As Americans weigh the potential results of President Obama’s divisive efforts to collectivize the nation’s healthcare, evidence continues to mount for the mind-numbing inhumanity that has resulted from socialized medicine in other “developed” countries. While fears of heathcare rationing and governmental ”death panels" have received a great deal of attention, the risks of socialized medicine for the youngest Americans have not received the same scrutiny.
A September 10 article in the online edition of London’s Daily Mail recounts the horrifying details of a boy, Jayden Capewell, who was condemned to death because he was born two days earlier than government guidelines stipulate for giving healthcare to a child born prematurely.
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According to the Daily Mail:
Doctors left a premature baby to die because he was born two days too early, his devastated mother claimed yesterday.
Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy — almost four months early.
They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines that babies born before 22 weeks should not be given medical treatment.
Miss Capewell, 23, said doctors refused to even see her son Jayden, who lived for almost two hours without any medical support.
She said he was breathing unaided, had a strong heartbeat and was even moving his arms and legs, but medics refused to admit him to a special care baby unit.
Miss Capewell is now fighting for a review of the medical guidelines.
As if these details were not appalling enough, according to Miss Capewell, doctors refused to even attempt to stop her labor, and would not provide her with steroid injections that would have helped strengthen Jayden’s lungs — which could have improved his chances for survival.
This is the reality of governmentally administered healthcare rationing: allegations of premature infants left to die, with doctors literally refusing to even attempt to save the children’s lives. Such tragedies are the inevitable result of the cold law of dictates handed down to bind the hands of doctors. Granted, the statistical probabilities of a child surviving such an early birth are appalling low — but children are not “statistics”: they are a blessed gift of God, and in the case of Jayden Capewell, one who was deeply loved by a mother who simply wanted a chance for her son to live.
The horror of Sarah Capewell’s experience under socialized medicine was only heightened when she learned of a child born even earlier than Jayden who survived. According to the Daily Mail:
She was shocked to discover that another child, born in the U.S. at 21 weeks and six days into her mother’s pregnancy, had survived.
Amillia Taylor was born in Florida in 2006 and celebrated her second birthday last October. She is the youngest premature baby to survive.
Miss Capewell said: "I could not believe that one little girl, Amillia Taylor, is perfectly healthy after being born in Florida in 2006 at 21 weeks and six days.
"Thousands of women have experienced this. The doctors say the babies won’t survive but how do they know if they are not giving them a chance?"
Miss Capewell has won the support of Labour MP Tony Wright, who has backed her call for a review of the medical guidelines. He said: "When a woman wants to give the best chance to her baby, they should surely be afforded that opportunity."
The past several generations of legalized abortion have seen an increasingly perverse disregard for the precious lives of children. The heartlessness of guidelines that decide which children live and which ones die did not emerge overnight. But Americans should ask themselves: “What would my doctor do, if he was under such guidelines?” How many doctors will simply follow orders and allow children to die of neglect because some medical Star Chamber a thousand miles away pondered the actuarial tables and issued decrees regarding who may live and who will die?
For those of us who are fathers or mothers of premature children, the question is: “What would have happened to my son or daughter if such guidelines had been in place when my child was born?” How long would it be before tragedies such as befell Jayden Capewell begin to happen here under socialized medicine? And ask yourself: As the availability of medical care steadily shrinks in a socialized system, will the guidelines keep moving to exclude more and more people from coverage at the beginning and end of life?
