Op-ed:

A Decision Not Unlike Solomon's

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

“My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30...absolutely heartbroken.” - Tom Evans, Alfie Evans father upon his death

Little Alfie Evans has gone 'home' to become one of God's angels, but some say he was sent 'home' before his time. Some even say he was murdered by the British government's state-run National Health Service... socialized medicine at it worst...but the question is was Alfie murdered or was he set free from a horrific illness there is no cure for.

And while some might not like what I'm going to say, only those of us who have had a loved one with an incurable illness...an illness where choices like those Alfie's parents had to make...can even begin to understand the type and scope of decisions that must come into play. And it's from here that I speak from experience...experience no mother or father, son or daughter, should ever have to make.

Little Alfie was not the first many of us prayed and cried for...before him there was Charlie Gard...another baby 'supposedly' mandated to die in a hospital against his parents wishes. And while a quiet reverent dignity was indeed denied both families...for both their baby's passing was turned into a media circus replete with the standard lights, camera, action scenario of not just being a ratings blitz, but a soapbox for the lefts call for even more government intrusion into all our lives, while the religious right said the legal decisions to end both baby's lives were nothing but the work of satan...yet one still has to wonder if there really are any villains or heroes in cases such as these.

And as both babies sadly did pass in the cold sterile surroundings of an impersonal hospital room...sick as no little one should ever be...their parent's battle to keep their children alive had become the stuff of parents v. doctors, judges, and a legal system most here in America rightly see as repulsive. Socialized medicine, some say, equals government death panels come to life and in some, maybe even in many cases that surely is true, but was the British court's ruling to pull both babies plugs on the machines keeping them alive the right thing to do instead of letting the parents make that heart-wrenching decision on their own...a decision that might haunt them for the rest of their lives?

Sadly, and it pains me to say it, it might very well have been for under British law courts are asked to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the best treatment for their child...treatment many times demanded based upon emotions alone and not based upon what is in the best interest of the child.

And while some claim these legal "purveyors of death"...as some call them...did so solely based upon law instead of upon compassion...based upon a law stating that once a dispute comes before a court over the care of a child...which in both cases it did...the 'Children Act 1989' provides that the welfare of the child is to be the “paramount consideration”...it now becomes a reality some in the public might not want to face...a reality that sometimes the parents might very well not be the best ones to make the decision regarding the welfare of their child...especially when all the facts are not known nor have a right to be in the public domain.

And sometimes it's a decision no parent should ever have to face let alone make...a decision to let their child die. And while that child is of their flesh and blood and should never be a pawn of government bureaucracy... unfortunately at times it comes to just that. And then sometimes in the end the villain to most people's surprise turns maybe not into a hero but into a guide showing the way to setting a pained life free.

So in regards to little Alfie were his parents the best ones to make the right decision...a decision to try and keep their baby alive at all costs...to have experimental treatments done on him knowing the chances of success were slim or dare I say nonexistent...or were the doctors and the law actually trying to ease the pain of having the parents make a decision no parent should ever have to make when they ordered Alfie's life support to be turned off?

After much soul searching and praying with many tears shed that my opinion in such a truly sad case is the right one...at least for me...and while I know that opinion might anger some...I believe in Alfie's case and in Charlie Gard's case as well...that the doctors...who said that prolonging Alfie's life as it was, was both “unkind and inhumane”...did the right thing in saying 'no more' but not for the reasons you think.
 
Bare with me here...please.

So then why was it the right decision...because the doctors and the British legal system...contrary to what the religious right claim...were not playing God but were instead letting God call Alfie 'home' at the time of His choosing...coming to Him unencumbered by machines, tubes, and wires, and with his loving parents by his side to say their good-byes to his earthly body leaving his memory etched into their hearts forever.

And did it really matter if little Alfie passed in a hospital room or at home...a home he had not seen in almost a year for a hospital room had become home to him...no it did not for the place where one passes is not really important...what is important is that Alfie's suffering was over and that he was now one with God...and free of a sick and pained body that did not serve him well.

