LifeSiteNews is now reporting that Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario may remove baby Joseph Maraachli's life support, and that the hospital is denying his parents' a private visit with their own son. The parents are only allowed to see the boy with a security guard present.
Hospital threatens to remove baby Joseph’s life support anyway - parents denied private visitations
"While things were looking up for the parents of Joseph Maraachli this past weekend, the picture has now become bleaker. In the latest twist in the case the London hospital where their dying son is being cared for is seeking to remove the parents’ decision-making power after they refused to have him taken off life support. Hospital security is also denying them private visitations....
With the help of pro-life and anti-euthanasia advocates, Joseph’s parents have been trying to have their son moved to a hospital in Michigan. London’s Victoria Hospital, where Joseph has been treated since October, sent the records to the Michigan hospital Monday and the parents are still waiting to hear back.
But hospital officials now say that they may go ahead with removing Joseph’s life support even if the Michigan hospital or another agrees to the transfer. Because the parents refused to have Joseph’s life support removed Monday, the hospital has asked the Office of the Public Guardian to assume decision-making power. That office is expected to take a couple days, but could order his life support removed at any point."
Mary Help of Christians, Pray for us!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Baby Joseph Maraachli Granted Reprieve
Good news, background here. LifeSiteNews reports:
"One-year-old Joseph Maraachli of Windsor, Ontario, who was to have his life support removed Monday at 10 am. against his parents’ wishes, will now not die on the day that Ontario residents celebrate as Family Day. A hustle by pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups resulted in a change in legal counsel, which has led to at least a temporary stay of removal of the child’s ventilator. "
In a statement released today, London Health Sciences Centre said it has received a request from a Michigan hospital 'to review Baby Joseph Maraachli’s medical information regarding the feasibility and appropriateness of a potential patient transfer.'
'Our focus at this time is to work with the family on a patient care plan and to continue to provide compassionate and dignified care and comfort to Baby Joseph,' said the statement.
"One-year-old Joseph Maraachli of Windsor, Ontario, who was to have his life support removed Monday at 10 am. against his parents’ wishes, will now not die on the day that Ontario residents celebrate as Family Day. A hustle by pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups resulted in a change in legal counsel, which has led to at least a temporary stay of removal of the child’s ventilator. "
Alex Schadenberg, head of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, informed LifeSiteNews Sunday evening that negotiations are underway to transfer Joseph to a hospital in Michigan.
In a statement released today, London Health Sciences Centre said it has received a request from a Michigan hospital 'to review Baby Joseph Maraachli’s medical information regarding the feasibility and appropriateness of a potential patient transfer.'
'Our focus at this time is to work with the family on a patient care plan and to continue to provide compassionate and dignified care and comfort to Baby Joseph,' said the statement.
Thanks to LifeSiteNews, which stayed on the story and provided contact info for various Canadian officials, and thanks to all who called or emailed them.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Doctor Weighs in on Wisconsin Doctors' Phony Excuses
I was waiting to hear what other members of the medical profession would have to say about those Wisconsin doctors--and I did not have to wait long.
A physician who blogs under the handle "Unlikely Hospitalist" has a few choice words for the professionalism of his Wisconsin colleagues. What's more, he has identified them.
(NOTE: We had mistaken "Unlikely Hospitalist for "Happy Hospitalist," who has a few choice words of his own.)
"What a week it has been in Madison Wisconsin, of all places. First we have teachers roaming the capital petitioning the government for redress of grievances. Not so bad, until they call in sick, en masse, and bring their students with them as political pawns. Then we have the duly elected State Senators abdicating their sworn obligation to represent the people of Wisconsin in the state senate and literally running away to the Tilted Kilt. Now we have "Doctors" giving out sick notes like they hand out flyers in New York's Times Square.
Being sick of the Wisconsin Governor is not billable code as far as Medicare is concerned and daring an interviewer to get in the middle of a private consultation between a patient and caregiver in the middle of thousands of people is not what is meant by bedside manner. What a joke. All this professionalism is making me sick...
