2. REASONS FOR ABANDONING AND DUMPING OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
2.1. INTRODUCTION
2.2.2. A CASE STUDY OF CHILD HOMICIDE DUE TO THE DEGREE OF PHYSICAL AND
From the above discussion on the level of physical, mental, and cognitive functions of a child with disabilities, the outcomes indicated that the severity of the physical or mental disabilities of the child may have a strong bearing on the life of the child i.e. whether the parents would opt to keep the child or discard it. There exists a thrilling story of a child who developed a persistent vegetative state, due to the aspiration of a balloon that caused brain damage. The child exhibited a severe level of cognitive disability that rendered it to assume a vegetative state. The story is one of the few cases that have shown how many families have approached and responded to such severe disabilities of their children.
“On August 2, 1988, five- month- old Samuel Linares aspirated a small balloon at a birthday party. By the time paramedics could remove the balloon from his windpipe Samuel was comatose due to brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation. He remained respirator- dependent in what was diagnosed as a “persistent vegetative state”. After his parents were informed that he would never regain consciousness or breathe on his own, they asked that the respirator be removed and Samuel be allowed to die. However, a lawyer for the hospital (which had no ethics consultant or institutional ethics committee) feared that the removal of Samuel’s life-support might be construed as child-abuse or neglect under the Federal Child Abuse Amendment of 1984. So, the hospital refused to comply with the Linares’s request unless they hired a lawyer and obtained a court order authorising removal of the respirator – a process that would probably have cost them tens of thousands of Dollars. On December 23, 1988, Samuel’s father, a $300 a week labourer who already owed $200,000 for Samuel’s care, attempted to disconnect his son’s ventilator. He was wrestled to the floor by the hospital guards. Later, on April 26, 1989, Mr Linares unplugged the ventilator again but this time he held the Neonatal ICU staff at bay with a large pistol. Samuel died in his father’s arms ten minutes after his respirator was disconnected. Mr Linares then surrendered the baby and the gun saying: “I did it because I love my son and my wife.”300
298 Ibid.
299 South Africa Research Council, (2016), Baby Killing in South Africa – Uncovering the Unthinkable, in Africa’s Medical Media Digest, Cape Town: Medical Brief, 4-5. The research findings reported that the killing of children is the extreme part of a continuum of violence against children in South Africa and at international level.
300 Jonas, H., (1970), Philosophical Reflections on Experimenting with Human Subjects, in P. Freund (Ed), Experimentation with Human Subjects, New York: George Braziller Inc, 1-31.
The story above states two main things that are crucial, the persistent vegetative state of Samuel due to an accident and his father’s response, saying ‘I did it because I love my son and my wife’.301 The state of the son posed a serious challenge to the family and the father had to wrestle for the death of their son. Yet this case is different from those who are born exhibiting severe physical and mental disabilities. The main question is the criteria for assessing the justification of the father’s act of forcefully removing the ventilator, which caused instant death of their son, and in this same case discerning the best interest of the infant. Obviously, there might have been several factors that led the parents to give up medication for their son. One of the probable grave reasons could be that the family could hardly cope with the degree of the state in which their son was, namely being in a state of persistent vegetation. The response of the father: “I did it because I love my son and my wife,” reflected the father’s discernment of the best act of love for his son and his wife. He could hardly imagine continuing living with such a reality. This is one of the examples that reflects what confronts many families who sometimes give birth to a child with severe physical and mental disabilities. The reality of having a child with physical and mental disabilities is not an easy one to comprehend. The degree of the state of being challenged weighed heavily on the families and parents. In the process of deciding on the best option, most parents choose infanticide, abandonment or dumping of the child, because they do not have the capacity to live with a child with disabilities of that nature. Such a situation would drain one’s efforts and the will to give primary extra-ordinary care to the child.
Further to the above line of thought, we do not have a claim on death rather death has a claim on us.302 The right to life cannot be paralleled with the right to death because the right to life is based on the fact that life is a gift from God hence we do not possess it as a piece of property.303 Human life cannot be taken away by another or the person himself or herself taking the above line of thought.304 On the other note, we have an obligation that requires us to make an effort to alleviate suffering. Pro-euthanasia campaign movements maintain that the obligation or duty to alleviate suffering includes taking away some life that is not worthy living and the life of a person who is experiencing perpetual unbearable pain and suffering.305
301 Ibid.
302 Pavone, F., (2016), Reflections on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, New York: Priests for Life, in http://www.priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/euthanasiaqanda.htm, Posted on December 4, 2016 12:30 GMT.
