age 10 University Daily Kansan, March 24, 1983
Speaker says it infringes on parents' rights Law keeps parents from letting child die
By MICHAEL BECK
Staff Reporter
A federal law that says no person can be deprived of medical care, which ent into effect Tuesday, should be opened, a professor of pediatrics said ago.
The new federal law infringes on the rights of parents of premature and deformed children because it forces them to keep those children alive by any means available, said William Well, a professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University.
WEIL, SPOKE AT A pediatric seminar at the University of Kansas Medical Center about the problems with letting deformed children die, a practice called infanticide, rather than keeping them alive by machine.
The question of whether to let a child die rather than revert to life-support systems has become a problem for doctors in the past 10 years, he said. "There is no need," he recently become available to keep premature and deformed babies alive.
One of every 10 babies born in the United States will be disabled or premature, he said. The new law will prohibit parents of those children from letting them die without attempting to secure them alive with costly life-support systems.
Well said that in Sweden it was a law that any premature baby less than 15% ounces could not be kept alive. Also, he said, that government supplies money to keep the ones that are premature and deformed kept alive.
AMERICANS SPEND MORE THAN $2 billion on neonatal care, he said. Alternatives to having the parent pay for the services would be to give the child up for adoption or have the government pay.
One problem that proponents of infanticide raise, he said, is whether the premature or deformed child has a personality.
ween said that all children have a personality, but the key question was whether the child had the ability to communicate personality or would have that ability.
should make the decision whether to continue life support or not.
We have the ability Doctors seem to think that the parent
In a survey at the University of Washington and in Massachusetts, 87 percent of the physicians said that infanticide was permissible.
HOWEVER, THE RESULTS of another survey indicated that as technology improves, physicians are more likely to disagree that a child with Down's syndrome should be allowed to die.
In 1975, the results of a survey in California showed that 61 percent of the physicians said that infanticide was not a moral issue and 50 percent thought it was permissible.
Another alternative to the new law, he said, would be to establish new methods of dealing with premature and deformed children and then allow the parents to make decisions about keeping the children alive.
Weil said that parents should face the fact that their child could become deformed and decide whether they would permit the costly life-support systems and operations for a child that probably would never be normal.
PARENTS USUALLY refuse to realize the possibility that their child might be born premature, Weil said, because they are not prepared that it does happen.
Communication is a major step in preparing parents for the possibility of a deformed child, he said. Doctors should sit down with parents and explain what might happen, he said, and the parents should discuss it between themselves.
But Weil said, "Most mothers, when you tell them they might have a defective baby, will tell you you're a monster."
Another answer to the problem of infanticide is screening parents for traits that cause diseases and premature births.
HOWEVER, PROBLEMS occur when attempts are made to screen parents.
"We can't make all black parents screen for sickle cell anemia," he said. "It's not ethical to suggest that we make everyone available for screening.
"Yet, if you have a volunteer screen-in process, people will demand their rights."
Panel says Salvadoran aid depends on support of talks
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — A key Senate subcommittee said yesterday it would approve shifting an additional $60 million in military aid to EI Salvador if he were elected. The president will press the government of EI Salvador to negotiate with leftist insurgents.
Two other congressional panels still were trying to decide whether to insist on cuts in the $60 million and to set up a budget committee. Senate Appropriations subcommittees.
THE SUBCOMMITTEE said the administration must agree to press for unconditional negotiations between the government of El Salvador and the guerrillas aimed at holding "free, fair and safe elections, and any other subject of concern between the parties."
The subcommittee also insisted on holding to the present limit of 55 U.S. military advisers in El Salvador and said El Salvador should "begin a new and immediate effort" to improve the country's judicial system.
The subcommittee stated the conditions in a letter to Secretary of State George Shulz sign by seven of the nine members. The letter asked the administration to agree in writing.
The Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Appropriations subcommittee were approaching the end of the 15-day period under which plans to迁移 $600 million from other aid programs to bolster El Salvador's armed forces.
REAGAN ALSO is asking for a $50-million supplemental appropriation for a total of $110 million in additional military aid to El Salvador.
In El Salvador, leftist guerrillas yesterday gave a blow to hopes that they would participate in elections by rejecting the government's offer of amnesty, saying they would accept nothing from "a group of assassins."
The amnesy is part of a U.S.-backed plan to allow moderate leftists to participate in December elections. It would free 700 political prisoners and guerrillas who have not been involved in killings.
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT $240 per week! Royal Prestige is seeking students to help supplement its Summer Work Force!
Openings in the following cities and towns:
Kansas City
Lawrence
Topeka
Salina
Concordia
Aitchison
Hiawatha
Wichita
Arkansas City
Pratt
Chanute
Independence
Ottawa
Paola
Manhattan
Overland Park
Hays
Winfield
Great Bend
McPherson
Council Grove
Herington
Hutchinson
Larned
Garden City
Dodge City
Come to
Kansas Union — Pine Room 11:00,1:00,2:30,4:00,6:30 TODAY
GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE with
MILLER PONY NIGHT
3 for $1.25
Miller pick-up points.
1