Release Baby Joseph’s Medical Records!
Why not keep the news a-comin’?
As I’m sure you know, the now-famous case of Baby Joseph in Canada is becoming critical. He could die in the next couple of weeks if his breathing tube is removed as the hospital and the government intend.
Baby Joseph is only 13 months old and often has difficulty breathing on his own. He needs a procedure called a tracheostomy in order to go home and live under his parents’ care. However, the Canadian health care system is refusing to let the family take care of their son — even though hospitals in the United States have privately said that they would take Joseph in and give him the tracheostomy he needs to survive. U.S. doctors and hospitals who are now familiar with the case are appalled that Baby Joseph hadn’t received the tracheostomy 3 or 4 months ago rather than make the baby suffer all this time.
Baby Joseph’s parents are pleading with the world for a hospital with the courage to step forward and accept their son for evaluation and treatment. Priests For Life has even agreed to supply medical air transport to and from the facilities. We will support the cost of the hospitalization and after-care including nursing. Home ventilators have also been donated to maintain Baby Joseph if needed.
There are U.S. physicians in Michigan willing to oversee Baby Joseph’s outpatient care and assist in weaning him off the home ventilator should it be necessary.
We have yet to find one facility that said it would not perform the tracheostomy on Baby Joseph.
The real problem is that health care providers in the U.S. need Baby Joseph’s medical records — but the Canadian authorities are refusing to release them.
Therefore, I need your help to continue to contact the Canadian authorities so that a proper and humane solution to this problem can be found. We have recently discovered that Canadian law requires the hospital to release these records to Baby Joseph’s parents upon request. And to date, they have refused.
This is what is preventing hospitals in the United States from being able to accept Baby Joseph. We need those medical records! And we need them now!
Therefore, I urge you to click here and send an email to the Canadian officials who oversee the London, Ontario hospital requesting that the medical records be released immediately.
We are continuing our search for a hospital in the United States to take Baby Joseph, and they won’t do that without the records.
So please send an email to the Canadian authorities — and at the same time say a strong prayer for Baby Joseph and his parents. Time is running out, so please act now.
Again all you need to do is click on this link and action can be taken in this life-or-death case.
And while you’re on your computer, please forward this urgent email to everyone you know, and we may have a strong chance of saving Baby Joseph from a cruel death.
Blessings,
National Director,
Priests for LifeP.S. There are currently many false reports and rumors in the media that Baby Joseph is in a persistent vegetative state. He’s not. He’s only 13 months old, and simply isn’t getting the care he needs. Any baby would suffer if not given proper care. So please don’t listen to the same kind of lies and distortions that caused Terri Schiavo’s untimely death.
This is why it so important that the medical records are released so the truth can come out.
Priests for Life
PO Box 141172
Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 718-980-4400
Toll Free:
Fax:
www.priestsforlife.org
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This is incredibly sad. Let the child die, naturally. Why are attempting to FORCE doctors to rip his throat open, shove in a trach tube so he can go home and …..what, die a few months later of his disease or, worse, pneumonia. I have read other more impartial articles and I understand a Detroit hospital has refused to accept this kid saying the Canadian doctors are correct.
What a waste of time and resources!
I’m glad the doctors care more about the patient than others appear to be doing. It’s a shame that malcontents have to use a dying baby as fodder for their misdirected inadequacies.
@Mark And what if he survives for years?
By means of artificial breathing machine and external pace maker. So that’s what you call “living?”
@Glenn E. Chatfield
And what if the invasive tracheostomy kills him?
Mark, Sean, Bob Barnes: do you have any children?
I thought this was an interesting comment coming from somebody who says he’s a doctor:
“Why are attempting to FORCE doctors to rip his throat open, shove in a trach tube…”
Doctors rip throats open and shove tubes into them? No wonder you oppose the procedure! If that’s how it’s done in Canada then I oppose it too.
@Glenn E. Chatfield
“And what if he survives for years?”
Per the doctors, the ones who have been caring for him and the parents who obvious love him, HE WILL BE DEAD IN ABOUT 6 MONTHS. That is the reality of this case. But, to answer you, we should rip open throats, stick in tubes, attach electrodes to keep the BODY alive? This is NATURAL??? Let this poor child die a natural, comfortable death. Why must you INSIST on keeping his body alive?
@JT
And why is it an interesting comment coming from a doctor? Doctors don’t enjoy seeing a body mutilated, do not like to see parents with unreasonable expectations. One of the HARDEST things to say is to tell a parent that their child is dying. Have you EVER had to do that? I have done it numerous times and it is NEVER easy. I would LOVE for all those children to recover like some Hallmark movie and live happily ever after but that is not reality. As they said in an old MASH episode: “There are two rules in medicine – Rule one – patients die. Rule 2 – doctors can’t change rule one. ”
The reality is, the most humane, Christian thing to do is to let this child go. To say goodbye. NOT to do numerous procedures that will do NOTHING to keep him comfortable, prolong his life, or cure him.
Medical records are presumably kept confidential for the protection patient’s privacy, though possibly for other valid reasons. Under what circumstances should medical records be kept from the patient or in this case from the parents? If the hospital is a public one, and if the case goes to court, under what circumstances should the medical records be kept from the public if the patient or the patient’s guardian wishes them to be made public? This is a serious question, and I would be interested in a serious response.
JT, let’s see if we understand what the term “relevant” means? If I have to have children to respond to this thread, then only gays should be able to respond to all Ruth Blog post on LGBT issues.
Quid Pro Quo?
“NOT to do numerous procedures that will do NOTHING to keep him comfortable, prolong his life, or cure him.”
Numerous-just one.
Nothing to keep him comfortable and prolong his life-the report says otherwise.
“mutilated”-maybe if a kindergartener performed the operation. Please. You’re being overly dramatic to force your point.
@Jim
“Nothing to keep him comfortable and prolong his life-the report says otherwise.”
What report, Jim? The one from the doctor or what the parents and the priest who has butted in are claiming? And, if the trache would really keep him comfortable, why are even US hospitals refusing to perform it? A trache tube is used in a person who will be on a ventilator for long term, not this child.
““mutilated”-maybe if a kindergartener (sic) performed the operation. Please. You’re being overly dramatic to force your point.”
Anytime an unnecessary surgery is done on a patient, I consider that a mutilation. Comes from med school where we were taught to respect the human body. Cutting into it, shoving in tubes for no purpose, is a violation of the body.
Mark: using the terminology you did, and that you continue to use, does not lend credence to your assertion that you are a doctor. I have hard time imagining a doctor referring to a trach as to “rip” open a throat and to “shove” a tube in, especially in reference to a defenseless child.
I will assume that none of you have children. And Bob of course you’re entitled to an opinion regarding this issue and are free to respond. To state that I think otherwise is a red herring. And to question my understanding of the word relevant is a subtle ad hominem.
Mark I have never had to tell a parent that a child is dying. I’m sure it’s excruciating, but probably a piece of cake over being the parents who receive that news. And you quote an old Mash episode to make your point and to reinforce that you’re a doctor? You continue to make my case for me.
I submit to you all that having a child of your own brings a completely new dimension to this issue. Talking about it from a non parental perspective is one dimensional and remains in the realm of theory for you. It’s so easy to say to let this baby go…. he’s not YOUR baby, he didn’t come from YOUR body. Trust me when I say that if/when you ever have kids from your own loins, you will feel very different about issues like this. If you doubt me, talk to a variety of people who have kids and take an informal survey.
Ask them if they were in this situation where they had to either “just let him go” or if they had some hope of still being able to spend time with this child, how they would feel? Ask them how they would feel about the doctors going against their wishes and whether this would feel like some sort of violation or not. Ask them how they would feel about people thinking that to continue this child’s life was a waste of “resources” (to quote Mark).
You are entitled to your opinion, but it’s incomplete because you cannot really relate to the parental instinct to preserve offspring’s life. It awakens after one has a child of one’s own which is why people without children don’t really understand it.
Wow. That was awesome.
@JT
Amen.
@JT
First off, I am a doctor.
“You are entitled to your opinion, but it’s incomplete because you cannot really relate to the parental instinct to preserve offspring’s life.”
So, a doctor has to be both a man and a woman, white-black-Asian-every other minority, straight-gay-bisexual, Catholic-Protestant-Jew-Muslim-atheist and every other religion – in other words, EVERYTHING in order to understand? Sorry, you are just wrong.
But, let me ask this question: what would you be willing to put your child through and pay for to extend their life 1 day? If you say everything, then go ahead. As a physician, part of my job is to weigh pros and cons with every treatment. If as child is sick, do they get an antibiotic? In the past, every kid did which is why we now have antibiotics that no longer work. If as child has a sore throat, do we take out their tonsils? At one time, yes. Now we know the tonsils are a first line of defense and only need to be removed if they are causing other problems.
Lastly, it’s OK with you to FORCE a doctor to do something he or she doesn’t agree with? I assume that means you are OK with forcing Catholic hospitals to perform abortions?
Frankly, I find these parents to be committing child abuse but putting their child through unnecessary surgery, the same as I would if the parents insisted on removing a child’s healthy appendix. Do I have sympathy for the parents? Absolutely, and if it were my child, I would probably want absolutely everything done as well. But, as we teach our children, there are limits in life. We can’t always have everything we want. As parents, we teach our children this to keep them safe.
Why tell these parents lies and give them false hopes? Why put this child through unnecessary surgeries – to make the parents feel good? Isn’t this blog always going on and on about the child and not the parent?
