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domingo, 1 de marzo de 2020

BioEdge: Australia’s window onto exclusion of people with Down syndrome

BioEdge: Australia’s window onto exclusion of people with Down syndrome

Bioedge

Australia’s window onto exclusion of people with Down syndrome

by Michael Cook | 29 Feb 2020 |

^{Toni Mitchell and Joshy at the Royal Commission. Source: Council for Intellectual Disability/ Twitter @CIDvoice}

After a number of scandals the Australian government set up a Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability last year. It is now holding hearings across the country.

Some of the witnesses have complained about the way that doctors have treated their Down syndrome children.

For instance, Toni Mitchell, from Toowoomba in Queensland, told the inquiry in Sydney this week that her son had been devalued even before he was born. She recalled how devastated she was after a radiologist spotted that her son, Joshy, had Down syndrome.

“People were murmuring and I was still crying, and then finally he turned around said, 'here's your appointment for a termination', gave me a piece of paper and walked out,” Ms Mitchell said.

“It set the whole tone for Joshy's life because in that moment, they completely disallowed his life. They said he wasn't worth living.”

Ms Mitchell said abortion was never an option for her.

“People need to be open, they need to see you don't need to be perfect, disability is ok,” she told SBS News. “And that it makes our community richer with the different perspectives that people bring to it and the different experiences they have.”

“Personally, I love the way Joshy looks at life. I love his acceptance of life. I love the way he accepts people no matter what. I love the way he looks at the world around him,” she said.
“You ask him his favourite colour and it's rainbow. He doesn't just settle on one thing. He's very open to the world and I think the world needs to be more open to Joshy and his friends.”

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

“Progressive! Individuals have a right to ‘self-determined’ suicide, including the freedom to take one's own life and to enlist support provided by third parties. German court rules assisted suicide ban violates citizens' rights to determine their own death.”

This was tweeted by Philip Nitschke, Australia’s indefatigable campaigner for an unfettered right to die. It was a good summary of a decision by the German Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday, which declared that banning assisted suicide was against Germany’s ‘Basic Law’.

From now on people will be free to seek commercial assistance to help them die. (At least doctors won’t be co-opted, for the moment.) This opens up all sorts of business opportunities. Will there be death doulas in every funeral home? Watch this space.