Reply to Should a child with an intellectual disability be denied an organ transplant?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ok, the PP said, basically, it's offensive the lengths people will go to to prolong life (that is over/worthless in their estimate).  For instance people will go to lengths to prolong their dog's life.  Therefore the poster drew a comparison between the lengths someone will go to to prolong the life of their child, with the length someone will go through to prolong the life of their dog.  That is offensive.  The value of the life of a dog, and that of a child, are not comparable.  The lengths someone will go to to save a child's life should not be viewed in the same light as the lengths someone will go through to save a pet.

Furthermore the Nazis did not just exterminate people who were Jewish.  They also went after old and disabled people.  The PP finds it disgraceful that anyone would treat 80 year old's (who suffer for dementia or are not "present" as they put it), or severely disabled people, in order to prolong their lives because they make a judgement about their quality and worth of life.  And we are right back to that again.  Just because you don't think that a disabled person's life isn't worth saving or prolonging, doesn't mean it isn't.  Your callous undervaluing of life that YOU see as useless has similarities to the Nazi point of view.  They didn't think old people or disabled people deserved to be kept around either.  Why do you get to say who's worthy of life?  Why should you be able to dictate what care a disabled child or an older person gets just because YOU have decided their life isn't worth living?  Your point of view is obscene.  Read this: http://ourlittleseal.wordpress.com/

Maybe it'll humble you a little.  It should.[/quote]

I am not the poster you are sparring with, nor do I agree with him or her.

But I read the blog you pointed to, and I have to say it captures very well the problem with this thread.  The writer posts:

[quote]Whose life matters? Who counts? Which bodies are worth saving? Protecting? Loving?[/quote]

Do you realize why this is offensive to people who see the other side?  Apparently we must not think this child is worth saving/protecting/loving.  Nazi poster aside, I think there are plenty of people who have sympathy but realize there is another, unnamed, unblogged about child who will not receive that kidney but who could have lived a long life but will die.  And all we will say is "a kidney didn't arrive in time.  That's a shame".  But it's more than just a shame.  It would be the direct result of the decisions that a panel of doctors make.

Once again I think that a debate on the merits is worth having.  But when one side shouts "eugenics!" and phrases their arguments as "who is worthy of love?" it does an injustice to this issue, just as much as the wackos on the other side.[/quote]

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