303 Ibid.
304 Ibid.
305 Haan, J.D., (2002), The Ethics of Euthanasia: Advocates’ Perspectives, in Bioethics http://www.library.wiley.force.com/interface/pdf, Bioethics ISSN 0269-9702, Volume 16, Number 2, In this article, the author says that the justification of euthanasia rests solely on the principle of respect for autonomy and further said that euthanasia is ethical if and partly because since the patient is suffering unbearably and
The dilemma is in the context of the child with physical and mental disabilities who may or may not be able even to communicate. How could someone determine the best interest of the child in that state? A person’s inability to function does not necessarily make them (i.e.
children with disabilities) and their lives less valuable.306 Regarding the right time to forgo life, the scholarship opts to consider all the necessary ordinary means of care for the patient to be exhausted.307 Extra-ordinary measures could also be employed as means of alleviating pain and suffering if they are not a burden to procure and administer.308
One of the real problems in the rural areas is about reporting.309 There are limited forums where parents with a child who has physical and mental disabilities could resort to when faced with such challenges.310 As a result, some parents may sometimes abandon, dump or kill the baby, without seeking external assistance from the relevant authorities who are responsible for dealing with cases of that nature.311 Most of the children with disabilities who were abandoned and dumped by their parents and then found by other people are brought to hospices for the chronic patients where they are nursed.312 Almost all the children admitted to in the various parts of the country experience multiple complications, ranging from severe physical disabilities to serious mental retardation that causes mental disabilities.313 The medical institution always tries to trace the families, but to no avail –
hopelessly, euthanasia is in his interest. The author states in this article that there is no easy argument for such views or against.
306 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (2013), You Shall Love Your Neighbour as Yourself, Commentary on the Fifth Commandment, Chapter two, Article 2277. The article states that whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
307 Ibid. Article 2278.
308 Ibid. Article 2279.
309 Vofson, R., (2015), Media Coverage of Abandoned Babies for 16 Days, Without a Trace: The Shocking Fate of South Africa’s Abandoned Children, Johannesburg: Johannesburg Child Advocacy Forum, JCAF, November 24, 4-5. The research indicated a concern over the unreported cases that have passed without trace.
Even in the known cases of child abandonment or killing, some people who know the whole story fail to report fearing the legal proceedings associated with it. Some are simply left in dilemma not even knowing where to report since there are limited structure that deal with such issues in the rural areas.
310 Ibid.
311 South African Government, (2007), KwaZulu-Natal on Men’s Forum Launch Held at Mzinto on 9th November. KwaZulu-Natal Men’s Forum Launch was held at Mzinto with an aim of creating communities which not only detest violence against women, children, and men, but actively ensure that it does not occur at all in families, communities, and the entire country. The idea was to voice their displeasure and revulsion at the continued violence against the vulnerable in their communities. Unfortunately, even to-date, the Province shows high levels of violence against children particularly children with disabilities.
312 Vorfson, R., (2015), Media Coverage of Abandoned Babies for 16 Days, Without a Trace: The Shocking Fate of South Africa’s Abandoned Children, Johannesburg: Child Advocacy Forum, November 24, 4-5.
313 Department of Basic Education, (2015), Study on Children with Disabilities from Birth to Four Years, Pretoria: UNICEF South Africa, 20-31. The executive summary stated that even though there is lack of current research data, some diagnoses of the available literature presents the definition, diagnostic criteria, and available prevalence data for the most common intellectual, physical, communication, sensory, psychosocial, and neurodevelopmental disabilities that present in the South African context. In addition, specific learning difficulties and multiple disabilities are discussed. Foetal alcohol syndrome, Epilepsy, spina Bifida, Spinal Tuberculosis, common Congenital deformities, burns, visual and hearing impairment, mental health, autism
there was almost no success to date.314 The situation in the country is critical, in the sense that infants who are born with physical and mental disabilities are dumped in inhuman conditions.315 Society in general seems to invest very little in the process of administering justice to the perpetrators of child abuse of this nature.316 Health institutions which take care of the abandoned and abused children with disabilities have the obligation to report such cases of child abuse to the related institutions for legal procedures to be carried out.317 The research work will limit itself to the question of the morality of the acts of abandoning, dumping and killing of children with disabilities in this region.
2.2.3. LIFE EXPECTANCY AND PROGNOSIS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN