What is Digg?67 Comments
- capn_caveman, on 10/12/2007, -6/+28There are things you make fun of...and things you don't...
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Damn thats just ***** sad.
- svidrod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12i don't see why the doctors should have any regrets. they did everything they could. sure they could have let him die within a few hours, maybe a day or two after his birth, instead they gave him 12 years of life. more than he or his family would have gotten w/out the bubble.
- Bigcat1021, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14@kenz0r
I'm pretty sure he's got the "no friends" part down pat. - jacobo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9sad, i think the bubble was too small for a 12 year old boy.. a boy needs space for play, jump, etc...
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8There was a great book written on this... too bad some idiot decided to transform what was a moving love story into a crappy comedy.
- ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7When I was 12 I enjoyed a good jump
- MikeHinds, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8And that makes us Human. That's one way that we excel over animals.
- mc4_a, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5He went to my school, or rather he would video conf from his house. Sad day when he died. He loved taking part in class. This whole revision of "he was sad all the time" is so much BS. He really loved life.
- vroem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6It's indeed sad that this boy had to live in a bubble.
It's even more sad that he died at the age of 12 after a failed operation.
But the saddest thing is that Randy Dotinga thinks is better to kill the incurable instead of giving them an opportunity to live.
This boy was lucky he had parents that acknowledged he had the right to live. - boycy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The point wasn't to become a test subject, it was to cure him.
I'm assuming that the tests they did on him were research into SCID? If so then what's the problem?
Very sad indeed, but I think in that instance the doctors did what they could. And I'm glad to hear that it's now 'cure or nothing' for those afflicted with this. - juggle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If no one could touch him, how did he cut his hair and dress in clothes? Also, how did he go to the bathroom? I would imagine that bubble must have smelled pretty bad.
- kenz0r, on 10/12/2007, -11/+15you f---ing a--hole, do you see the expressions on that poor childs face? lets see you try to live life as a test subject, with no friends, cooped up in a plastic world of artificial environment.
- dimplemonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5wow, that was a sad story.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4On top of that, they were in uncharted territory. Who knows how much the medical community learned from this. Surely _some_ part of the 90% success rate at curing this now has to do with what they learned here.
- Jams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I totally agree, it was completely selfish of the parents to have had their second child.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I agree. Very sad indeed. It would of been a really tough decision at the time. I think any parent would say "yes put my kid in a bubble, if you think there is a chance you could cure him". I guess like the article said, they didn't really think it through fully and fully expected a cure, but it's really a tough call. Could you just let your baby die if you knew there was a chance, even ever so slight, that he could be cured?
Even if you were faced with the same decision today (10% chance that it can't be cured), given the opportunity, would you? Granted this isn't the situation today, but would you put your child in a bubble if there was a 10% chance that he would have to live in it forever? (90% chance that he would be cured). What if it was 50/50? 40/60?
Tough call. - hagrin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Oh no no ... I'm sorry the correct answer is Moops."
/obvious - niiru, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5If you look at most animals in nature, they don't seem to have the motto that everything has the right to live. To the extent that in some animals the parents will kill the failiers.
I think its generally a more practical, workable and better thought out approch. Not to mention all-natural.
Note, I'm not trying to be inflamatory, just pointing out how vastly differrent from nature this opinion seems to be on a little inspection. - artnez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What I don't understand is ...
The parents already had a son that died from the same disease upon birth. Doctors told them that any child they have will have a 50% chance of having the same disorder. Yet... they still had a kid and that kid lived in torment his entire life. You guys can say what you want ... but 12 years of nothing is not 12 years. Trust me .. there was a time when I had to spend every waking minute couped up in the house for reasons beyond my control. There's nothing pleasent about it.
On the flipside, if the net was around back then, his life would have been alot more enjoyable. - NearlyHeadless, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4It probably didn't smell that bad since it was germ-free. Seriously.
- kittybit83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i saw the episode on pbs. it is really sad. yeah the doctors gave him 12 years of life that he otherwise wouldn't have had, but at what cost. i can only imagine the psychological impact that this had on the child. to never even touch another human. to pet an animal. on the show they said at the age of 10 or so, he didn't even realize that trees were made of leaves. he just thought they were like green bubbles on top of brown sticks. now that is really sad. i have 2 kids of my own and to even think of going through their whole lives and not being able to just touch them, it really saddens me. i only pray that this teaches us to never let a human become a test subject, especially not a child.
- boycy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I read that book!
I think it was called has the same title. Very good book...although possibly only if you're 12 like I was when I read it.
I agree; the doctors did the right thing, i.e. everything they could. - kenz0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3well the pictures mentioned a resourse chamber, so i would guess they used the gloves to hold scissors etc. but with the bathroom stuff, i imagine there was some sort of middle chamber or something of the sort.
- kazsymonds, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Well there was no cure so it just happened didnt it, its like cancer, its unfortunate for the little bugger but doctors cant spend their lives trying to cure one person.
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But if you don't know anything else, wouldn't 12 years of "nothing" seem just fine by your own standards?
- Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@yeah if he had a decent computer he could probably become an MMO nut and live his life through that, be totally consumed in his games...
