QotNews Hacker News, Reddit, Lobsters, and Tildes articles rendered in reader mode.
2 Babies, 1 Heart and a Dilemma : The tiny Lakeberg twins forced doctors to confront wrenching questions about the moral, financial costs of separation surgery. Should they sacrifice one sister to save the other?
It’s so sad. More care isn’t always more caring. As science advances we really are going to have to think about how much care to give and how much to spend. We’re able to keep older people alive who have no quality of life to what end?
Not evangelical but I found the Catholic Health Association website where someone posted an op-ed basically saying the most ethical thing would have been to accept the advice from the doctors and let the twins be born and remain together and accept that they were going to have short life vs trying to prolong one twin’s life over another with costly, risky surgery.
I’m reading the article now and it’s interesting to me that even Loyola, a Catholic hospital, suggested abortion was an option when the scan showed the twins were conjoined. And Dr. Muraskas said he would not have his wife go through with the pregnancy because the prognosis was so terrible.
I guess even when abortion is an option, there’s still the messy bit that the parents might still cling on to hope that everything will work out and they’d beat the odds. In cases like that, I guess the government/medical professionals can’t really force a mother to terminate a pregnancy that’s likely to end in a loss or a short or medically stressful life span for the child.
this is definitely what my Catholic mom would want--she's actually against a bunch of stuff that artificially extends life without any chance of recovery
This opinion tracks with my families experience as well. In the early 1980's my mom was pregnant with a child with anencephaly. Upon finding this out, her parents (who were not particularly religious) wanted her to terminate the pregnancy for the sake of her own health. My Dad's parents (very devout Catholics) were very against terminating the pregnancy, and wanted her to carry the child to term, and upon birth (be it stillbirth or live birth), the baby would be in God's hands. Given the 100% fatality rate of anencephaly, they did not plan to attempt any life-saving/extending measures if the child was born alive, but they were going to try to see if they could get a Priest to baptize the child before they passed. As it was, my mom ended up having a traumatic stillbirth at 7 months that almost killed her. She did survive, but the doctors were worried that she would not be able to carry any children afterwards. Thankfully, the Doctors were wrong on that front, otherwise I would not be here today. After the stillbirth, my mom's parents refused to ever be in the same room as my dad's parents ever again, as they felt that dad's parents were willing to sacrifice my mom's life for the sake of a child with a 0% chance of survival.
Confident-Park-4718 | 4 hours ago
Angela Lakeberg apparently died ten months after the surgery. What a sad story for both little girls and for the people who loved them.
Wide-Pop6050 | 4 hours ago
Oh thats so sad. All of this and then this is the end
Brief_Direction_5647 | 3 hours ago
Archive links: Part 1, Part 2
hahasadface | 3 hours ago
"I thought nature would take its course in this case, but unfortunately, John is a very good doctor"
Incredible
WinterMedical | 2 hours ago
It’s so sad. More care isn’t always more caring. As science advances we really are going to have to think about how much care to give and how much to spend. We’re able to keep older people alive who have no quality of life to what end?
Sad_Pangolin7379 | 4 hours ago
:(
Legitimate-Week7885 | 4 hours ago
what do the evangelicals demand happen in this situation?
mugrita | 4 hours ago
Not evangelical but I found the Catholic Health Association website where someone posted an op-ed basically saying the most ethical thing would have been to accept the advice from the doctors and let the twins be born and remain together and accept that they were going to have short life vs trying to prolong one twin’s life over another with costly, risky surgery.
I’m reading the article now and it’s interesting to me that even Loyola, a Catholic hospital, suggested abortion was an option when the scan showed the twins were conjoined. And Dr. Muraskas said he would not have his wife go through with the pregnancy because the prognosis was so terrible.
I guess even when abortion is an option, there’s still the messy bit that the parents might still cling on to hope that everything will work out and they’d beat the odds. In cases like that, I guess the government/medical professionals can’t really force a mother to terminate a pregnancy that’s likely to end in a loss or a short or medically stressful life span for the child.
listenyall | 3 hours ago
this is definitely what my Catholic mom would want--she's actually against a bunch of stuff that artificially extends life without any chance of recovery
Perfect_Razzmatazz | an hour ago
This opinion tracks with my families experience as well. In the early 1980's my mom was pregnant with a child with anencephaly. Upon finding this out, her parents (who were not particularly religious) wanted her to terminate the pregnancy for the sake of her own health. My Dad's parents (very devout Catholics) were very against terminating the pregnancy, and wanted her to carry the child to term, and upon birth (be it stillbirth or live birth), the baby would be in God's hands. Given the 100% fatality rate of anencephaly, they did not plan to attempt any life-saving/extending measures if the child was born alive, but they were going to try to see if they could get a Priest to baptize the child before they passed. As it was, my mom ended up having a traumatic stillbirth at 7 months that almost killed her. She did survive, but the doctors were worried that she would not be able to carry any children afterwards. Thankfully, the Doctors were wrong on that front, otherwise I would not be here today. After the stillbirth, my mom's parents refused to ever be in the same room as my dad's parents ever again, as they felt that dad's parents were willing to sacrifice my mom's life for the sake of a child with a 0% chance of survival.
TheEsotericCarrot | an hour ago
So basically palliative care, which really does seem the most humane here.
No-Humor-1869 | 4 hours ago
Can’t read Part Two, it’s behind a paywall.
FlashyOutlandishness | 3 hours ago
Part two paywall free: https://archive.is/iZarN
tiragooen | 4 hours ago
Not for me. Try reading it in incognito mode.
Sad_Pangolin7379 | 4 hours ago
I can't get past the privacy policy window taking up the screen and not able to scroll to the X or the acknowledgement button...
MammothAdeptness2211 | 4 hours ago
Paywall free link?
houndsofluv | 3 hours ago
Thanks for sharing this!