Baby Joseph has been airlifted from London, Ont., where a Canadian hospital (the London Health Sciences Centre) refused to provide treatment that would extend the life of a Joseph Maraachli and let his family take him home, where he will probably die within the next few months. LifeSiteNews has the story about Fr. Frank Pavone and the US-based Priests for Life’s intervention in the case.
This is a happy ending (relatively speaking) for the Maraachli family, but as Socon or Bust notes, “Father Frank can’t be around to air-lift all Canadian babies or even adults out of danger every time. We have to step to the plate.” Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, says this is not a euthanasia case but rather about the issue is who has the right to decide on medical care. Schadenberg notes that the system favours doctors and hospitals and the consent and capacity boards and therefore changes are needed to the Health Care Consent Act. As Schadenberg notes:
If doctors/hospitals have access to huge legal budgets that are in fact, tax payers money, in order to fight families who are simply attempting to make medical care decisions on behalf of family members, then the system should also pay the cost for the family.
In the meantime, Canadians should purchase a Life-Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care package for just $25. It could save your life. Baby Joseph got the media attention, but the fact is hundreds if not thousands of families have the right to decide what course of medical care is best for themselves and their loved ones usurped by medical experts who might be looking at other issues (personal status, hospital budgets, etc…) rather than the wants and needs of patients and their families.