Thursday February 25, 2010
Canadian Doctor: ‘Baby Isaiah’s Status as Human is on Trial in Canada’
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, February 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Canadian doctor has stated in an editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press that the controversy surrounding the fate of Baby Isaiah May is ignoring the fundamental issue at stake – the status of the child as a human being.
Dr. Joel B. Zivot, an associate professor in the department of anesthesiology, University of Manitoba, and the director of the intensive care unit, cardiac sciences program, at St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg, said, “What has been reported is information that misdirects the public from the fundamental issues.
“Although the issue before the court is the degree of brain injury incurred by Isaiah, I realize that it is Isaiah’s status as a human being that is on trial.”
Isaiah was born in the Rocky Mountain House Hospital after a difficult 40-hour delivery. On Oct. 24th, the boy was airlifted to Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital because Isaiah’s umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck, resulting in severe oxygen deprivation. He was then placed on a ventilator in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
The hospital declared Isaiah “brain dead” shortly thereafter and clinical director Dr. Ernest Z. Phillipos informed the parents of his decision to take Isaiah off the ventilator.
The parents, Isaac and Rebecka May, took the hospital and Alberta Health Services to court, seeking a 90-day injunction against the order.
On January 27, Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Michelle Crighton ruled that Isaiah should remain on life support until February 19th for further assessment by medical experts.
Last Friday Justice Crighton again decided to give the parents of the infant more time to assemble medical experts to review their son’s condition, who against all odds seems to be thriving.
“He’s doing very well. There hasn’t been very many improvements over the past few weeks but he’s still growing. He’s over 12 pounds and he just looks like a perfect little boy,” Isaiah’s father Isaac told reporters.
Dr. Zivot said his own inquiry into Isaiah’s case has confirmed the parents’ assessment of their son’s condition and chances for life, but has also raised the question of the moral obligation Isaiah’s doctors have toward his care.
“In my investigation of Isaiah, I learned that he had gained weight, moved and breathed occasionally on his own. His photos displayed an infant who by all accounts seemed normal in appearance apart from some paraphernalia of the critical care trade,” Dr. Zivot observed.
“In contemporary thought,” Dr. Zivot continued, “once born, humanity is considered automatic and should not be revoked by disability. The yardstick of being a human being is set too high for Isaiah. Discussion on the prediction of degree of disability, including mental capacity, is not relevant as are counter-arguments based on the physical appearance of normalcy.”
“All that really matters, to be blunt, is if Isaiah is dead or alive.”
Contact Information:
Gene Zwozdesky, Alberta Minister of Health
208 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6
Phone: 780 427-3665
Fax: 780 415-0961
E-mail: [email protected]
Stollery Children’s Hospital
8440 112 Street Northwest
Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7
General Phone Line: (780) 407-8822
Alberta Health Services – Complaints
Mail Slot 57
11111 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 0L4
Toll-free: 1-877-753-2170
Telephone: 780-342-8080
Fax: 1-877-871-4340
Dr. Ernest Z. Phillipos, Director of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Stollery Children’s Hospital
Phone: 780-407-1305
Fax: 780-407-3030
E-mail: [email protected]
Office of Premier Ed Stelmach
Room 307, Legislature Building
10800 – 97th Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427 2251
Fax: (780) 427 1349
E-mail: [email protected]
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Baby Isaiah’s Case Part of a National Trend Say Advocates for the Disabled
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012009.html
Young Canadian Parents Fighting Hospital to Save Their Baby’s Life
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011910.html