Comments on: 'Ashley Treatment' Questioned By Parents

Ethicists And Parents Of Children With Disabilities Ask If Stunting Child's Growth Is Best

[toolmangler-2009]

Being extremely familliar with the handicapped and their associated problems I say how dare you speak out against these parents without having walked one foot in their shoes. if you are so against them doing this service for their child then you should step forward and help them care for this unfortunate soul. Halve their burden and this might not have been necessary. No it is easier to cast stones than help. No wrong has been comitted here. The child will be in a much better position to be taken care of by her family than any other scenario that I know of.

[susanhelit]

ltmonkey, stopsbs - either of your children so severely mentally disabled as Ashley is? Even close? And I notice that one of you only has a 2 year old - you haven't had the experience of the next several years, and the increasing weight.

I post on a forum with several parents of disabled children - and they all agree that Ashley's parents had Ashley's best interests in mind. Watch some disabled person dying of bedsores because the weight of their body is too much for their skin, and hard to move; watch them go from a smiling 9 year old to a 15 year old in pain from back problems due to the pressure of breasts on the body; watch them pregnant because apparently as hard as you screen and watch aid workers, it's just not always possible to catch all the bad ones.

There is no good solution for Ashley, none that will give her a normal life, none that will guarentee even a reasonably happy life. Ashley's parents looked for the best option for her, and I think they found a wonderful one. They are innovators and heros.

[csanders112]

There were other options like a monthly shot to stop menstruation and tube tying to protect against pregnancy. Have a 110 disabled son and being 5'2" myself I can still lift him. It isn't easy but using my son as a guinea pig is not the answer. There are many families willing and happy to raise children with special needs should a family not be able to handle it. I'm actually more upset that a doctor permitted such unnecessary surgeries.

[ltmonkey]

I would like to comment on this. I am a parent of a disabled child and I don't understand how in the world you can say that parents of disabled children would understand doing this. My son is two and weighs about 28 pounds and he is gonna keep getting bigger and he can't walk or crawl but I would never think about doing this to my child. You think that the parents who did this to their child are hero's. I think they are poor excuses of a parent. I am outraged by this. I would never think about doing to my son. I have plenty of mom's who are in a parent group and all their children are disabled too and they think the same way I do. How could these parents do that? This is ridiculus and don't oh parents just don't understand we did it for her. No they did this for themselves so they don't have to deal with her growing up.

[lisagup]

To everyone who keeps saying that she should have been aborted. Ashleys brain damage wasn't detected until after she was born. Just thought maybe you should have all the facts about the life that you say doesn't deserve to be.

[kobismom1]

I think they made a good choice. Having the childlike appearance for the rest of her life will give her a better chance of recieving a higher level of care when her parents are gone. They are thinking about her future. Her appeareance and size will make her care givers feel more like they are taking care of a child than an adult. We have natural instincts that make us want to shelter and protect children. We have a natural aversion to large adults who are helpless. You prove that by saying she should have been aborted. Not many people wish to care for such a large "problem". Her parents are protecting her future. this is being made an issue Because she is a CHILD, which proves people care more about issues affecting children. Which supports the theory that more people will connect and care about her as a didabled adult who has the appearance of a child.

[plowhandle]

Ashley's 'life' should have been terminated in the womb.

The thought that her parents are now seeking to make her into a human bonsai tree is disgusting and unethical. The doctors that assisted them in this perverse quest should be banned from ever practicing medicine again.

Hooray for the posters who suggest that FatCat Republiscum Party operatives adopt this girl and change her sails well into the next decade.

[lisagup]

I cannot believe the total lack of human feeling in most of these posts. I am shocked by the dismissal with which this girls life is addressed. Just because she is not "normal" doesn't mean her life will not have meaning and purpose. For better or worse her life has already touched thousands more than anyone who has posted on this site. I wish people would please stop saying that she should have been basically put down like some animal years ago. She and anyone, disabled or not, has the right to life, and hers is probably more full than any of us can imagine, and I think it sounds as though her parents love her a great deal, and that's about as much as anyone can hope for these days. I swear most of these posts make me completely lose faith in humanity. I wish Ashley and her family the best, and hope they don't ever read the thoughtless and heartless comments that people have written on here.

[dakennon]

This is very saddening to view and read, thats my first thoughts about this article about this child.
The article here lists that Ashley will be as a 3 month old in her mind for the rest of her life even though she is 9 years old.
I dont know what category I would fall in right now of what I'm about to speak on my comments of this post and of people whom are and were involved in this case but I, as an American Citizen, that this website gives rights to to speak, we do have freedom of speech still in America I hope.
I would personally not go this way if my child was here, where this child has been deemed to be, I would go a while in my hope that my child might someday find a miracle but the facts are, miracles in America dont happen, not for a child, not for a baby, not for anyone.

The Angels that do help are far and few between in America and they are not found in the hospitals whom allow people in that arent even checked out by the government or FBI or CIA...this is what our government is about, they want more funds and cash from their people whom are expected to support them but they cannot protect our country, their vacations and their stand in Society means more to them, not the next child dying here, not their importance, this is very sad, if this was my child, I would have hope, but I would not drag my childs life out to live in what? A hope that even the best of the Medical Scientists can even offer to a child in this state.

[linfinster]

If we are forced by society to care for babies "saved" by medical technology, then I can see why the parents did this. If you think this is traumatic for the child, imagine how it will feel to have multiple bedsores, having to be rotated constantly, dressings changes, on and on it goes, just for that one problem. Every time. That surgery is a small price to pay of temp discomfort for the lifetime of difficulties faced as an adult with a 3 month olds cognitive ability.
I still think it's a shame that we even have to consider this. Euthanasia is much less painful than a lifetime of pain and suffering. Not to mention the financial aspects too.

[susanhelit]

And the one set of parents objecting to this have children nothing at all like Ashley - their kids can't talk, but they at least have a mind!

[justfacts2]

I do not understand why a person would bring a child into the world with these kinds of disabilities. The best interest of the child, in these cases, is to have the pregnancy terminated. My desire to have a healthy child is far greater than to have a child period. And to those of you out there that disagree, you are also the ones that object to these parents getting some kind of assistance to help with the medical bills.

[susanhelit]

This is disgusting! Most parents of disabled parents completely understand the desperation and huge choices Ashley's parents had, and some have even posted about disabled relatives they had that might have lived longer with this treatment, and all CBS wants to do is manufacture a new hot story talking to some of the few who disagree!

Ashley's treatment is a wonderful choice for children who can never grow up, for whom puberty, size, and adult appearance will only be a huge trauma and burden.

[nothappyatall]

Seems to me euthanasia early on would have been a much better, humane and logocal choice, what happens to this neutered human vegetable when the parents are dead?