Baby Isaiah: February update

Source: The Windsor Star

Four-month-old Baby Isaiah suffered irreversible brain damage at birth when his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Medical authorities recommended that the child be disconnected from the ventilator that keeps him alive. Isaiah’s parents have sought to keep their child on life support through the legal system. See here and here for previous posts on Baby Isaiah.
A medical expert had agreed to give his opinion on the case on February 19. The upshot of last week’s court proceedings, however, was another delay. The medical expect requested an additional MRI and more time to confer with specialists. A new court date has been set for March 11.

Buying time to guard the heart

Judging by news reports, there’s been a slight shift in the outlook of the understandably distressed Canadian parents, Rebecka and Isaac May. In January they cited the hopeful signs they’d observed: The child’s pupils dilated, his eyes opened, his limbs moved, he had gained weight, and he grew. Last week Isaiah’s father reported: “There hasn’t [sic] been very many improvements over the past few weeks, but he’s still growing.”
More telling is this comment from Isaiah’s mother: “Lately, I’ve had a very guarded heart. I’ve learned that until you have the information, you shouldn’t get your hopes up because then you crash and in order to deal with things in a healthy way you look at it every day at a time and take the information as it comes.”
This is the first child for these two young parents, ages 22 and 23. Mother and child were healthy until the 40-hour labor and delivery. They weren’t expecting this outcome, so there was no way they could prepare. Now they are confronted with deciding to allow their son to die or having that decision made for them by the courts.
After receiving the most recent extension to delay the decision, the lawyer for the parents stated: ” There’s no need to rush things. We’re hoping to have an answer sooner rather than later but we want the proper time to be taken so the family gets all the answers they need.”
The drawn out legal process is buying time, not simply time for Baby Isaiah to live, but time for the parents to let go of the future they imagined with their child and to adapt to a future they hadn’t anticipated.
Related posts:
Baby Isaiah May, October 24, 2009 – March 11, 2010
Baby Isaiah: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine (2)
Baby Isaiah: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine (1)
Baby RB: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine
The death of a child
The enduring benefits of saving children