Yet another tweet from President: Charlie Gard

[_Jersey Girl]

It is not a good solution, no one with any feelings for their fellow man would feel it is a good thing to let Charlie go, but it is the best solution available.

I think so, too. But like I keep saying, we're not in love with him.

[_The CCC]

I've never lost a child to death, but I have family and friends that have. My heart goes to them. The best answer isn't always a good one.

[_Jersey Girl]

Another consideration (and you never know what might influence a person) is the use of medical resources that would serve another who does have a good chance at life with quality. For example, the day before when I called to say I was coming in the next day and what I wanted to do, the nurse asked me if she should order another of a particular thing, and I said no. Maybe she was testing me out, I have no idea.

These are hard decisions to make and yet, some don't seem hard at all. Once you are convinced you have a little room to think of others.

[_Jersey Girl]

I've never lost a child to death, but I have family and friends that have. My heart goes to them. The best answer isn't always a good one.

I guess I want to say that my greatest hope for them is that they are present when he does die. They'll never forget it and over time, they might see that as a gift.

[_moksha]

No American insurance company would fly a terminally ill child with irreversible brain damage to another continent to be the first subject of an untested gene treatment. Terrible and unfeeling or prudent and responsible?

[_Jersey Girl]

No American insurance company would fly a terminally ill child with irreversible brain damage to another continent to be the first subject of an untested gene treatment. Terrible and unfeeling or prudent and responsible?

I don't think they'd have to, mok.

Vatican and Trump are both filthy stinking rich.

[_moksha]

How fast do you think conservatives will wriggle out of that "sanctity of life" rhetoric when the first wave of people start to die in 2021 from lack of health care due to Republican Health and Death Sentence Act?

[_Chap]

No American insurance company would fly a terminally ill child with irreversible brain damage to another continent to be the first subject of an untested gene treatment. Terrible and unfeeling or prudent and responsible?

As I have repeatedly pointed out, and as is completely clear from the court transcripts linked to via my posts, the issue about this child was NEVER about whether it was worthwhile to spend more money on treating him. I know subgenius would like people to think it was, because he wants this discussion to shift into an attack on universal tax-funded health care provision.

The crucial issue before the courts was this:

We have a very sick child suffering from an condition that no qualified medical witness has suggested is anything else than incurable. He has massive and irreversible brain damage. It is likely that his condition is a source of pain and discomfort to him. His illness is progressive, and it is killing him. His respiratory system does not function, and he is kept alive by life support systems. He needs constant intensive care.

Under such circumstances, medical professionals will always consider whether life support should be be continued indefinitely - not to save money, but because it seems cruel to continue a hopeless and painful existence indefinitely. Doctors in the US have to face that question just as much as doctors anywhere else, and life support systems are regularly switched off in the US as a result.

The problem here is that there is a deep split between the doctors who care for this child and the parents. The parents, understandably desperate, want to try a treatment that has (as all medical witnesses agree, including the doctor who practices the treatment) no hope of curing the child, has never been used on any patient suffering from his disorder, and will at best achieve only a brief prolongation of life. The doctors basically see this as inhumane and pointless. The courts, at each hearing, agreed with the doctors.

That's the issue, not cost.

[_Jersey Girl]

Follow up. Charlie Gard has been granted permanent US citizenship. He's coming to America for treatment.

[_Jersey Girl]

Woops! Forgot to drop the link!

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/ch ... ar-AAoqPXJ