Parents' 'death sentence' for sick child
This baby may die any time after her parent stop her medical treatment
A Chinese couple's decision to stop medical treatment for their baby, who suffers life-threatening birth defects, has triggered a huge controversy.
The newborn girl suffers from a congenital imperforate anus, hydronephrosis and heart disease.
She had been receiving medical treatment in a hospital since she was born on Jan 15.
But her parents gave up 13 days later after realising the baby could not be cured. They sent her to a hospice in Tianjin, China without any medical treatment, China Daily reported.
Zhang Wen, director of Child Welfare League of China (CWLC) - a Beijing-based charity group - said the baby was only fed water to keep her alive.
She said the couple had not refused to treat the baby because of the money. They could afford the hospital fees and had shown a cold response to people offering assistance.
"My wife is very weak now so I lied to her that the baby had already died as a result of the congenital malformation,” the baby's father said.
"I can't bring myself to see the baby continue to struggle painfully. Passing away quietly would be the best for her," he said.
However, the decision has angered the public after the case was reported on an online forum recently.
More than 10 netizens even visited the hospice to protest the couple’s decision and urged for action to treat the baby.
"How does the father know that the baby is not willing to live? He has no right to sentence her to death. It is murder," said a netizen on the forum.
"We tried to persuade the parents to give up custody of the baby so that CWLC can have the right to help her with further medical treatment.
However, the couple did not agree and insisted that the baby should not suffer so much pain in her life, said CWLC volunteer Tong Yi.
Published Feb 7, 2010
Comments (6)
The parents in question made a choice.
I think that unless one has had to go through such an ordeal, one has no right to judge.
We cant judge the fathers acts. Maybe the father saw his daughter is tremendously in pain. its hard to see a child that is very sick; we might as well let the baby go.