On the face of it, this sounds ghoulish at best, but given the reason, it’s understandable. I don’t know what I think.
Parents defend decision to keep girl a child
Her name is Ashley X, and she is the little girl who will never grow up.
Until New Year’s Day, not even her first name was known. Ashley was a faceless case study, cited in a paper by two doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital as they outlined a treatment so radical that it brought with it allegations of “eugenics”, of creating a 21st-century Frankenstein’s monster, of maiming a child for the sake of convenience.
The reason for the controversy is this: three years ago, when Ashley began to display early signs of puberty, her parents instructed doctors to remove her uterus, appendix and still-forming breasts, then treat her with high doses of oestrogen to stunt her growth.
In other words, Ashley was sterilised and frozen in time, for ever to remain a child. She was only 6.
Ashley, the daughter of two professionals in the Seattle area, never had much hope of a normal life.
Afflicted with a severe brain impairment known as static encephalopathy, she cannot walk, talk, keep her head up in bed or even swallow food. Her parents argued that “keeping her small” was the best way to improve the quality of her life, not to make life more convenient for them.
Thats freaking disgusting.
Speaking as a 22 year old manual wheelchair user I feel that this is odd to say the least. I lead a ‘normal’ independent life, hold down a full time job and am able to drive a car with the help of adaptations to the controls. Whilst I do understand the parents wanting to preserve a quality of life for their child I shudder to think of what MAY happen one day should she be able to communicate HER wishes.
I understand the parents reluctance to let things run as they should but make no mistake about it, this is a life altering decision, one which I hope hasn’t been made without serious contemplation from all those involved.
I think she’s hot. I’d do her.
Dr. Mengele anyone? This is playing God and that never turns out well.
I think the parents/caregivers should have the opinions. Unless you’ve cared for a 40 year old adult with this condition, or similar brain trauma.
This is F*&^ed up beyond a normal scope but i understand it. I had a sister who had cerbal palsy and could not walk or talk. Her height was about 5 ft and she wieghed a ton (picking her up was hard. maybe 125 ibs) it was hard on my parents around the end. they didnt go many places with her and life was not easy. Redoing the bathroom alone so they can bath her was going to run in the thousands. So while personally reading this gives me a cold chill i can understand it. The issues the mom and dad go though everyday i bet is hard. It was hard for me and she was only my sister. I am a father of 2 now and it would be hard for me i think.
Ron is right that this is playing god and its not a good thing. This time i support thier choice but what about the next time? All this has done is open a choice that will bring out the bad in people.
Shouldn’t the government be helping (financially) families with these sort of problems? I think that might be better, but I’m not judging anyone. I think it’s a bit radical, and just one step short of shooting her in the head… But I’m not living with this problem. It’s tough… It’s tough for the kid too…
I’d like to thank all “pro lifers” for their sound judgment and foresight.
#8, good point, where the “F” are all the Right to Lifers? Why aren’t they screaming “We’ll adopt her” !!!
The headline is ghoulish. The story makes it a lot more understandable. Not pleasant to read and definitely even less pleasant to experience.
#8, just what does that have to do with anything at all in this story? Nothing, that’s what. Just a strange lash-out against a group that you don’t like that only manages to attach itself to this story via the fact that this person was born in the first place. Like everyone else who is alive.
Or are you saying that people with deffective genes should all be aborted in the first place? You’d simply prefer that the US had state-sponsored eugenics programs? So it stands to reason you figure Hitler was on the right track then too.
#10, Or are you saying that people with deffective genes should all be aborted in the first place? You’d simply prefer that the US had state-sponsored eugenics programs? So it stands to reason you figure Hitler was on the right track then too.
Comment by John — 1/4/2007 @ 12:22 pm
Since you brought up ALL of these ideas, I assume you are in favor of them. Sheeet you are a sick puppy.
So are you offering to adopt her John? C’mon, John, save her from the abortionists, tell us you will adopt her because she is one of God’s children. Show us you care about a fetus before it is born and the baby afterwards. Quit suggesting Jim said things he didn’t and be a man. John, be a MAN. Stand up for yourself and do what is right. Don’t be so selfish, share your benevolence.
Your post is a really lame attempt at trolling that reads like a 6 year old’s idea of a taunt, to the effect of ‘Yeah well takes one to know one!’, etc. Very unfortunate to see that’s the best you can come up with. It’s not going to get a bigger response than this.
#10, John, it’s interesting that you ask a question of me and then answer it so definitively yourself. It gives the impression that you are closed minded on the issue.
I suspect you are a pro lifer, and as such feel threatened by my comment. Do pro lifers don’t feel ANY responsibility towards the “every life” they demand be left to exist under any circumstances. Being called a murderer, or the threat of godly revenge, the heartbreak and mental anguish of raising and caring for vegetable and on and on… limits the process of rational thought on a case by case basis, and throw common sense to the wind, like most religious based interference.
Ashley is affected by the pro life movement whether you like it or not. If it were possible to abort her birth, she wouldn’t have had to face being mutilated as in a more conscious and sensory state as a child and be FORCED into a life more confining than any prison.
Pro life promotes the existence of “Ashleys” and stigmatizes those who choose to avoid such cruelty. Ashley is an example of what pro lifers stand for and in that respect has everything to do with Ashley and her wonderful life.
John, lame is when you can’t defend or properly respond to a valid challenge of your rantings (as expressed by Mr. Fusion).
Lame is using Hitler as a means of insult to express your manic and fabricated argument, when doing so also belittles the true horrors Hitler represents, and is also offensive holocaust survivors.
At first, I thought the parents must have been sick and twisted, but
after reading through Times Online story and the parents’ website, I can totally understand why they chose to do this. I never would have imagined a treatment like this for someone who is essentially a vegetable, but it sure beats the hell out of being stuck in a bed all your life.
The parents of the Ashley Child shouldn’t have had the surgery done. They need to be brought to trial and punnished to full extent of the law.