Case study #281012

[kaufmannphillips]

Please discuss: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/2 ... 18975.html


(( Waiting for the Christian roadie to be crucified for "stealing" more than a million dollars from taxpayers. Waiting for the stay-at-home mom to be told to "get a job." Waiting for the assertion that faith communities and independent charity would adequately meet their needs in this situation. ))

[KyleB]

I follow your posts from time to time and am somewhat aware of your history. I am curious, what would your current faith lead you to do if you were the parent of this child before she was born? I just mean regarding abortion vs. giving her a shot at life, not the other issues of govt. health care, taxpayers, etc.

[kaufmannphillips]

Pray.

[john6809]

Pray.

After prayer, one must still make a decision. Your's would be?

[kaufmannphillips]

Made in context.

In that sort of situation, I could be affected by unfamiliar stressors and influences. I have been celibate for a very long time, have not reproduced, and am disinclined toward my reproducing in the future. The sequence of developments that would lead to my fathering a child, quite conceivably could involve changes in who I am, and this could affect the outworking of my prayerful activity.

[Perry]

Made in context.

In that sort of situation, I could be affected by unfamiliar stressors and influences. I have been celibate for a very long time, have not reproduced, and am disinclined toward my reproducing in the future. The sequence of developments that would lead to my fathering a child, quite conceivably could involve changes in who I am, and this could affect the outworking of my prayerful activity.

In other words, you can't really relate to the case study you just drudged up in order to fling your sarcasm at those who have political views that are not in sync with your socialist agenda.

Nice...

[kaufmannphillips]

I have not been, and probably never will be, a biological parent.

I also have not been, and probably never will be, a medical professional who advises parents in these situations.

I have been, and probably will continue to be, a citizen and voter and taxpayer, who has a say in how these situations will be engaged by my society.



Most of us here will never fill the role of parent or medical professional in this sort of situation.

Most of us here do have the opportunity to fill the role of citizen, voter, taxpayer.

So when you're done straining gnats, perhaps you might muster a few words on the special of the day? You know, the camel soup?

[jeremiah]

hello kaufmann,

the article mentions how this couple was counseled to terminate their unborn child since she had very little chance of surviving to full term and beyond. do you think the decision made by the parents in this case should still be theirs to keep under a future national health care system? or would the medical professionals make that decision?

i'm not asking you to speculate on possible systems that may one day be realized in america, but one that you would consider just.

EDIT: sorry, my mistake, the article actually says nothing of them being counseled towards abortion. i misread it. but i am still curious about what you think.

grace and peace

[kaufmannphillips]

Hi, jeremiah,

You were correct the first time: the article stated that they were advised to end the pregnancy.


I think that the parents should not have an absolute right to determination, just as parents should not have an absolute right of determination for children outside the womb. Society has a responsibility to intervene when parental decisions pose a substantial risk of harm to a child, say, through refusing medical treatment.

That being said - the only reason I have imagined (so far) for society to intervene and end a pregnancy would be if there were compelling evidence that the fetus was in severe pain, with scant prognosis for recovery from pain. This broaches the topic of euthanasia.


Beyond this - there is the ethical problem of how to manage limited resources. What to do, if spending millions of dollars on care for a child with this condition means that hundreds of other children will not receive the care that they need? Given standard paradigms for triage, it may be appropriate for the system to limit its provision to palliative care. Of course, parents and concerned citizens could attempt to finance additional care through private support, but they would face the same ethical question that the system does - should they raise a million dollars to help their one child, or to help many others?

[Paidion]

I appreciate the ethical question you raised, Kaufmann. There are many moral dilemmas in life. I have frequently discussed the question as to whether it is morally right to lie in order to save a life. Then there's the classice life boat moral dilemma. Throw one man overboard to save the others? Or do not do so, and everyone drowns?

I believe in hierarchy of moral imperatives, so that the morally right thing in the case of a moral dilemma, is to act in accordance with that imperative which take precedent over the alternative. Thus, for example, my stance is that it is morally right to lie in order to save a life if there is no other option. In such a case, telling the truth would be morally wrong and lying would be morally right. Moral hierarchalism is also the position of Dr. Norman Geisler in his book Christian Ethics.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, and a friend of mine when I was a student in a Bible School in 59-60, also wrote a book on Christian Ethics — from an absolutist point of view. How would Lutzer answer the question, "Is it right to lie to save a life if there is no other option?" He would answer, "No." Yet he would say you should choose "the least of two evils," in this case the "two evils" being lying or allowing a person to be killed when you could have saved him. So, in a moral dilemma in which you would be doing something morally wrong whichever action you choose, Lutzer would recommend that you should carry out the least of two evils and then ask God to forgive you for sinning.