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126 Comments
- kkiram, on 11/19/2008, -3/+52i can't imagine myself making that decision at age 16, let alone 13. My heart goes out to her and her family... Very touching read.
- sh0rtstop00, on 11/19/2008, -10/+51Where the ***** was House?
- dmcbride6, on 11/19/2008, -2/+30what a stupid ***** comment.
- gegroff, on 11/19/2008, -2/+27For terminally ill or people suffering from a painful disease, any age is the right age. If it is alright to euthanize a pet that is dying or living in pain, why is it not alright for people?
- davengineer, on 11/19/2008, -2/+27Tough call, but I'm glad the parents supported her decision. They would have felt so much worse if they had forced her through all of that just to have her die in the end anyways. Maybe she would have lived and maybe not. Only the person in that situation can really make that decision, but input from family, friends, doctors, etc. should be considered as to what to do. As to what age... I don't think there is one. It varies case to case and depends on the person and circumstances.
- snea, on 11/19/2008, -16/+3427
- Kohaxx, on 11/19/2008, -1/+19It's tragic, but it sounds like she made the right call. They did everything they could and all they had left was a "wing and a prayer" treatment that was unlikely to work but likely to cause her to spend her last days in a hospital suffering through treatment. It's a decision no one wants to face but would you rather go out as an experiment with very low odds of success or accept death and spend your time living life?
- Corgana, on 11/19/2008, -1/+17Did you read the article?
- Hetman, on 11/19/2008, -2/+18This is only going to get worst as our medical techonology and practices progress. Hopefully at one point their will be cures so it will end. But some diseases people just cannot live through. And trying everything possible may just not be possible for everyone.
- xChunk, on 11/19/2008, -4/+18As soon as life starts sucking.
- floridiot2, on 11/19/2008, -1/+15Investigating Lupus, duh.
- TyrannousDotNet, on 11/19/2008, -0/+14Once you become self aware.
- iblaze4sc, on 11/19/2008, -2/+16Damn, that's one hell of a sad story.
Brave girl though, I can't even imagine. - moxley, on 11/19/2008, -2/+16Any age if you are suffering.
I applaud this family, and ***** anybody who thinks that they did the wrong thing, and ***** ***** who try to impose their will or misguided religious beliefs on others who are suffering with incurable disease.
If people wish to let nature take it's course, or even in some cases help it along it is their right. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -7/+21Over 9000.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+14There is no set age and once again this is a subject that should not find a political voice. Because of the human factor, level of maturity, etc. this is easily a case by case, personal matter, best left to only those involved. It's none of our business, the media's, and especially not the governments.
- lopsidedmidget, on 11/19/2008, -0/+12This is extremely touching.
Yet, asking how she could do this to her parents is an extreme injustice to her. Josie had experienced not one, but two bone marrow transplants that had failed and had lived two years with the basically tied up to tubes with doctors working on her. There is a point in time that anyone would say it is their time. Can you really begrudge a person for not wanting to continue with that kind of a life? It would have been unfair for her parents to ask her to continue a treatment for a prolonged period of time that may only extend her life for a few days, if that.
Basically think of it like this, the mother put it best:
''For us to force more treatment on her would have been downright cruel, I'm convinced of that. Josie, like all teenagers with incurable cancers, was forced into a very grown-up world much too soon. But she made up her own mind and she never changed it. We respected that right and we will never regret doing so.'' - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -0/+11Did you bother reading the article? She was sure to die anyhow. The treatment (had it not killed her outright) would have extended her life for a very short time - and she would be in pain most of that time.
She chose to let her parents have what little time she had left with her in an enjoyable way rather than her parents having to watch her suffer. - VikingRune, on 11/19/2008, -2/+12Great article. Now on to watching cats riding robotic vacuums...
- stev31h, on 11/19/2008, -2/+11thats bad karma
- BoneheadFarker, on 11/19/2008, -1/+10Personally...I'd pick experiment. I'll take whatever odds I can get. And if I don't survive, at least they have more data that they can use to give someone else a better chance.
On the other hand, if I'm handed a death sentence with no hope for survival and will experience a long and painful death, I'd want to go out by my own hand. The last thing I'd want is to just sit around suffering, waiting to die. ***** that...throw one last party, spend everything I've got, ***** a few hookers without condoms, and then build a giant Rube Goldberg machine to drop me into a wood-chipper head first. It's the only way to go... - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -2/+10No, seriously. Who in the ***** are you to force your so called morals on anyone else?
- derekmas10, on 11/19/2008, -1/+9You can see it in her eyes that the girl was sharp. She weighed the decisions with experience that many could only speculate. I hope her last hours were truly painless. Rest in peace Josie, and live with peace family - you supported the decision of a teenager.
- Tbyrd073, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7Thought this through have we?
- Orlandin, on 11/20/2008, -0/+7It's never Lupus.
- derekmas10, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7Yeah.. well the "dude" is from Hoth system. Probably in his 40s living in his mom's basement.
- lornefs, on 11/19/2008, -2/+8I don't understand how people can read a story that is this sad and know that it is happening to children and yet post a comment that has no purpose other than to get a cheap laugh for their equally insensitive friends.
