Update on Baby Joseph...
Life Site is keeping us informed on the ongoing saga of Baby Joseph. Some good news is that there is a US dr. who is willing to take on the case but needs the medical records released from Canada which appears to be an issue.You would think that Canada would welcome having this issue go to the US but why are they digging their heels in?
"Dr. Paul Byrne, a fifty-year veteran in the
field of neonatology based in Ohio, has said that Joseph should have had a
tracheostomy “a long time ago.” He also insisted that he has never seen a
need to remove a child’s ventilator, saying that “if a baby has a disease
process that’s so bad that they’re going to die, then they die on the
ventilator anyway.”
"Fr. Frank Pavone, the organization’s national director,
revealed Monday that physicians in Michigan have agreed to oversee Joseph’s
outpatient care and help wean him off the home ventilator if necessary.
“We have yet to find one facility that said it would not perform the
tracheostomy on Baby Joseph,” he said.
"The hospital is now asking Ontario’s Office of
the Public Guardian to intervene and allow them to take Joseph off his
ventilator, after the parents have continued to refuse consent.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has warned that the court decision facilitates
a system where doctors are authorized to force life and death decisions on
patients. He has said he believes it is far worse than the “death panels”
recently debated in the U.S. as part of the federal health care law."
2 comments:
March 12, 2011
Release Baby Joseph NOW!
We have everything we need to bring Baby Joseph
to the U.S. for the health care he needs.
We've done everything the Canadian hospital has asked us to do --
now it's up to them to do their part and let Baby Joseph go.
No doubt you've been following the rollercoaster drama that has been unfolding in Canada regarding the fate of little Baby Joseph. Neither we nor anyone else knows how long he has to live, but that’s God’s decision. Meanwhile, we are joining his family in trying to get him reasonable care that will extend his life – care that has so far been denied by the hospital he is in.
Believe it or not, this last Friday we were prepared to pick up Baby Joseph from the Canadian hospital and transport him to a hospital in the U.S. that has agreed to take him in and give him the care he needs.
However, we have been stonewalled through all kinds of delay tactics -- the list of which is so long it would take another page to describe them to you.
It was infuriating!
For instance, we have an air medical transport team -- one of the top teams in the country -- waiting on standby for the "go ahead" that has not yet come. In other words, Baby Joseph could be in that U.S. hospital right now receiving the care he needs. Instead he is still languishing in the Canadian hospital.
The medical board overseeing his case is apparently convinced that giving proper care to Baby Joseph is futile. They don’t mean that the medical care won’t help him. They mean his life in its current condition isn’t worth the trouble.
This of course is an outrage, and must be stopped.
We at Priests For Life have been at the forefront of this battle for the last several weeks, once we discovered how critical this situation was for Baby Joseph and his parents. We have already made a firm commitment to fight for Baby Joseph -- whatever the cost. And let me tell you, the costs will be significant.
For example, the air medical team and their specially-equipped airplane costs thousands of dollars an hour. That's because they're capable of the highest level of critical care, and they can handle anything. Furthermore, once we get Baby Joseph to the U.S. hospital, we've been told that it could cost as much as $150,000 for his stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
So here's what happens next …
Monday morning, there's going to be a "conference call" between the lawyers, doctors, and administrators involved in this case to ensure that Baby Joseph can be released immediately. Once he is, our team springs into action.
What I need you to do right now is to contact by email a certain Dr. Douglas Fraser, who is the attending physician for Baby Joseph at the Canadian hospital. It is our understanding that he has the ultimate authority to permit the release of Baby Joseph or to deny it. In other words, the fate of Baby Joseph is in Dr. Fraser's hands.
We all must urge Dr. Fraser to do the right thing and allow Baby Joseph to get the care he can receive in the U.S. hospital which we've already lined up and is ready to go.
I am personally "on call" right now to hop on an airplane and go to Canada when Baby Joseph is released so that I can be with him on the medical jet as it flies to the United States. I will be joining Baby Joseph's parents in order to give them spiritual strength during this undoubtedly difficult time in their lives.
Please say a prayer for Baby Joseph, his parents, the air medical team, and everyone else involved in this historic case. Pray that the Canadian authorities do the right thing AND RELEASE BABY JOSEPH NOW!
"Neither we nor anyone else knows how long he has to live, but that’s God’s decision."
Seeing as Baby Joseph is in a vegetative state, has a fatal condition, and cannot survive off a ventilator, it seems your God has decided that he hasn't any longer to love, don't you think?
The sad truth is that there is no saving this baby and he parents need to accept that and let him go. And those who are fighting the Canadian medical system that provides quality care to all while the US does not, should stop wasting energy and resources on this. What's the point, really?
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