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Cites the child's "best interests" BY LifeSiteNews.com By Hilary WhiteLONDON, November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The father of a one year-old seriously ill boy has given up his legal battle to prevent doctors from removing his son's life support. At a High Court hearing yesterday, the boy's father accepted the judgment that it would be in the child's "best interests" to die."Baby RB," as the child is known to the media, suffers from a condition called congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS). Symptoms include brief stops in breathing, and weakness of the eye, mouth, and throat muscles which can lead to difficulties with chewing and swallowing. There can also be loss of mobility and respiratory problems in adolescence or later life. Lawyers for the health authority caring for the baby told the court, "All of the parties in court now agree that it would be in RB's best interests for the course suggested by the doctors to be followed." "RB's parents and the trust will now make suitable arrangements to bring RB's life to a dignified end in consultation with his parents," the statement continued. Mr. Justice McFarlane agreed saying, "The conclusion to which they and the clinicians have come is the only tenable outcome for RB, the viability of whose life, from its first moment, has depended upon receiving intensive and invasive care from others." People who suffer from CMS do not necessarily die in childhood and can benefit from treatment. Notes on the condition on the website of the Mayo Clinic say that with accurate diagnosis and appropriate therapy, even potentially fatal forms of the disease can usually be treated successfully.Doctors, however, supported by the child's mother, testified that the removal of life support would be in his "best interests." The child, they said, faced a "miserable, sad and pitiful existence" even if surgery were able to relieve his symptoms. Expert witnesses testified that the child was too disabled to enjoy any "quality of life." Anti-euthanasia campaigners, however, are calling the case an example of the "modern eugenic attitude" that holds that some lives are not worth living. The use of expressions like "best interests" and "quality of life" are red-flagged among classical ethicists as those commonly used in the bioethics community to indicate a person would be better off dead than living with a disability.  Alex Schadenberg, head of Canada's Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said that the removal of life support for RB does not constitute euthanasia. However, he also said that it is clear that authorities are hoping that the withdrawal of treatment will result in a quick death for the child whose life has been judged unworthy of life by the British medical establishment. Schadenberg told LSN, "People with disabilities and all those of good will need to fight back."The "new eugenics" will create a society, he said, in which children born with disabilities will be routinely killed or die from neglect. For those who lose their abilities through accident or disease, this "best interests" mentality "discourages life and encourages death for people who are deemed imperfect." Many have pointed to the case of the UK couple Dennis and Flora Milner, who are believed to have committed suicide last week in anticipation of one day becoming disabled, as an example of a pro-death mentality being rampant in Britain. Although in their eighties, the Milners both enjoyed good health and were a fond couple reported to live a happy life together. In a letter to the BBC sent before their deaths, the Milners complained that the law prohibiting assisted suicide had made it difficult for them to kill themselves. Their adult children responded to their parents' deaths saying they had made the decision for "very sound reasons."Schadenberg continued, "The reality is that the social pressure already exists and the medical authorities are already making these decisions based on a cost-containment analysis and a quality of life index which is subjective and based on negative social attitudes towards people with disabilities."Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law Commentary: Britain's N.I.C.E. Think Tank Not So Nice - C.S. Lewis' Prophesy Comes Eerily True  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/disabled-boys-father-gives-up-fight-against-life-support-removal/

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