This brings me to Dr. Lou Sanner. (the man in the first video in the previous post). He is a family practitioner whose ego, no doubt, precedes his intellect. I have seen his type before as I meandered through medical school and residency. He is the doc who looks down his nose at you as you struggle for the esoteric answer to some zebra diagnosis, all the while pretending to know the answer himself. Well, I am not a resident anymore and what this fellow has done is professionally obscene. He has abrogated his professional responsibility for political expediency....
Now I don't know the legality of his actions, although I am sure that the Wisconsin Medical Society may have some thoughts on the matter.
Is it really his position that he is conducting medical examinations in the midst of thousands of people while attaining a right to privacy? One of the most important things in a genuine patient/physician interaction is honesty and this dude is dishonest!"
Unlikely Hospitalist goes on to ID three of the other doctors who are doing this. (NOTE: See comment #4 below, referring to Anne Eglash. The commenter says Dr. Eglash was not in the demonstration, nor even in Madison at the time. If that is true, I apologize for relaying incorrect information, and, awaiting confirmation, have removed Dr. Eglash's name from the following quotation).
"He and his colleagues . . . Hannah Keevil, and James Shropshire should know better. Undoubtedly they do know better, but let political emotion trump professional integrity."
As we said in the previous post, you can voice your concern about this (and them) to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
A physician who blogs under the handle "Unlikely Hospitalist" has a few choice words for the professionalism of his Wisconsin colleagues. What's more, he has identified them.
(NOTE: We had mistaken "Unlikely Hospitalist for "Happy Hospitalist," who has a few choice words of his own.)
"What a week it has been in Madison Wisconsin, of all places. First we have teachers roaming the capital petitioning the government for redress of grievances. Not so bad, until they call in sick, en masse, and bring their students with them as political pawns. Then we have the duly elected State Senators abdicating their sworn obligation to represent the people of Wisconsin in the state senate and literally running away to the Tilted Kilt. Now we have "Doctors" giving out sick notes like they hand out flyers in New York's Times Square.
Being sick of the Wisconsin Governor is not billable code as far as Medicare is concerned and daring an interviewer to get in the middle of a private consultation between a patient and caregiver in the middle of thousands of people is not what is meant by bedside manner. What a joke. All this professionalism is making me sick...
This brings me to Dr. Lou Sanner. (the man in the first video in the previous post). He is a family practitioner whose ego, no doubt, precedes his intellect. I have seen his type before as I meandered through medical school and residency. He is the doc who looks down his nose at you as you struggle for the esoteric answer to some zebra diagnosis, all the while pretending to know the answer himself. Well, I am not a resident anymore and what this fellow has done is professionally obscene. He has abrogated his professional responsibility for political expediency....
Now I don't know the legality of his actions, although I am sure that the Wisconsin Medical Society may have some thoughts on the matter.
Is it really his position that he is conducting medical examinations in the midst of thousands of people while attaining a right to privacy? One of the most important things in a genuine patient/physician interaction is honesty and this dude is dishonest!"
Unlikely Hospitalist goes on to ID three of the other doctors who are doing this. (NOTE: See comment #4 below, referring to Anne Eglash. The commenter says Dr. Eglash was not in the demonstration, nor even in Madison at the time. If that is true, I apologize for relaying incorrect information, and, awaiting confirmation, have removed Dr. Eglash's name from the following quotation).
"He and his colleagues . . . Hannah Keevil, and James Shropshire should know better. Undoubtedly they do know better, but let political emotion trump professional integrity."
As we said in the previous post, you can voice your concern about this (and them) to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
More Wisconsin: Doctors Caught Writing Phony Excuses for Teachers
Shocking, and probably actionable.
We are seeing a wholesale disregard for the common good, the rule of law, and the right to self-government by the Left in the State of Wisconsin. It's very similar to the way those on the Left have tried to impose counterfeit marriage on other states.
1) An elected governor, and a majority in the State Senate, attempt to carry out their mandate.
2)In response the Democratic legislators flee their jobs and their state so that a vote (which they know they will lose) cannot be held.
3) Wisconsin teachers, and their supports, flood the capitol to try and intimidate the remaining Senators. The teachers walk off their jobs to do this, lying about being sick, thus forcing public schools to close.
4) Now, Wisconsin doctors, who support the public sector unions which are bankrupting the state, have been caught on film writing phony excuses for those teachers who pretended to be sick. It's an ever-growing web of corruption. Watch one of the videos:
USA Today reported: "Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds (!) of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said."
