The Mueller Case: The John Hopkins Case, And The Infant Doe

In regards to the treatment of impaired babies, it exhibits compassion rather than prejudice. As discussed in our textbook, the severity of the conditions that these impaired babies have varies depending on their conditions, but they all deserve compassion as human beings. Impaired babies have conditions that are not only painful, but can be life-threatening. Therefore, many of these babies would die without the proper treatment and care as infants. With that being said, if someone were to deny treatment to an impaired baby (or person), this would exhibit prejudice towards those who are handicap. As shown in the baby Jane Doe case, doctor’s prognoses are not always correct and humans are very resilient. Although this is not always the case,
In the John Hopkins case, there were three Down Syndrome babies that each had life-threatening intestinal defects, in which doctors let two of them die. The first baby had duodenal atresia, which is a blockage that prevents the passage of food and water from the higher duodenum to the lower stomach. The mother and father refused to consent to surgery that would open their child’s atresia, so the pediatric surgeons honored the parent’s decision and allowed the baby to die. The other baby’s mother did not want her child due to it’s condition and allowed her baby to die because she said it would be unfair to raise her other children with a “mongoloid.” Therefore, doctors allowed this baby to die as well. The third baby lived because their parents accept treatment. In the case of the first baby, the parents showed no compassion towards their child and there was a chance that he/she could have survived, but that was impossible without the surgery. Court proceedings were sometimes lengthy (as demonstrated in another case) and the child could have died while they were determining whether to perform surgery, but at least the child would have had a chance at life. In the case of second baby, the mother showed even less compassion for her child and neglected to see other options for him/her. There are plenty of loving families that would have taken this child and given
This condition is even more serious than duodenal atresia (discussed above), but it depends on the severity of the fistula (gap). The baby in this case had a very small gap and an early operation would have had a 90% chance of success. Unfortunately, the doctor downplayed this chance of success, emphasized that some people with Down Syndrome are “mere blobs,” and told the parents that the lifetime cost of a child with Down Syndrome is close to $1 million. Given this information, the parents decided against the operation, in which the district attorney appealed. Despite the district attorney’s efforts, both appeals failed and the baby died. This case is the perfect example of the importance of compassion and getting a second opinion. If this family would have obtained a second opinion on their baby’s condition, it is very possible that they would have consented to the operation and the operation would have had a 90% chance of success. Overall, this baby as well as several others could have been saved with not only treatment, but the proper information (i.e. success rate) on these