Baby Isaiah: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine (2)

As I described in a previous post, the parents of Isaiah James May, who has been declared brain dead, are engaged in a legal battle to keep their son on life-support. At their last court appearance on January 27 they were granted an extension of their appeal. The next court date is set for February 19, when a medical expert will testify.
For updates on baby Isaiah, there is a Facebook page (available if you’re a member of Facebook). The page mysteriously disappeared on Friday, but was restored on Sunday. Curious. The site includes three videos: A diaper change, baby Isaiah moving his leg, and a thank you from the parents. Although the parents find the movement of his leg an encouraging sign, I found that particular video – which shows the baby’s feeble movement, as if in slow motion — quite sad.

Thaddeus Pope provides excellent coverage of this and similar cases on his blog, Medical Futility.

“Isaiah isn’t a symbol. He isn’t a cause. He isn’t a religious martyr.”

There was a very thoughtful editorial on baby Isaiah — both sympathetic and practical — in the British Columbia newspaper The Province.

I understand the young couple’s reaction. Isaiah is their first and only child.
They’ve dedicated the last three months of their lives to watching over him. He has become the centre of their existence. But as Isaiah’s parents, they don’t have the objectivity or the expertise to judge whether their desperate fight to keep their profoundly brain-damaged son alive is actually in their baby’s best interests. …
I have no doubt that the Stollery [Children’s Hospital] doctors made a decision, based on their years of experience, that Isaiah’s quality of life was so poor, his outlook so hopeless, that removing him from the ventilator would be a mercy, both for the suffering baby and his agonized family.
First, do no harm, is the physician’s ancient oath. Sadly, there are times when keeping someone alive artificially does more harm than letting a life come to its peaceful, natural end. Just because we can use technology to keep someone’s heart beating and lungs pumping doesn’t mean that we must — or that we should. …
Unsurprisingly, given the political furor around abortion rights and end-of-life decisions, tens of thousands of pro-life and disabled rights activists from across North America have jumped on the “Save Baby Isaiah” bandwagon. Poor tiny Isaiah James May is shaping up to be Canada’s version of Terry Shiavo.
For many activists, this isn’t a fight about what’s right for this particular baby. It’s part of a larger crusade about the definition of life itself.
I understand the argument that disabled rights activists make. To them, it’s a slippery slope. If we decide that Isaiah May has no right to life because he’s profoundly brain-damaged, they ask, are we saying that brain-damaged people are lesser human beings, with no inherent right to life?
Are we saying that the state has the right and the power to decide who lives and who dies? That “perfectly healthy” babies are the only kind we want and allow?
These are legitimate concerns. We don’t want to live in a world where the state sanctions euthanasia for every person deemed inconvenient or “subnormal.”
But Isaiah isn’t a symbol. He isn’t a cause. He isn’t a religious martyr. He’s one tiny boy, who deserves to have the medical care that’s best for him. In this case, the best, most responsible, humane, and moral choice may well be to release him from his suffering and let him go.
I don’t begrudge his parents the chance the court has given them to consult with outside experts, if that’s what they need to put their minds at ease, to help them say goodbye. But I pray that they and their baby don’t become pawns in a larger culture war. After so much grief and pain, they all deserve better than that.

Sources:

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Paula Simons, Guest column: Isaiah is a baby in distress — not a martyr nor a political symbol, The Province, January 20, 2010
Sonia Sunger, Baby Isaiah Facebook group disappears, CTV Edmonton, January 31, 2010
Thaddeus Pope, New Futility Case – Isaiah James May, Medical Futility, January 20, 2010