Ann Althouse has another video:
You can voice your concern about this to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
We are seeing a wholesale disregard for the common good, the rule of law, and the right to self-government by the Left in the State of Wisconsin. It's very similar to the way those on the Left have tried to impose counterfeit marriage on other states.
1) An elected governor, and a majority in the State Senate, attempt to carry out their mandate.
2)In response the Democratic legislators flee their jobs and their state so that a vote (which they know they will lose) cannot be held.
3) Wisconsin teachers, and their supports, flood the capitol to try and intimidate the remaining Senators. The teachers walk off their jobs to do this, lying about being sick, thus forcing public schools to close.
4) Now, Wisconsin doctors, who support the public sector unions which are bankrupting the state, have been caught on film writing phony excuses for those teachers who pretended to be sick. It's an ever-growing web of corruption. Watch one of the videos:
USA Today reported: "Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds (!) of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said."
Ann Althouse has another video:
You can voice your concern about this to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:
DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wisconsin Teachers Sick, But Promise They'll be Better on Tuesday
The ridiculousness of the Wisconsin teachers, courtesy Katrina Trinko:
"In Wisconsin, it’s illegal for teachers to strike.
That’s why teachers have been calling out “sick,” instead of declaring an outright strike.
In Madison, schools had to be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and today, due to the number of teachers out.
Must be a plague.
The desperate school district went to court, arguing that the teacher absences constituted an illegal strike.
But Dane County Circuit Court judge Maryann Sum decided today that the teachers’ absences did not count as a strike.
However, Madison Teachers Inc., the union for Madison school teachers, has promised that teachers will return to work on Tuesday."
Plague's over.
"In Wisconsin, it’s illegal for teachers to strike.
That’s why teachers have been calling out “sick,” instead of declaring an outright strike.
In Madison, schools had to be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and today, due to the number of teachers out.
Must be a plague.
The desperate school district went to court, arguing that the teacher absences constituted an illegal strike.
But Dane County Circuit Court judge Maryann Sum decided today that the teachers’ absences did not count as a strike.
However, Madison Teachers Inc., the union for Madison school teachers, has promised that teachers will return to work on Tuesday."
Plague's over.
Nancy Pelosi Calls Legislators/Teachers Abandoning Jobs "Democracy in Action"
She really does.
She also says Wisconsin's "public servants" must have "a seat at the table." Hard to do when they skipped town.
Meanwhile a poll shows 64% of Americans agree with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and think government workers should not be allowed to unionize. The poll was taken February 4-8. I'd imagine the numbers would be even higher now.
She also says Wisconsin's "public servants" must have "a seat at the table." Hard to do when they skipped town.
Meanwhile a poll shows 64% of Americans agree with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and think government workers should not be allowed to unionize. The poll was taken February 4-8. I'd imagine the numbers would be even higher now.
Lila on the Congressional De-Funding of Planned Parenthood
Lila Rose, who, with her associates, has done so much to expose the evil of Planned Parenthood, said today at LifeNews:“We applaud those in Congress who championed the safety of women, young girls and children today, and refused to funnel hundreds of millions of tax dollars into an organization that furthers the trafficking of minors and enables sexual abusers. We now turn our attention to the Senate. Now they must examine the facts and move to pull the plug on subsidizing Planned Parenthood’s exploitation of the most vulnerable among us. The case to cease funding is crystal clear. But for any Senator who remains unsure, imagine explaining to your constituents that you voted to keep sending $350 million of their tax dollars to an ‘non-profit’ that puts young girls in harm’s way and made $63 million in profits by performing over 300,000 abortions last year. It’s time once and for all to stop financing these activities.”
God bless this young lady!
Kathryn Jean Lopez profiles Miss Rose here.
Above: Miss Rose at the 2010 Walk for Life West Coast.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
House De-Funds Planned Parenthood
Good news, and about time.
MSNBC reports that the bill passed big, 240-185, with ten Democrats deserting the Party of Death to join the GOP majority, while seven Republicans voted against the measure.