Little Alfie Evans...the latest victim some say of British socialized medicine...was born on May 9, 2016, with a progressive degenerative neurological condition referred to as Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome (MDS)...an embryonic present DNA affliction where “energy” (oxygen and other necessary nutrients) does not get to muscle, kidney, and brain tissue...“energy” necessary to sustain life...the same illness little Charlie Gard was believed to have had.

Fighting off one respiratory infection after another...coming off the ventilator and having to go right back on again...and with seizures causing Alfie to be in a permanent semi-vegetative state...led the doctors at Alder Hey Hospital to say that it was in Alfie's best interest to stop mechanical ventilation...aka life support...and that he be provided with palliative care in order to let him pass at a time when God chose to call him 'home' for the damage to his brain was severe...damaged to such a degree that Alfie had little brain function as his brain had been “eroded away” leaving only water and cerebral spinal fluid where what we refer to as the brain should be.

And as can be seen by the sad photos above and below, Alfie's kidneys were shutting down as well as witnessed by his so swollen legs, arms, trunk, and face as toxemia...as uremic poisoning...set in. The sweet cherub faced little baby of months ago was now long gone.

And knowing this leaves open the question of why did his parents try so hard to keep little Alfie alive when they now knew his death was predestined even before his birth? Seeing his deterioration go from bad to worse well over a year ago with nothing but artificial means keeping him alive...was it really their will to save a child they in their hearts knew could not be saved...no...I believe it was solely their refusal to let him go...the hardest decision any parent would ever have to make.

MDS is almost always fatal in babies and young children, but a few of the 16 known sufferers...it is that rare a condition...have made it into their early teens but with severely limited brain function...basically existing as a shell of a body being kept alive artificially by machines, tubes, and wires with a mind all but blank to the world. And while no can argue that morally it still should have been Alfie's parents decision if that was the life they wanted for their son, ethically the British courts...and later on the European Court of Human Rights...thankfully stepped in and removed the Evans' input from what they knew would have been their son's lingering, painful, and horrific death. But the media terribly misunderstood the intent of the rulings...as they relished in twisting the facts to help fuel worldwide consternation...consternation that even drew the pope into the fray.

But before I go on let it be known that I too am totally opposed to socialized medicine...or what we here in America sometimes refer to as a single-payer system...as I believe with every fiber of my being that neither the government nor the courts should be involved in health care at all...that it should be best left to an individual, their family, and their doctor(s). But I also know that a sovereign nation...in this case Great Britain...has a right to have a health care system of their choosing without the butting in of let's say we across 'the pond'...especially when that health care system is the wishes of its own citizens.

So with that said, there is still something wrong when the law...when the government...has its citizens saying that both entities think themselves God. Would it have hurt them to let little Alfie go home to die...would it have hurt them to let his parents take him to Italy for a treatment that in all probability would not work? No, it would not but there is a caveat with that 'no' for it would have just postponed the inevitable dragging out little Alfie's suffering even more...dragging out the parents desperate hope for a cure that would not come. And while some say miracles do happen...which we all know they do...miracles were not in Alfie's future...not when one is basically both brain dead and encased in a body that simply does not work.

Yet even with Alfie's death his memory still leaves many, especially the religious, with questions that seem to have no answer...questions about medical ethics and who and when does one deem a life “not worth living.” Many Christians...especially Catholics which Alfie's parents were...saw in Alfie's case secularism run amok as they believe all life is worth living, but is it really life when it's just machines keeping someone alive. And is all life truly worth living especially when today's Catholic social teachings add to the discourse that preserving life should be “tempered by an awareness” that life should “not be artificially prolonged” in all cases...in other words God alone should make the decision of when to call someone 'home.'

