We Must Reclaim Parental Rights as Building Blocks to a Healthy Society

Feb 19, 2018 by

by Arthur Goldberg, Public Discourse:

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, the fundamental rights of parents have dangerously eroded, undermining the ability of parents to protect the welfare of their children, instill moral values, and pass on religious beliefs and practices.

Many people are aware of the tragedy of Charlie Gard in the United Kingdom—the death of a terminally ill eleven-month-old child whose parents unsuccessfully fought hospital administrators who refused to allow them to transfer their gravely ill child to a US hospital for potentially life-saving treatment. The hospital fought so long against releasing Charlie that by the time a court finally agreed to allow an independent medical examination, little could be done to save little Charlie. Not only did hospital officials believe they knew better than the parents what was in the best interests of the child, but they even denied the parents the opportunity to take their child home to die.

This is not an isolated example, but a pattern. Alfie Evans, an eighteen-month-old child in the UK, has been unconscious for about a year. The hospital involved has been unable to diagnose the cause of the coma. After searching for answers, the parents found a hospital in Italy that believes their doctors’ medical expertise may allow them to discover the underlying illness. One might logically assume that the English hospital would welcome such intervention. However, as in the Charlie Gard situation, the hospital has now petitioned a court to declare that the best interests of the child involve simply ending his life. Rather than transferring the child out of its control, the hospital requested authority to end its intensive care by turning off Alfie’s ventilator, in spite of reports that Alfie exhibits visible signs of life.

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