From Christian Newswire:
"U.S. Congressman Mike Pence hailed the passage this afternoon of an amendment he authored that eliminates federal funding for Planned Parenthood for Fiscal Year 2011. The amendment passed with bipartisan support by a margin of 240 to 185:
"This afternoon’s vote is a victory for taxpayers and a victory for life. By banning federal funding to Planned Parenthood, Congress has taken a stand for millions of Americans who believe their tax dollars should not be used to subsidize the largest abortion provider in America.
"I commend my colleagues in both parties for taking a stand for taxpayers and a stand for life. I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support this legislation and end federal funding of Planned Parenthood once and for all."
On to the Senate.
MSNBC reports that the bill passed big, 240-185, with ten Democrats deserting the Party of Death to join the GOP majority, while seven Republicans voted against the measure.
From Christian Newswire:
"U.S. Congressman Mike Pence hailed the passage this afternoon of an amendment he authored that eliminates federal funding for Planned Parenthood for Fiscal Year 2011. The amendment passed with bipartisan support by a margin of 240 to 185:
"This afternoon’s vote is a victory for taxpayers and a victory for life. By banning federal funding to Planned Parenthood, Congress has taken a stand for millions of Americans who believe their tax dollars should not be used to subsidize the largest abortion provider in America.
"I commend my colleagues in both parties for taking a stand for taxpayers and a stand for life. I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support this legislation and end federal funding of Planned Parenthood once and for all."
On to the Senate.
More on Wisconsin: FDR on Public Sector Unions
Professor Bainbidge has a GREAT column today called "The Case Against Public Sector Unions." It includes quotations from an article by Political Science Professor Daniel DiSalvo of CCNY.
"Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: "Meticulous attention," the president insisted in 1937, "should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government....The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." The reason? F.D.R. believed that "[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
Wow. FDR is describing exactly what is happening in Wisconsin. Emphasis added. Professor DiSalvo also quotes a New York state Supreme Court judge, writing in 1943:
"To tolerate or recognize any combination of civil service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy, but inconsistent with every principle upon which our government is founded. Nothing is more dangerous to public welfare than to admit that hired servants of the State can dictate to the government the hours, the wages and conditions under which they will carry on essential services vital to the welfare, safety, and security of the citizen. To admit as true that government employees have power to halt or check the functions of government unless their demands are satisfied, is to transfer to them all legislative, executive and judicial power. Nothing would be more ridiculous."
Wow again.
h/t Instapundit
"Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: "Meticulous attention," the president insisted in 1937, "should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government....The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." The reason? F.D.R. believed that "[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."
Wow. FDR is describing exactly what is happening in Wisconsin. Emphasis added. Professor DiSalvo also quotes a New York state Supreme Court judge, writing in 1943:
"To tolerate or recognize any combination of civil service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy, but inconsistent with every principle upon which our government is founded. Nothing is more dangerous to public welfare than to admit that hired servants of the State can dictate to the government the hours, the wages and conditions under which they will carry on essential services vital to the welfare, safety, and security of the citizen. To admit as true that government employees have power to halt or check the functions of government unless their demands are satisfied, is to transfer to them all legislative, executive and judicial power. Nothing would be more ridiculous."
Wow again.
h/t Instapundit
Yuval Levin on Washington and Wisconsin
The great Yuval Levin, writing at "The Corner" on what the events of this week in Washington and Wisconsin (and Ohio, Idaho, etc) are teaching us: This is a great moment in American poloitical history.
"Too often, there is not much of a difference between the parties, and people inclined to care about policy are driven to call a pox on both their houses. But as this remarkable week has shown, this is not one of those times. The Democrats are shaming themselves on the premise that American voters can’t handle the truth and that there is political advantage in appealing to the country’s worst instincts. Republicans, whether by choice or by default, are taking up the challenge of telling voters the truth about our problems and persuading them that effective, responsible, and gradual solutions are possible — without taking benefits from current seniors and without abandoning our obligation to fellow citizens in need. There have not been many opportunities for conservatives to be proud of being Republicans in recent years, but this week has certainly been one."
Read the whole thing.
