Two-year-old euthanised in Netherlands in first assisted dying case of its kind

[IwantToRetire]

I'm not going to select any part of the article but just post the link for those who want to read
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/netherlands-infant-2-euthanised-assisted-37709218

Did you mean to post in feminism?

Yes. If you are a feminist then you want a feminist perspective on issues.

Also, there have been a number of threads on assisted dying and this is an extension of that.

Are you new to FWR?

I don't see how euthanasia of a toddler is a feminist issue I am not being goady i just would like to understand, it sounds like the child had a terrible prognosis and no real quality of life, i can't imagine being the parents who.decided to do this.

Sounds like a very difficult situation. I think we will increasingly see these situations because in years gone by, children with this level of needs would just have died in infancy as the medical care wasn’t there to prolong life. Now we have the knowledge and skills to keep children like this alive, but there’s the ethical issue of whether just because we can, we necessarily should. We do have to be realistic about the quality of life some children with very severe disabilities have - just because they are living doesn’t mean they have a life.

I don’t understand what it is to do with feminism either though but look forward to the discussion.

My son has a congenital condition that means he spent a lot of time in intensive care when he was little.

I will be forever haunted by the cries of the prem babies who'd got to about 18 months but who were permanently ill.

It was when they stopped crying that we knew they would be near their end.

What their parents went through was something else.

I think it's very complex and I don't believe it's my place to judge.

Well I would ask why you wouldn't think if you are a feminist that you might look at events in life differently than someone who isn't. And want to do that with those who share that view point.

And as i said there have already been more that a couple of threads about assisted dying on this forum, which many participated in. And this is an extension of that.

Are you suggesting they shouldn't have been able to do that.

@runnerducky I have a disability i was born with and withholding care was offered as standard for sick and disabled babies, i was born in 1970. I think with the disability I have Dr's didn't know how it would progress,

Just because we can prolong life, doesnt always mean we should.

The child’s quality of life was never going to improve and she was suffering unbearably. You could say it was a kindness to end her life.

Is there a feminist perspective on assisted dying?

I don't know why you are being so aggressive no wonder women stay clear of here , i see you don't intend to give me a clear explanation of what you actually mean.

No!

If the doctors left the baby without intervention when he/she was born at 26 weeks they wouldn't be dealing with euthanasia now.

Of course.

When there is competition for resources women and children lose out, and are seen as less valuable than men. There will be more pressure on women to agree, as they are already seen as less deserving than men.

I suppose a feminist perspective could relate to who is likely to give the care to a disabled child and what this does to a family. Are mothers placed in a constant care giving mode rather than being in a position to rejoin the workplace after maternity leave. That kind of discussion.

We had a sudden very serious diagnosis for our then toddler. It was 50-50 whether she'd have a variant that was effectively terminal on diagnosis, or one where she'd be very likely ok (which is thankfully the one she had).

She had emergency surgery and I prayed that if it was the nasty one, that she'd die in surgery, rather than recover, have months of treatment and then inevitably die a distressing death.

This was me praying that the daughter I loved with all my heart would for in surgery if terminal. She's lying beside me in bed now, and for that I'm so grateful.

I know of others with the nasty variant and how futile treatment is for it, and the horror of the end. I am not horrified by the idea of tightly controlled toddler euthanasia where the alternative is intolerable suffering with an inevitable death. It's what I would have wanted for my child and would have been a mercy.

I dont have any answer. The whole point of a forum is to be able to discuss issues, news or whatever with a group of people, in this instance GC feminists.

I have already informed you that because there were a number of threads about euthanasia on FWR with many commenting from the perspective of women, feminism, I thought there would be the same interest in this case.

If you dont believe that, or share that point of view I cant make you.

More importantly why would you take the time to try and stop a discussion because you dont agree with it being discussed.

I think so. Countries with legal assisted dying have expanded it to include people who are not terminally ill. Menopausal women who are not terminally ill but with a disability or chronic illness are disproportionately dying via assisted dying compared to men. Which begs the question of misogyny in healthcare and a gender gap in disability support for women who are too old to do the function of child bearing.

Modern medicine has gone too far in some cases. Pushing the boundaries of viability can sometimes result in prolonged suffering or severe complications. Extremely premature babies must undergo highly invasive procedures which cause pain and suffering.

Seems to me the topic benefits from feminist discussion. There are obvious ways euthanasia and the associated issue of care have sex based impacts.

The Netherlands used to have a 26 week cut off for resuscitation for preemies too, they have a different attitude to most countries. I’m pretty uncomfortable with the term euthanasia for a child however dnr and withdrawal of support somehow seems more humane

OP has a long history of plopping random articles here with no obvious connection to feminism, offering no feminist angle or insight herself and then being rather aggressive in tone to anyone who questions why the thread has been put here.

I wouldn't mind if OP was providing any kind of angle or opener for a discussion, but the plopping of random articles without more is very unhelpful.

Yes there is, but I not sure it is relevant in this scenario.

The one that springs to mind is how it is a common trait among women (certainly older women) to tend to put themselves last and not want to be a bother.

What’s your perspective, OP?

Thanks to PPs, that’s an interesting point about the impact on women as caregivers as we know that the majority of care for a severely disabled child does fall to the mother. And yes also that women’s healthcare can be very poor and women maybe under, or even un-, diagnosed with health conditions that could lead to assisted dying.

Two issues to do with assisted dying that I hadn’t thought of much before but will ruminate on!

scolding again i see.

It's not a feminist issue.