“In the final analysis, it pertains to the conscience either of the sick person, or of those qualified to speak in the sick person’s name, or of the doctors, to decide, in the light of moral obligations and of the various aspects of the case.” The Catholic Church's Declaration on Euthanasia 
 
And that is what the doctors and the British courts did when they...not unlike King Solomon...weighed the wishes of the parents against the welfare of the child. And as much as it left broken hearts in its wake, I believe, they did the right thing in a case that really had no right or wrong for in the end little Alfie is now with God as God intended him always to be.

Rest in Everlasting Peace little angel...you are finally free.

Copyright @ 2018 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article Hey Liberals...Appropriate This

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Today, Tuesday, May 8th from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss A Decision Not Unlike Solomon's; a new liberal catch phrase; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history

Op-ed:
The Battle Between God and Medicine...Part 1 of 2
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Contributions By Craig Andresen / Right Side Patriots on americanpbn.com 

In life some roads we travel on we do so with loved ones and friends by our side as those roads traveled have a tangible end. But there is one road we all must travel on that we sadly must do so alone.

And while it's been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, sometimes the road to heaven is paved with good intentions gone horribly wrong. And those intentions become ever so obvious when it comes time for us to travel that final road on the journey 'home.'

And while some...while many...believe that road must reach its destination only at the time of the Lord's choosing, I for one have come to witness that is not necessarily so for I cannot nor will not accept that the one true loving God of we Christians and Jews condones the suffering of the barely living getting ready to go 'home.'

"It's in God's hands now," the religious say..."God will call them 'home' at the time of His choosing," they add, all while quoting or should I say misquoting tenets and words of dogma about the how and when being according to God's plan alone. But if truth be told what their words really mean is it’s in God’s hands now that we, in all our arrogance and with all our medical know how, can no longer continue to usurp what had all along been the will of God.

And while end of life care inevitably brings about both religious questioning and a deep searching for some semblance of truth, the simple fact is that when a loved one is ready to pass on, many uncomfortable decisions must be made, and many need an excuse or a scapegoat for decisions they themselves are either too uncomfortable with or just too scared to make.

Enter the word's, "It's in God's hands now." 

But no words spoken can explain how a merciful and loving God can allow some to survive and recover while that very same God allows others with the very same disease to suffer and die...is it that sickness and suffering are somehow part of His greater plan? If it is then it's a plan straight from hell as can be witnessed by taking a simple walk through a hospice ward of any hospital. Take that walk with eyes open as you glance at all the suffering and pain not just experienced by the dying, but also by the loved ones soon to be left behind. Look deeply into the eyes of those suffering who have exhausted all medical technology who now have sadly arrived at what was always their inevitable end, and tell me again how this is the greater plan of a merciful and loving God.

I cannot and will not believe this is God's plan for any of his children. Instead I believe this type of death...a death shrouded in pain and suffering...is the failed result of our modern society that has doctors wringing every last breath and every last heartbeat possible from a patient’s dying body long after who that person was has since departed this world.

But what should we, as a civilized society, do in these cases...do we play God and end the pain and suffering by our own hand or do we let nature...do we let God...take its predetermined course as the religious believe.

There has to be a better way that allows for better decisions to be made.

And could that better way perhaps be in our allowing doctors to make end of life decisions...to end the pain and suffering...based solely upon a clinical diagnosis that meets a set number of specific medical criteria coupled with the consent of the patient and/or their loved ones...but wait...the religious will say that we cannot have doctors playing God.

But isn’t playing God exactly what doctors have been forced to do by our modern society having set the bar for doctors at an unattainable high. 'Do No Harm'..the Hippocratic Oath...a promise made that has now translated into doctors being forced to allow patients to linger on and suffer in a prolonged, no 'quality of life' existence...an existence God would have ended long before every bit of medical and pharmaceutical technology was thrown at them...an existence now mired down in of all things...legalities. God, or as I believe the natural course of things, would most definitely have closed the door on certain patient’s lives long before the world of modern medicine and a civilized society said their time is up...long before their existence became just a few extra months, weeks, days, or even mere hours of sometimes unbearable suffering and pain.

