What a shame as Downs Syndrome children often have pretty good lives. George Will wrote a really classic column about this once; his son has Down's syndrome and an Indiana court had ruled that Down's syndrome children did not have lives worth living. I looked but did not find it online; it predated the internet. I did find the following quote from it:
"When a commentator has a direct personal interest in an issue, it behooves him to say so. Some of my best friends are Down's syndrome citizens. (Citizens are what Down's syndrome children are if they avoid being homicide victims in hospitals.) Jonathan Will, 10, fourth-grader and Orioles fan (and the best Wiffle-ball hitter in southern Maryland), has Down's syndrome. He does not "suffer from" (as newspapers are wont to say) Down's syndrome. He suffers from nothing, except anxiety about the Orioles' lousy start. He is doing nicely, thank you. But he is bound to have quite enough problems dealing with society -- receiving rights, let alone empathy. He can do without people like Infant Doe's parents, and courts like Indiana's asserting by their actions the principle that people like him are less than fully human. On the evidence, Down's syndrome citizens have little to learn about being human from people responsible for the death of Infant Doe.[29] http://members.tripod.com/~joseromia/beck.html Larry C. Lyons writes: > From CNN > http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/05/baby.killed.ap/index.html > > Villanova professor charged with killing her baby > > ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- A Villanova University history professor > accused of fatally slitting her 6-month-old daughter's throat was charged > Tuesday with second-degree murder. > -- > > This seems to be a tragedy for all concerned. From further on in the article: > -- > Ener, 38, told police she suffered from postpartum depression and was on > medication. The child was born with Down syndrome and at one point needed > to be fed through a tube. She told police she wanted to give the baby relief. > > "She felt the baby was suffering," said police Sgt. Bruce Wynkoop. > > Ener also told police she had thought about killing herself for several weeks. > > A preliminary autopsy showed the baby bled to death from two neck wounds. > -- > > larry > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