You sicken me. - ngmcs8203, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6I wasn't old enough to make the decision myself, so I'm all for going through Chemo. But I've met many teenagers with cancer over the years, and they definitely are different in respects to maturity and their ability to see the big picture.
- derekmas10, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6That's where the law and the reality of an individual suffering don't mesh all that well. If you're not a parent, it won't be apparent that to watch your child suffer a pain that the doctors even said wouldn't allow her to live to 18 is beyond the letter of law.
Just because it's law doesn't make it right... or just. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+7Dude, get off the crack.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6My cousin died of leukemia last year. The treatment is among the most painful for any condition there is. The best it can buy you is a long remission---his was almost 15 years. But he decided himself to go after those fifteen years, and at the time, he had about a 1% chance of getting them. If I were him I wouldn't have done it. Either decision is heartbreaking and torture.
What a powerful girl. I wish I'd known her too. - nem0, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6I hope when my time comes I can have as much grace and dignity as this 16 year old.
- ChrisOrr, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6why doesn't everyone have the right to die whenever they feel like it? Anyone who makes the choice to die should be allowed. Making rules about what people can or can't do with their lives is wrong no matter what.
- quidpro, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5I think a 13 year old with leukemia is much older than you or I realize. She probably has thought about life and death way more than anyone else that age should have to do, and in more realistic terms rather than the usual woe-is-me stuff that all teens "suffer" through.
- billbugger, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5That was part of the story. Where the psychologist stated that in these cases, it's about the amount of experience and not the amount of time (age). I agree with this assessment.
Here in America 18 is when you legally considered an adult.
21 you can legally drink.
16 to drive (differs in some states).
I think the whole 18 adult issue needs to be re examined on a situational basis. - NoQuarter, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5In the UK we have something called 'Gillick competence'. Basically, any child who is mature enough to understand the magnitude of their decision (typically over the age of 12 but there's no hard limit) is legally allowed to consent to treatment without their parents consent or (as in this case) to refuse treatment AS LONG as their parents agree with them.
- Hetman, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5Anyone who believes in reincarnation really believes death is insignificant.
- TyrannousDotNet, on 11/19/2008, -1/+5isnt that a double negative or something?
- dpds, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4Welcome to the internet. My advice is to ignore these fools and save your passion for substantive people.
- ngmcs8203, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4It was obviously the right one for me and 90% of the other kids that get Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
- lornefs, on 11/19/2008, -1/+5No, just a little stupid.
- Kinsbane, on 11/19/2008, -2/+6When children are allowed as young as 11 - 13 to decide for themselves which parent they want to be their main caretaker in the event of a divorce, I think that the child can also be able to vouch for their well-being in other cases too.
- paraforce, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4Still doesn't mean you have to post d-bag comments.
- designerjoe, on 11/19/2008, -1/+5This must have been so hard on her and her family. I hope they made the memories they wanted before she went into the coma. I have to say I don't know if I could of been as brave as her mother.
- doctechnical, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4In the US the rights of the minor are vested with the parents, so if a kid makes this decision and the parents agree, (in theory) there's nothing the government can do about it, the parents have the last word. However this story took place in the UK, and in situations there the government can *force* the child into medical care.
I like the US system better, however it gives rise to people who will refuse to let their kid have medical treatments that could save them, because of some religious belief. The ethical questions this article raises are damned tough. - Kzoo, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3That's one of those slippery slope things. Not that I disagree, but someone else makes the decision for the animal. . . what happens if we were to start allowing people to make the decision for other people? (In other words if we go that direction there have to be policies in place that prevent any abuse, which means the process will most likely be full of red tape.)
This is a slightly different issue anyway. Letting someone choose to die "naturally" instead of receiving (perhaps more) treatment (age depends on the individual and circumstances involved) is a very different decision from actively helping the end along. - Orlandin, on 11/20/2008, -0/+3In the US, if the doctor or nurses in charge of the child's healthcare feel that the parent is being unreasonable, they can have social services step in and remove the rights of the parents until either a social worker deems it legal or a court backs the parents. If the court rules against the parents, the child is made a ward of the state and taken from the parents and still does not get to make the decision. This doesn't always happen, but I have seen it a couple of times.
- futurepro9, on 11/19/2008, -2/+5My parents always told me the hardest thing for a parent to do is bury their child. I don't even want to know what it feels like talking it out with the child. I just hope my kids come out healthy, and do not develop any medical conditions.
- sanguinekane, on 11/19/2008, -1/+4People are digging you down because you took a tragic story of someone confronting their own mortality at a very young age and used it to try and make a cheap political statement.
- sremick, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3Well, how old is old enough TO die?
In other words: how many years does one have to have before one can have had a "fair" number of years being alive? To have a chance at experiencing a full, fulfilling life?
60? 50? 40?
Let's for the argument say you agree with 40. Then let's say I said 16. You'd cry that 16 is "horribly unfair".
Damn straight. Which is why no one else has any right for anyone else to tell the 16 or 14yo how to spend those years. This is between the kid and the parents. Let the parents do their ***** jobs. If they come to agreement, the rest of the world needs to deal and keep their noses out of it if they have a problem. -
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