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Let Javona go in peace?
Posted by Raven on December 30th, 2007
“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.”
-Joan Borysenko
For some, the question is: Will they kill me before I have a chance to live?
The emotionally shaken father of a 16-year-old girl in an irreversible coma at Montefiore Medical Center is wavering in his opposition to ending what’s left of her life.
“I’m 85% changed in my mind now, but I don’t know the legality,” said Leonard Peters, whose daughter Javona Peters is in a permanent vegetative state after what was supposed to be a routine operation on Oct. 17.
[...]
Javona’s mother, Janet Joseph, has said she wants “to let Javona go in peace” by taking her off her feeding tube. The case is set for a Jan. 7 hearing in Bronx Supreme Court.The case, first disclosed Wednesday in The News, has attracted national media attention to what could be another right-to-life battle, as in the Terri Schiavo case.
Javona was a healthy, outgoing high school junior until she went into the operating room 10 weeks ago. Now she is blind, deaf and unable to move, think or eat on her own.
October 17th? of this year? It’s too soon to make the rush for death here. Way too soon.
Remember little Haleigh Poutre? The 11 yr old girl in MA, who was beaten into a coma? Her doctors told everyone she was brain dead too; that she was blind, deaf and in a vegetative state. The MA supreme Court had even given it’s legal blessing to the hospital where Haleigh was staying- to pull her off life supports. They were hours away from doing this when Haleigh woke up. She’s made remarkable progress and continues to do so at a rehab center in northern MA.
What’s the rush?
Joseph has asked the courts to appoint her Javona’s guardian so she can finally pull the plug and also begin a medical malpractice action against the hospital.
Javona’s parents say hospital officials have never satisfactorily explained what happened to their daughter.
Montefiore maintains her condition was caused by oxygen deprivation triggered by an “extremely rare” allergic reaction to “a routine anesthesia agent.”
Javona’s operation was a ventriculostomy, a routine procedure that involves boring a hole in the brain to drain cerebral fluid into a cavity.
Javona’s Mother can sue the hospital NOW; she need not have a dead daughter to do so. Of course, a dead child would up the ante in any settlement. A dead child always produces more cash in these situations.
The operation Javona underwent is anything but routine, for a normal healthy girl. I suspect she had other problems we’re not hearing about right now. Nonetheless, tragically she had a reaction to the anesthesia and apparently the OR staff didn’t catch this until she been oxygen deprived for too long.
At my work we recently took care of a 12 yr old boy who underwent a routine operation, having his tonsils removed; he too had a severe reaction to the anesthesia; he didn’t go long without 02, though. But his brain reacted as though he had. He was in a coma for 14 weeks. No one gave up on him and he woke up, delved into rehab and walked out of my facility with a big smile on his face. He is able to do all his own things again- and now he’s back in his school getting ready to play basketball.
Meanwhile, the hospital has told Joseph it’s time for her daughter to be transferred to a permanent nursing facility. The hospital contends there is nothing more it can do for Javona.
Given some hope, she might live.
Javona should be transferred to a rehab facility for a short term evaluation and coma-stimulation program. Given time she might wake up; given good nursing care she might recover from the medical aspects of all this. I think people are too focused on the monetary “awards” of these situations. Sure, parents are grieved and saddened. But they often keep their eye on a prize that makes me question the motives here. Medical people are not always right. Especially in situations where brain “death” is concerned. We know SO LITTLE about how the brain works. We do know that what we often label “Brain Dead” suddenly comes back to life though, with no warning.
There is one thing common about those who wake up: They were given time. Why the rush?
December 30th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
You know why, dear. The termination of this unfortunate young woman — or, failing that, having her shuffled off to some warehouse for the comatose where she can be neglected to death — is a primary objective of those who disdain human life and celebrate death. The sort who celebrated when Terri Schindler-Schiavo was murdered. The sort who call partial-birth abortion a “safe medical procedure.” The sort who think Amy Richards was merely being sensible. The sort who think Toni Vernelli is a trailblazer for having her tubes tied as an environmental protection measure. The sort who agree with Eric Pianka that 90% of the human race simply must be eliminated as “fat biomass.”
We’re looking at a routine sally from the death cults. The sort we’ve forgotten how to oppose.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:56 am
Javona is only 16! Seems to me that she deserves more than a few short months to see if the docs are wrong in their assessment.
January 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am
Francis, you’re correct. Add to this, though, a more and more common thought that it’s OK not to fight for life anymore. The disregard of human beings who might just need some TIME. Society has no use for those who need that. I also suspect there is a COST factor in all this: Who’s going to pay for Javona’s care either at the hospital or nursing home?
It’s ugly to me, that her parents seem so intent to see her die as well. Damn. Mothers never used to be like this.
January 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am
Actually AOW, she’s 12.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
How can someone equate starving someone to death to “letting Javona go in peace.” Just because she is unconscious and can’t voice her discomfort over the starvation doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel it. Killing via starvation (removing the feeding tube) is still killing.