@Bob Barnes What about Joni Ereckson Tada – would you have let her die?
@Sean What if my gall bladder removal would have killed me last summer?
@Mark Well, since you aren’t a doctor and none of us have all the information, If there is a chance that this child can live for an indefinite period of time, then why not give him the chance? Of course the way you describe the procedure, that would kill anyone!
Ah the (sic) police. Where would you be without your magic red squiggly lines, enabling you to so easily point out others’ spelling mistakes and making you feel like a big man?
@Eileen
Oh, Eileen, I am only trying to help. Quit getting your panties in a bind about a non-issue. Or spell check yourself.
@Glenn E. Chatfield
“What if my gall bladder removal would have killed me last summer?”
It would depend on why you had it removed. If it was perfectly normal and was removed and killed you, that would be a crime. If it was gangrenous and not removed, that would also be a crime.
“Trying to help”. Riiiight. We need you to be our grammar teacher now because we can’t spel on our own. You’re just being obnoxious because it makes you feel, or at least look, smarter than those who disagree with you.
@Glenn E. Chatfield
Actually, Glenn, I am a physician, for 20 years. But then you seem to get everything wrong anyway so I am not surprised.
in medicine, one just doesn’t do everything in the hopes something will work. It’s a waste of resources and, as I wrote earlier, may do more harm than good.
But, again, since cost (allegedly for the hospital) is seen as such an apparent cause in all this mess, how much Glenn, are YOU willing to pay for this child? Why not offer to pick up the ENTIRE bill? Why not offer to fly the kid (and his family) to the states, set him up with a private doctor who – for a good enough price I am sure – will put in this unnecessary trache tube, fly them back and then pay for the ventilator for the rest of his life? Since you care SO MUCH for this child, what are YOU willing to do?
@Eileen
Little sarcasm there, Eileen. Wow, get over yourself. Is it any wonder our educational system and expectations are so poor when people don’t care if the spelling is correct or not.
And, if you can’t spell on your own, there is no excuse for not using the plethora of tools available.
@Mark
“Quit getting your panties in a bind about a non-issue.”
At a corporate job, this could be seen as sexual harassment.
” I am only trying to help”
Mark, as I have said before, you have had numerous spelling and grammatical errors that I have not pointed out because I was being charitable. I assume that typos happen. This statement looks as though you are saying that everyone who disagrees with you and misspells is stupid.
Is this really how you want to present yourself?
@Deb
“Mark, as I have said before, you have had numerous spelling and grammatical errors that I have not pointed out because I was being charitable. I assume that typos happen. This statement looks as though you are saying that everyone who disagrees with you and misspells is stupid. ”
Deb, you do me no favors by not pointing out my “numerous spelling and grammatical errors “. How else will I learn? Would you let a child get away with that in one of your classes? I try to present myself as one who checks my own spelling and grammar. Am I perfect? No, but my parents always taught me to have good penmanship and spelling. It does lend more credit to ones argument
Mark you’re a doctor yet you’ve found the time to make 32 comments so far today on this blog. What about your patients?
Your story is fading fast. I’m curious: are you paid by the word or by the number of comments?
@Mark It was neither normal nor gangrenous, but it was blocked and infected, resulting in an emergency room visit and removal. But, what if I had died in the surgery – for some reason my body couldn’t take it, etc? Do you just not do a surgery because there is always a possibility of things going wrong and ending in death?
@Mark You miss the point. I don’t have the ability to do anything. But the point is, it is the parent’s right to have their medical records, it is their right to take the child to someone who will do the surgery. Canada has no right to deny them that right. Canada may not want to spend the money – welcome to socialist medicine where they will decide whether you have the right to live – but once they’ve denied it, then give the parents what they need to go elsewhere.
@Mark
“Would you let a child get away with that in one of your classes?”
No, but this is not my class, and you are not my student. To correct another adult’s spelling and grammar (all the time) is condescending and rude.
Also, do you correct the grammar of those who agree with you? I’ll answer- no. Your language corrections suggest anomosity toward opposing viewpoint- not educational good will toward your fellow man.
@Mark
” No, but my parents always taught me to have good penmanship and spelling. It does lend more credit to ones(sic) argument(sic)”
You forgot an apostrophe in “one’s” and the period.
Mark, I agree that good grammar and spelling are important. But to continually point out these mistakes in your detractors is petty.
Furthermore, I assume all who comment here are adults and I don’t correct them in grammar as if they are children.
Let’s move on.
@JT
“Mark you’re a doctor yet you’ve found the time to make 32 comments so far today on this blog. What about your patients?”
And you had time to count them, why thank you. Today was a half day. Still saw about 20 people.
