Disability and Death

Ever since the Affordable Care Act was passed, talk of death panels has spread throughout the country.  Seems as if, since the insurance companies are so powerful that they could easily decide who dies and when they do it. Just so we old folks, especially the disabled of us, would not bleed the insurance companies of all their profit.  

That didn’t happen.  I doubt that it will. What has happened so far is one more state has given all of us the right to die with dignity rather than having to die in agony for months or years just because we are not allowed to end our lives legally. So now, we have Washington, Oregon, Vermont and recently California. No longer do we have to wait for some law telling us that we must stay alive no matter what. We can be brain dead, but must be kept alive. Not only are we the almost dead suffering, but more than that, our friends and relatives go through hell until finally we stop breathing.

Should we be allowed to die with a doctor’s assistance? What do you think and why? After all, we have no value and have had no value since we became disabled citizens. 

Some folks think our lives should be terminated in the womb if our disabilities are discovered then. Genetic testing has evolved so far that many disabilities can be predicted with a degree of certainly.    I wonder what the extent of disability has to be for us to be born.  Down Syndrome?  Born or not? What about a missing leg? How about a heart that is not fully formed?  Anencephaly? That way we won’t even know we were born or not.  Where do we draw the line? Being a bioethics professional is a tough job these days. I wouldn’t want to be one.

But we do get born and then we develop a disability. Now what? I did not have a disability until I was 64 years old. I owned businesses, had employees, paid taxes, owned houses, traveled and was considered an upstanding citizen. Well, I am a lesbian, but lived in the tolerant city of New Orleans, so that was not a handicap.  Seems like it might be in Arkansas and headed that way again back in Louisiana. 

At any rate, I am disabled now. Do I have a certain number of years before I am discarded and no longer valued? I was devalued considerably because I have to travel on a scooter. When one is under 4’ tall, value decreases.  And fast.

I have made my own choices and will live or die when I want to, not when some law says I have to.  I really don’t care what the law is.  I have been known to break one or two in my lifetime.

Disability and Abortion

I know this topic has been done to death, but I want to revisit it once again.  What with  the way things are going with old men making decisions about what women can do with their bodies, the entire discussion may be moot anyway. After all, men have made almost 400 laws about what women can or can't do with their bodies.

But, whether abortion is legal or not, there will still be abortions. They will just be illegal and dangerous abortions.  That won’t change. For the record, I think that men do not need to be involved in abortion at all. Women should make that decision. And I think it should be legal everywhere.  

Let’s visit the ever enhanced and evolving genetic testing that we have today and why might people choose to abort.

We can now do genetic testing in utero to diagnose disease.  Tay Sachs, a disease that affects the neurological system of a child, limiting the child’s life to usually under 2 years, for example can be tested for in utero.  So what should the parents do?  Their decision, right? And probably the most difficult one they will ever make. But it is theirs to make.

Down Syndrome can be tested in utero as well. Now what? The parents now can decide if they want to abort the Down Syndrome affected child. Is Down Syndrome a disability? Is it?  Or CP, or MD? Are you sure? Think about it. Do those children have value? Or not?

What other supposed disabilities can be tested for?  And then what? Are we showing that we don’t value our children if they are not exactly the same as other children? And if we don’t value them as children, will we value them as adults?

Then comes homosexuality or any of the differences that fall under the LGBT umbrella. Trust me, there are many. And we know they are genetic. How soon will we be able to test for that?  Then what?  More abortions? Do we have so little value that no parent would want us?

Will we be able to test for blue eyes? Curly hair? Height and weight? What about IQ?

These are decisions that must be make pre life. We tread on dangerous ethical ground here. 

And soon we will visit what can happen to disabled people at the other end of their lives? When do we who are disabled stop having value? At what age? Can I hear 70? 80 maybe?

Makes me wonder.