Not something you'd ordinarily recommend. But, in this case... - Amon.Amarth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2PBS American Experience - The Boy in the Bubble (2006.TVRip.SoS)
http://www.mininova.org/tor/279616 - niiru, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Yeah 12 years of torture vs being quickly put out of your misery before your even fully aware of things.
Persoanlly I think I know which is more humane.
I'm not saying that the doctors did the wrong thing though, after all they thought they could cure it. - superfunkypants, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Kids with "Boy in the Bubble" disease are used in gene therapy research; they are among the first gene therapy recipients. While doctors do everything they can for them, these kids are really doing much more for doctors (and science).
- Enkhei, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OMG, i went to a school that was named after him. David Elementary. I met his mom and his sister, they're great people. In oh say 2nd grade we had to learn about David and his condition. Very sad. Look up David Elementary if you want, it may say something about him....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"On the flipside, if the net was around back then, his life would have been alot more enjoyable."
he would have owned at FPS or RTS games.... - wormeyman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2seed the torrent ppl!
- p9s50W5k4GUD2c6, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8Odd part is - many people live in a 'bubble' that they are imprisoned by.
This 12 year old kid had a plastic prison. trevorroth lives in a bubble of a different variety.
Dude - uncool. - sporkwitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No. Normally I'd agree with the "you don't know what you're missing, so how can you miss it" philosophy, but the nature of any animal (and humans are animals, or do I need to show you where we fall in the grand scheme of things with a wiki link?) includes certain needs. Amongst these includes physical interaction with others of its species (neoprene gloves wouldn't satisfy this need), the need to move around and run, and freedom in general (why do you think imprisonment works so well?) So no, just because he never knew anything else, 12 years of nothing would not seem alright to him. He might not know why, but I think it very likely to assume that he felt something was "off."
- sporkwitch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Well, if in my next life I come back as a "bubble-boy" you're welcome to put me down on the spot.
1) I'd be stuck in a bubble for however long my life is
2) No physical human contact. Ever.
3) Most likely unable to contribute to society, as such, a drain on society.
Three damn good reasons. Also, you eventually hit a point where the humane thing is to let someone die. Since we're doing animal comparisons: if your cat, dog, horse, etc. is terminally ill, what do you do? You end its suffering. Likewise, a human's suffering should also be ended, in extreme cases, and I believe that a condition this severe, in its incurable form, is one such extreme case.
Also consider that we as a species AREN"T surpassing animals. We destroy our environment with no regard for our future ability to live in it. We cause, knowingly and unknowingly, the extinction of countless other species. We create things that can literally destroy the world in a matter of days, if not hours. Not to mention our genetic stagnation, primarily due to the fact that we do everything possible to keep people alive and support them even when they can't support themselves, something that stands in stark contrast to evolutionary progress, where these genetic dead ends would normally die off. And before someone comes on and tries to say I'm an insensitive piece of *****, I have an aunt with Down's Syndrome. I love her, but that doesn't change the state of us as a species, and what would solve the problem. - chill392, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My dad knew this kid personally. His girlfriend was a nurse at that hospital at the time. Don't believe me if you don't want to, but this would be a really mean thing to lie about.
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@dextroz
Thats true. People can be really hypocritical. - FunkyGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yeah if he had a decent computer he could probably become an MMO nut and live his life through that, be totally consumed in his games...
- ray4389, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That's sad. I always loved the movie Bubble Boy and now I know where it came from. I have this awkward F***ed feeling now, but I still love that movie.
- antdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Definitely, watch the documentary. I watched parts of it last night. It was really sad. I am hoping to watch the whole thing on the 20th in my location.
- po6ot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1...or the baby with the baboon heart?
- tibby.dude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2His parents knew there was a 50% chance of having another male child with this defect but yet they did it anyway in order to continue the family name ... his idotic dad called himself Vetter Jr and his baby brother who died from the same disease at the age of 6 months earlier was called Vetter the III according the Wikipedia article.
How more ***** up can you get for having a kid in the first place ???.
Were they inbred redneck hicks ???.
I blame them alone for the misery this poor child suffered for 12 years ... that was no life he lived. - FunkyGuy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1haha nice
yeah, i remember a few good jumps... - antdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Also, George from Seinfeld had a spoof of this too. Not sure if it was about the boy though.
- Ryosen, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3You are so awesomely awesome for pointing that out. The sheer awesomeness is just so awesomely awesome I am completely awed.
- Teague, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3What the ***** was that? It wasn't a story, it wasn't a biography, it wasn't anything. It's like an anecdote.
- supes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0In some cases it's not so selfish, granted Mr. Vetter was, but there was a case where having another child worked out for the best.
I don't remember the details, but woman who had cancer needed a bone marrow transplant. Nobody in her family was a match. Her father had his vasectomy reversed or was it her mother's tubes were tied? Anyway her parents had a baby girl & the baby was a perfect match. The baby saved her sisters life. - freonchill, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0is it just me or is it ironic that this was the topic on the main show on PBS last night ?
- wmtrader, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0This was on PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bubble/
There is a TV movie with John Travolta called "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble " made in 1976 http://imdb.com/title/tt0074236/ , and then made in to a comedy movie in 2001 http://imdb.com/title/tt0258470/ . -
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