@Glenn E. Chatfield
Sigh, Glenn, if your gallbladder is infected, it needs to come out. Yes, there is a risk you could have died on the table but a greater risk of sepsis if not removed. Honestly, this is a totally different situation.
But, again, would you have let them cut out your gallbladder if it was perfectly normal?
@Glenn E. Chatfield
No, you have really missed the point. There is NO place to take him! The hospital in Detroit will not take him and, from what I have seen of the other articles, no other facility will take him either.
And, again, if you are all worked up about “socialist medicine”, put up or shut up. Offer to pay ALL expenses for this child and his family. IF you truly care about him.
The article that you’re posting under says this, “hospitals in the United States have privately said that they would take Joseph in and give him the tracheostomy he needs to survive.” That’s in, like, the second paragraph. Why do you keep saying no hospitals will take him?
Betsy, I think the point was made, other doctors outside Canada agree with the assessment of the Canadian doctors. Since Canada and Canadian physicians are being demonized here, the point isn’t that some misguided US physician or hospital would second-guess the judgment of their Canadian counterparts, but rather, their American counterparts agree with their assessment.
This thread is about releasing medical records. I posed a serious question about under what circumstances medical records can and should be kept from the patient or the patient’s guardian and from the public if the patient wishes them to be made public. This was not posed as a trick question.
Betsy posed the specific issue of baby Joseph’s medical records.
I don’t think anyone has addressed the original topic of the thread, namely the release of medical records.
Really? Is that what this article says? That’s certainly not what I got out of it.
@Betsy
“Why do you keep saying no hospitals will take him?”
From more impartial papers such as this:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2011/03/09/wdr-baby-joseph-appeal.html
“The hospital calls the procedure unneccessary, and so far no other hospital in Canada or the United States has agreed to perform a tracheotomy for the family.”
Oh, and this article (where the hospital is receiving threats):
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/02/27/17426206.html
“The family hoped a Detroit, MI., hospital would accept Joseph as a patient and take a different approach than doctors in London, Ont., but the facility did not take the baby.”
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/02/24/17391716.html
“The Children’s Hospital of Michigan decided Wednesday not to take the baby on as a patient.”
But to address the original intent of this article, the release of the medical records:
“The Maraachlis reached out to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit in hopes of having their son transferred there for continued care.
Family spokesperson Sam Sansalone said the hospital initially agreed to accept the transfer. He said he has since received an email indicating the request has been denied.
Sansalone forwarded an email from the Detroit hospital that he said explains that after a review of Joseph’s records by neurological and intensive care physicians, “we cannot offer Joseph anything that he has not been provided already during his current admission by his current clinical care team … transfer to our facility will not provide him or the family any benefit.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/24/canada.health.dispute/
SO, it seems the records WERE released.
I am glad to hear that baby Joseph’s medical records were released as Betsy advocated.
I would like to call attention to the following sensitive article by an independent nurse consultant in palliative care and gerontology living in Windsor.
http://www.windsorstar.com/acknowledge+plight+baby+Joseph/4407218/story.html
It seems to me that the hospital and the public health care system have a right, indeed, an affirmative duty and responsibility to refuse to provide futile care. Resources are finite, and every dollar spent on futile care is a dollar unavailable for productive care. This policy directs that public resources be spent on the greatest good for the greatest number. The current trajectory of baby Joseph’s case is likely to result in extended litigation while maintaining the medical status quo, adding legal costs to the continuing medical costs. In contrast, Jean Echlin’s in solution in the cited article would reduce those costs, transfer them to private rather than public funding, satisfy the parents and their advocates, keep the baby in its home country, and lead to the same medical outcome as is likely to happen as things are currently headed.
“And you had time to count them, why thank you. Today was a half day. Still saw about 20 people.”
Yes I did and you are quite welcome!
Seems strange that a doctor would find the time to spend nearly SIX HOURS on this blog – wow that is 1/4 of your entire day, and roughly half of your waking hours. Here are times of the 32 posts I mentioned. This doesn’t include posts you made after those 32. And this list is just from yesterday:
3/9/2011 3:30 pm
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Do you get paid by the number of words or number of comments? I think it’s by the number of comments.
@Mark Just as my gall bladder had to come out for me to continue to live, so this child needs a procedure to continue to live. Just as there was a risk of death from the surgery for me, so there is a risk of death to the child. That was my point.
@Mark So you know every detail of the case? Do you KNOW there is no hospital in the USA which will take him? And even if that is the case, it is still the parents’ right to have the records and to take their child home. If I had the ability I WOULD pay for it. I don’t have to pay for it to care about him. Just as with abortions, I don’t have to adopt every child to be against murdering them. You cannot justify socialize medicine which makes the decisions of life and death!
And what about on the 8th? You had time for 44 postings. Was that a half day too? Which half? haha
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I love the sound of crickets…..