don't like are right about something and you are wrong.