Last updated at 22:00pm on 12th November 2006
The Church of England has broken with tradition dogma by calling for
doctors to be allowed to let sick newborn babies die.
Christians have long argued that
life should preserved at all costs - but a bishop representing the national
church has now sparked controversy by arguing that there are occasions when it
is compassionate to leave a severely disabled child to die.
And the Bishop of Southwark,
Tom Butler, who is the vice chair of the Church of England's Mission and Public
Affairs Council, has also argued that the high
financial cost of keeping desperately ill babies alive should be a factor in
life or death decisions.
The corrupt motivation
of the Church desiring its parishioners to have a higher standard of living and
perhaps even begin to draw in come of the women that had abortions as to line
their own pockets is not new. It was done in the third century with those who
had denied the Lord and turned in others during persecution. It was done with
pilgrimages to sites with holy relics. It was done with indulgences. It was
done positions on church boards, and it has been done with the prosperity
Gospel and as a side note here part of the Prosperity Gospel that has been
having small or no families so as to have greater comfort and prosperity in
this life (and this is great sin). But
here now is a whole new level of evil that is equivalent to burning one’s
children to the God of Moloch.
The shock new policy from the church has caused outrage among the
disabled. (What
about in the Church?)
A spokeswoman for the UK
Disabled People’s Council, which represents tens of thousands of members in 140
different rganizations, said: “How can the Church of England say that Christian
compassion includes killing of disabled babies either through the withdrawing
or withholding of treatment or by active euthanasia?
That which you do unto the least of these My brethren
you do it unto Me.
It would be better for a millstone to be tied around one’s neck and for them to
be cast into the sea than for them to offend (Much less kill) one of these
little ones.
"It is not for doctors or
indeed anyone else to determine whether a baby’s life is worthwhile simply on
the grounds of impairment or health condition."
The church's surprise call comes
just a week after the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology sparked
fury by calling for a debate on the mercy killing of disabled infants.
But it has been made in a
carefully thought out official Church of England paper written by Bishop Butler
for a public inquiry into the ethical issues surrounding the care of long
premature or desperately ill newborn babies.
The inquiry, by the Nuffield
Council on Bioethics, began two years ago and its findings are due to be
published in London - but the church's contribution to the debate has been
leaked in advance.
The Nuffield Council, an
independent body which issues ethical guidelines for doctors, began the inquiry
to take account of scientific advances which mean increasingly disabled and
premature babies can technically be kept alive.
In practice, doing so can be
controversial - with the three months premature Charlotte Wyatt a case in
point.
The Portsmouth baby weighed just
1lb at birth, and had severe brain and lung damage. Doctors wanted to be
allowed to leave her to die, but her parents successfully campaigned through
the courts against them.
Now that the child is three,
however, and could be cared for at home, her parents have separated and are
considered unsuitable to look after. In future cases doctors may work to
guidelines proposed by the Nuffield inquiry.
In the Church of England's
contribution to the inquiry, Bishop Butler wrote: "It may in some
circumstances be right to choose to withhold or withdraw treatment, knowing it
will possibly, probably, or even certainly result in death."
The church stressed that it was
not saying some lives were not worth living, but said there were "strong
proportionate reasons" for "overriding the presupposition that life
should be maintained".
The bishop's submission
continued: "There may be occasions where, for a Christian, compassion will
override the 'rule' that life should inevitably be preserved.
"Disproportionate treatment
for the sake of prolonging life is an example of this.
The church said it would support
the potentially fatal withdrawal of treatment only if all alternatives had been
considered, "so that the possibly lethal act would only be performed with
manifest reluctance."
Yet the Revd Butler's submission
makes clear that there are a wide range of acceptable reasons to withdraw care
from a child - with the cost of the care among the considerations.
"Great caution should be
exercised in brining questions of cost into the equation when considering what
treatment might be provided," he wrote.
"The principle of justice
inevitably means that the potential cost of treatment itself, the longer term
costs of health care and education and opportunity cost to the NHS in terms of
saving other lives have to be considered."
The church also urges all the
parties involved in care for critically ill babies should be realistic in their
expectations, demands, and claims.
The submission says: "The
principle of humility asks that members of the medical profession restrain
themselves from claiming greater powers to heal than they can deliver.
"It asks that parents
restrain themselves from demanding the impossible.":
UK Disabled Peoples Council
spokeswoman Simone Aspis said the group's members were appalled that the Church
was joining doctors in calling for disabled babies to be left to die.
"It appears that the whole debate on whether disabled babies
are worth keeping alive is being dominated by professionals and religious
people without any consultation with disabled people," she said. (There
is great great meaning to this statement. – This woman sees no difference
between business professionals and the clergy, she sees that those in the
ministry as the hirelings that they are that live a life of wealth and ease
that is far removed from the plight of the commoners that have to deal with
such issues day in and day out.)
Out of babies born at just 22
weeks of pregnancy or less, 98 per cent currently die. In Holland babies born
before 25 weeks are not given medial treatment.