"Too often, there is not much of a difference between the parties, and people inclined to care about policy are driven to call a pox on both their houses. But as this remarkable week has shown, this is not one of those times. The Democrats are shaming themselves on the premise that American voters can’t handle the truth and that there is political advantage in appealing to the country’s worst instincts. Republicans, whether by choice or by default, are taking up the challenge of telling voters the truth about our problems and persuading them that effective, responsible, and gradual solutions are possible — without taking benefits from current seniors and without abandoning our obligation to fellow citizens in need. There have not been many opportunities for conservatives to be proud of being Republicans in recent years, but this week has certainly been one."
Read the whole thing.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Amendment to De-Fund Planned Parenthood Abortion Business Rolled Over to Friday
Steve Ertelt at LifeNews has been staying up late to cover the story.
Congressman Mike Pence is leading the charge--God bless him! And the young people over at Catholic Vote write:
“Taxpayers provide Planned Parenthood $363 million a year. That means one-third of Planned Parenthood’s annual budget comes from the hard working Americans – including you and me! If our tax money is paying for salaries, or rent or other expenses, that frees up their other money to be spent on abortion.”
Let's pray the de-funding goes through tomorrow.
Congressman Mike Pence is leading the charge--God bless him! And the young people over at Catholic Vote write:
“Taxpayers provide Planned Parenthood $363 million a year. That means one-third of Planned Parenthood’s annual budget comes from the hard working Americans – including you and me! If our tax money is paying for salaries, or rent or other expenses, that frees up their other money to be spent on abortion.”
Let's pray the de-funding goes through tomorrow.
John Hinderaker on Wisconsin
John Hinderaker, at the Powerline blog, comments on the public sector unions' behavior in the state of Wisconsin:
"A common theme of the union demonstrators in Madison today was that Governor Walker is a 'dictator.' This showed up on sign after sign. It sheds light, I think, on how public union members in particular, and liberals in general, think. What is going on here is that the voters of Wisconsin have elected a Republican Governor and–overwhelmingly–a Republican legislature, precisely so that they can get the state’s budget under control.
What the Democrats don’t like isn’t dictatorship, it is democracy. That is why the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled the state en masse–they prevented a quorum, so that a vote they were going to lose couldn’t take place. Once again, it is democracy they are trying to frustrate, not dictatorship.
One could make the point more broadly about the organized labor movement. The unions' top priority is to eliminate the secret ballot in union certification elections. Why? The secret ballot has been the cornerstone of American labor democracy for generations. In the early days, it was assumed that the secret ballot was needed to protect workers from possible retaliation by employers if they voted for the union. That is no longer the case. Employers now universally favor the secret ballot. It is unions who are trying to abolish it through card check legislation. Why? So their goons can threaten to beat up, or worse, any employee who won't sign the card. The last thing labor unions want is democracy. They want thugocracy, as was on display in Madison today."
Even the kindly and mild-mannered Jay Nordlinger is expressing outrage.
"At this critical hour, Wisconsin’s elected officials should remember whom they work for. And they should take courage in that remembering. They work for all the citizens, not just the ones who can take time off — paid — to shout and bully."
"A common theme of the union demonstrators in Madison today was that Governor Walker is a 'dictator.' This showed up on sign after sign. It sheds light, I think, on how public union members in particular, and liberals in general, think. What is going on here is that the voters of Wisconsin have elected a Republican Governor and–overwhelmingly–a Republican legislature, precisely so that they can get the state’s budget under control.
What the Democrats don’t like isn’t dictatorship, it is democracy. That is why the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled the state en masse–they prevented a quorum, so that a vote they were going to lose couldn’t take place. Once again, it is democracy they are trying to frustrate, not dictatorship.
One could make the point more broadly about the organized labor movement. The unions' top priority is to eliminate the secret ballot in union certification elections. Why? The secret ballot has been the cornerstone of American labor democracy for generations. In the early days, it was assumed that the secret ballot was needed to protect workers from possible retaliation by employers if they voted for the union. That is no longer the case. Employers now universally favor the secret ballot. It is unions who are trying to abolish it through card check legislation. Why? So their goons can threaten to beat up, or worse, any employee who won't sign the card. The last thing labor unions want is democracy. They want thugocracy, as was on display in Madison today."
Even the kindly and mild-mannered Jay Nordlinger is expressing outrage.
"At this critical hour, Wisconsin’s elected officials should remember whom they work for. And they should take courage in that remembering. They work for all the citizens, not just the ones who can take time off — paid — to shout and bully."
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