A BooK of
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uo
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Valentines that last,
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Textbooks 686-3520 • General Books 686-3510 •
I 13th & Kincaid
\JMon-Fn 8:15-5:30
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sally hodgkinson
editor's note
Kathleen Phillips wishes her son Randy, a
4 Vi-year-old with Down s Syndrome, had never
been born And she's suing her doctor for $5
million, holding him responsible for Randy's
‘wrongful birth.”
Kathleen, if she had known the child she was
carrying would be born severely retarded, would
have aborted him “He’s going to suffer for the
rest of his life I’m going to suffer for the rest of my
life too "
Better off dead Wrongful life A life not worth
living Ironically, as technology enables doctors
to save infants that once would have died and to
make handicaps less severe, there are more
questions about the ‘ validity’' of those lives
Sixteen years ago, my brother Kelly was born
two months premature Medics rushed the gasp
ing infant from Pendleton to a hospital in Walla
Walla, Wash., that had the technology to save
him On the way he quit breathing three times;
part of his brain died from lack of oxygen
In medical terms, he has cerebral palsy In
real terms, he can't walk without crutches his
legs don't always work well: and his motor control
is a little off He has undergone several opera
tions, countless hours of therapy and years of
"being different ”
Before attending public school, Kelly went to
Eugene's Easter Seal School for severely handi
capped children The school's atmosphere
overflowed with life It had to The kids wrestled
with painful therapy, bodies that wouldn't work
and simple tasks that were frustrating But the
kids knew that death can only be overcome by life;
tears by laughter: sorrow by joy; and pity by
respect
So they kept fighting, even against the odds
Tracy had spina bifda — and was expected to die
by the age of 10 Zach was spastic and commun
icated by typewriter — plunk! plunk! one key at a
time
Kelly says handicapped people are better off
alive Rightful lives Lives with meaning
"Any life, basically, is worth living,' he says
Some don’t agree. Many physicians and
scholars have advocated letting severely handi
capped newborns die—children who would live
with help Several cases have been documented
where parents and doctors have let a child die
because he was handicapped. Others have sued
for "wrongful life'' or “wrongful birth."
"When public opinion is prepared for it. no
child should be admitted into the society of the
living who v/ould be certain to suffer any social
handicap," says philosophy and humanities
professor Millard Everett, quoted in Whatever
Happened to the Human Race, a book authored
by theologian Francis Schaeffer and U S Sur
geon General C Everett Koop
"The discussion of life must be brought back
to where it belongs — not to emotional, extreme
examples, not to selfish questions of rights, not to
expedience, and certainly not to economics," say
Schaeffer and Koop "The matter should be
discussed in terms of right and wrong "
Koop, a pacesetter in pediatric surgery, says
to let a child die because he may be severely
handicapped is a "discrimination just as deplor
able as tnose based on race, creed, color or sex "
"One must decide for whose benefit is the
decision to withhold treatment from a child with
severe birth defects," says John Robertson, a
physician at the University of Wisconsin medical
school "Is no life better than one of low quality?
The person to ask is an individual who has a
disabling birth defect "
“I don’t think I’m handicapped,’’ Kelly says
“Everyone's handicapped Some physically,
some mentally, some emotionally and some all
three I don't let myself worry anymore "
Kelly has faced a lot in 16 years Advice
"You could walk if you really tried.” Fear: "You're
going to end up in a wheelchair if you don't do
your exercises." Bitterness “I hate these stupid
crutches " Alienation: "Of course he's lonely
Kids don’t want to play with someone who can't
run or play like they can."
And questions: always questions "What's
wrong with your legs7"
Kelly says he has felt more accepted as he
has gotten older The stares and whispers that
used to hurt him, are now shrugged off
"It doesn’t bother me I'm going to live with it
all my life." he says, adding that there are advan
tages to being handicapped “I can't get drafted
He looks forward to a career in radio com
munications "But without equal opportunity. I'd
probably have to stay home and stuff envelopes
That's not something I want to do ” He hopes to
get married and if he has children, they d prob
ably be normal because cerebral palsy isn't her
editary
But if his wife was pregnant with a child who
was handicapped — mentally or physically —
would he want the child aborted7
"Of course not I wouldn't kill him just
because he's different That's just stupid "
EMU Cultural Forum
presents
Gregg Tripp
in an afternoon of
Hot Rock-n-Roll
staff
Ths Oregon Daily Emerald It published
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Knelt weak and vacations by the Oregon
Dally Emerald Publishing Co.
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