As I write this blog post, I am absolutely livid. Those who know me are well aware of how passionate I am about politics and religion. It's no secret that Democrats who refuse to agree to deep budget cuts, union workers who refuse to help states balance their budgets, and a president who idly stands by while Iran continues to enrich uranium all make my blood boil. But the situation regarding "Baby Joseph," as he has come to be known, takes things to a whole other level.
Joseph Maracchli is a 13 month-old baby who suffers from a rare, progressive neurological disease. His family lives in Canada, where they have socialized medicine, and Joseph is currently hospitalized at London Health Services Centre in London, Ontario. He is in bad need of a tracheotomy, a procedure that will prolong his life. But there's only one problem. The hospital refuses to perform the operation.
Doctors claim that the child is in a vegetative state, and that he is beyond any hope of recovery. They have refused to perform the tracheotomy, calling the procedure "needlessly invasive." Now, "healthcare allocation officials" have said that Joseph must be taken off life support. Basically, they have said that it's time for Joseph to die.
Where do I even begin? Let's start with posing the question, "Since when do doctors and 'healthcare allocation officials' assume the role of God?" I'll tell you when. When a country implements socialized medicine and begins to ration healthcare. They look at the overall picture, and decide that it would be more efficient and fiscally responsible to utilize their healthcare resources on someone else. If a patient has no hope of ever recovering, then the death panel (as I will refer to them from here on in) decides that they are wasting resources on caring for that person. Pull the plug, it's their time to die. What they have essentially done is put a price tag on a human life.
Last year, my six year-old nephew was diagnosed with a rare, progressive disease as well. Thank God that it's not as serious as the one that Joseph is suffering from, but it will definitely pose major challenges as he gets older. I couldn't even imagine him needing a procedure to prolong his life, only to be told by a death panel that it's not efficient to use healthcare resources in that way. I could just picture them telling my family, "Sorry, but it's time for Mark to die." I'm sure they'd sugarcoat it in some way, but that is essentially what their statement would mean.
What would I do? I don't condone violence, and I know that I have ripped union workers in Wisconsin for harassing and attacking reporters. But taking away your collective bargaining rights is one thing. Taking away a child's life is another. I could easily see my emotions getting the best of me, charging the people on that panel, and strangling every one of them.
God is the only One who decides when it's time for someone to die. It is the role of doctors and healthcare officials to do everything they possibly can to keep someone alive, in accordance of course with the family's wishes. In the case of Joseph, his parents desperately want them to perform the tracheotomy. To deny that request is the equivalent of murder as far as I'm concerned.
The family has asked a hospital in Michigan to perform the operation. At first, they were turned away. But they continue to make appeals on behalf of their baby. In the meantime, London Health Sciences Center has received several threats via email and phone calls, forcing them to beef up their security. Did they not think this would happen when they made the decision for Joseph to die?
Imagine this was your child. What would you do? Go online and look at the pictures of this little boy, with his big brown eyes and his chubby cheeks. It's enough to bring anyone with half a heart to tears.
Know this, my fellow Americans. This is what we have to look forward to with Obamacare. Though the anointed one denies that his healthcare law will create death panels, their formation is inevitable when you ration healthcare for economic purposes. Look at Baby Joseph, and ask yourself if this is what you want to see happening in America one day. If we continue following the path of Obama's socialist agenda, then it will.
I suppose all we can do is pray for Baby Joseph and his family. First, I will pray that the family finds a hospital willing to perform the tracheotomy. If that does not happen, and the very thought of it not happening makes my heart ache, then I pray that he has a peaceful death and that God grants his family comfort in their time of loss.
Finally, there is one more prayer to be said. That one is for the U.S. Supreme Court, who will one day decide whether Obamacare is constitutional. When that day arrives, I hope they remember Baby Joseph, and that they have the courage to stand up and say, "We will not allow this to happen in America." God help us all if they don't.
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