Morality & Ethics with the "Pillow Angel"

[BetteDavisEyes]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/...unted_daughter


This is one hell of a story. Are the parents of the girl doing her a disservice by stunting her growth? Is this ethically or morally correct? I read this story a few times and still can't quite decide if they parents are doing what is best or if they are being sadistic bastards to their daughter. Wow.

[valkyrie]

Okay, first of all, you know they're not right if they refer to their daughter as a "pillow angel" -- WTF it is Michael Jackson level crazy when you refer to your child as an item of bedding.

Aside from that, this is the most effed up thing I've ever heard. They had surgery performed on their child and pumped her full of hormones to make her more convenient for them. That is jacked up, period.

[OtterXO]

I think it's just totally crazy and pretty f-ed up. It seems like they're treating her more as a piece of property than as a child.

I have an idea, let's remove her arms and legs too! That will make her much easier to move around, touch, snuggle etc.

[Cardinal026]

When I first read the article, I was horrified that the parents would do that. But because I'm bored at work, I read through the parent's website, the links to related articles they had, and all the feeback comments from the MSNBC Message Board, and while I can't imagine having to put my child through this, I really think the parents had Ashley's best interest at heart, especially when they talk about being able to prevent bedsores and having a lower risk of infections and bladder infections.

I think its important (at least to me, for myself to base an opinion) to realize that she'll be a 3 month old forever and it says she has no chance of improvement - and I can't imagine a 3 month old going through puberty, or being so large that a mother couldn't pull her into her lap to comfort her, or even bathe her easily.

A hard decision, and I'm not sure what I'd do, but I can't blame the parents for wanting to improve the quality of their daughters life, which from the article and their website, seems like it will be vastly better due to this treatment.

[AlphaFrog]

I'm agreeing with Cardinal on this one. Plus, I know it sounds bad, but she's never going to know what happened, so what's the difference?

[OtterXO]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I'm agreeing with Cardinal on this one. Plus, I know it sounds bad, but she's never going to know what happened, so what's the difference?

I don't know....something about that makes me really uncomfortable. I think that people could justify doing a lot of things to mentally disabled persons by saying "she'll never know it happened". The girl clearly underwent two major surgeries to remove her breast tissue and reproductive organs. If she can feel pain then I'm pretty sure she felt the pain of recovery from those.

I'm not usually a fan of a "slippery slope" argument but in this case I wonder where one draws the line at doing things to make caring for her more convenient for her parents.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I'm agreeing with Cardinal on this one. Plus, I know it sounds bad, but she's never going to know what happened, so what's the difference?

If you kill someone while they're asleep, they'll never know what happened, so what's the difference?

[33girl]

If she's bedridden and indoors all the time, I doubt she would reach the "normal" 5'6" anyway. Didn't these asshats read Flowers in the Attic?

This story gives me the willies.

[Kevin]

I really don't have a huge problem with what this girl's parents did. If this will make her existence more peaceful, then I'm all for it.