“You allow them to die”

This us such a jarring thought, the idea that only some lives are worth saving, especially in the days when we’re still haging onto every news story of an against-the-odds save in Haiti.

Such is the relativism that creeps into the care of impaired people with rationed health care. Like, the case of Baby Isaiah…

“The parents of a critically-ill three-month-old boy have found themselves in a legal fight for his life, after being informed by the hospital that staff will be removing his ventilation because they have deemed that he cannot recover from brain damage he suffered during birth.

“On October 24th, after a long, 40-hour labour, Isaac and Rebecka May and their son Isaiah James had to be airlifted to Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital because Isaiah’s umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck, resulting in severe oxygen deprivation.

“While the hospital declared Isaiah “brain dead” shortly thereafter, Isaac and Rebecka have since joyfully watched him defy doctors’ prognoses. In a court affidavit, Rebecka explained that doctors had predicted Isaiah would only live a few days, that he would not grow, move, or urinate independently. However, she says he has grown to almost eleven pounds, urinates on his own, dilates his pupils, and opens his eyes on a daily basis.

“Isaiah has moved his hands, arms and feet with increasing frequency and has arched his back,” she wrote. “He has brought his knees to his abdomen and has lifted his ankles up off the bed without touch or stimulation.”

“Considering his progress, the Mays were shocked last Wednesday when they received a letter from the hospital informing them that Isaiah was not improving and that the hospital intended to remove his ventilator…”

Chilling, this ‘alternate reality’ a bureaucracy can construct to fit a desired outcome.