Nicholas Hobbs Vanderbilt University Robert Loeb New York, New York Dr. Louis Jolyon West Dr. Robert J. Stoller Dr. Donald A. Schwartz Associate Professor of Psychiatry Dr. James Q. Simmons, III Associate Program Director of Mental Retardation Dr. Bernard Towers Professor of Anatomy and Pediatrics NCT A School of Modining Dr. Herbert J. Grossman Director, Illinois State Pediatric Institute This case study involves a child born with both Downs Syndrome (mongoloid) and an intestinal block. The latter could be corrected through a fairly simple operation without which the child could not be fed and would die. The parents were asked for permission. They refused, saying that it would be unfair to their other two (normal) children to be brought up with a mongoloid sibling. The hospital sought the advice of a judge, who indicated that the court would not likely overturn the parents' decision under these circumstances. Subsequently the child was put in a side room and, over an eleven-day period, allowed to starve to death. The hospital staff was greatly upset, but took no action to hasten the child's death. Moderator: Essayists: ROGER MUDD, News Commentator, CBS, Washington, D.C. The Legal Aspects PAUL A. FREUND, S.J.D., Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School. The Moral and Ethical Aspects JAMES GUSTAFSON, Ph.D., Acting Chairman, Department of Religious Studies, Professor of Ethics, Yale University. The Social Aspects MICHAEL HARRINGTON, Author of The The Psychological and Familial MRS. SYDNEY CALLAHAN, Mother, Psychologist, Author, Columnist, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The Public Policy Aspects THE HONORABLE WALTER F. MONDALE, U.S. Senate-Minnesota; Chairman Select Committee on Equal The Plenary Session will commence with a 30minute documentary film pertaining to the case study. Participants in the film will join with the Essayists above in the discussion. Filmed participants are: MRS. SYDNEY CALLAHAN. ROBERT E. COOKE, M.D., Pediatrician-in-Chief, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; Chairman, Kennedy Foundation Advisory Board; Kennedy Award Recipient, 1968. WILLIAM CURRAN, Ph.D., Francis Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine, School of Public Health, Harvard University; Kennedy Inter-Faculty Program in Medical Ethics at Harvard University. REVEREND JOHN FLETCHER, Th.D., Director, InterMet Theological Institute, Washington, D.C. RENÉE FOX, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Depart ment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. |