And amongst all the legalities and the religious dogma that tears at the heart, certain questions remain, for while we can and do prolong life no matter the pain and suffering involved, what has happened to the all-important question of 'quality of life'...have we as an arrogant society sunk so low as to designate the simple involuntary act of breathing to be 'quality of life'...life lived just to avoid us having to say that final good-bye? And why at the end of life are we more civilized...more humane...with our pets than we are with the people we so loved? And while as a society we mourn the loss of our loved ones with a celebration of their lives, why do we at the same time excuse ourselves and our choices made by pinning our failings on religion...after all "It was God’s plan" becomes our often repeated mantra as we try to remove ourselves from all blame.
                                                                     
"It was God's plan"...four simple words we repeat time and again as we strive to make ourselves believe those words...all while ignoring the fact that if we are to invoke God’s plan at the end of our loved one's life, then we must also invoke God himself in creating the very disease that is taking our loved one from us. And we must also invoke God's name in helping to create the advances in medicine that allows for prolonging life, prolonging suffering, ultimately leading to the death of our loved one who in their death no longer resembles the vital person we once knew. And then, in God’s name, we pat ourselves on the back for our acts of civility and for blindly accepted what is supposed to be God's plan.

Again, there must be a better way...a better way that allows for the natural progression of death to occur, but to occur at the time that death becomes a welcome friend not an enemy to be feared.

Enter center stage 'Hospice'...a highly specialized health care option for those who are faced with no hope of recovery as the end of life draws near...usually in six months time or less...in most cases less...way less. Hospice involves a team of physicians, nurses, hospice aides, clergy, social workers, bereavement counselors, and volunteers who work together to meet the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs of each dying patient and their family. With palliative care either given at home, in hospital, in nursing homes, or in special freestanding hospice centers, hospice strives to address the issues most important to the patient’s physical needs while preparing the family for their final good-byes, keeping the focus on improving the person's quality of life for whatever time they have left, thus allowing them to pass with dignity.

To pass with dignity is hospice's hope but not always the reality for in many cases death, even with the aid of hospice, is anything but pretty.

 
Remember, hospice's goal is to improve a patient's quality of life for the time that remains all while allowing nature to take its course...to allow God's will to supersede the will of man and of medicine. This means that hospice does not treat the disease the patient is dying from... simply, the patient is made as comfortable as possible while their body naturally shuts down...shuts down as morphine or other opiates tries to alleviate any pain they may be experiencing. And many times that shutting down means no food or even water is given...translation: hospice is not for the faint of heart for death does not come easy nor pain free for many.

And while hospice provides a valuable service to many, hospice has its hands tied as well for hospice can do more to end the suffering of both the patient and their loved ones, that is if the legalities of death and the dogma of the religious could be put aside for the betterment of the person dying and for those left behind.

Let me tell you a story...a true story with an anything but happy ending as I just personally witnessed hospice in action with the recent death of my mother. Diagnosed young with Parkinson's disease...the same disease that actor Michael J. Fox is battling and will in the end lose...Parkinson's has but one outcome...death...a most horrific and gruesome death that many say is worse than the ravages of cancer for Parkinson's ravages the body but leaves the mind for the most part intact. In other words, the Parkinson's patient is aware of every change their body is going through...is aware of what horrors are to come next.

My mother battled Parkinson's for 40+ years and for the first 30 of those years medicine kept it in check and one would barely, if ever, notice that she had a disease that there was no cure for. Thanks to medical science my mom got to raise her family, see her children marry, and have children of their own...in other words my mom got to see the cycle of life continue on. But her last 10 years or so saw Parkinson's take over as she progressed through manageable stage 2 through needing full-time aides in stage 4, sometimes with the disease slowing for a bit, but then going full throttle into end-stage 5 over these past few months as her ability to walk, sit, move, and most horribly of all...to swallow...was taken away from her.

When one cannot swallow the 22 pills that has to be taken each day in order to live, and when one cannot move any part of their body without agonizing pain, pneumonia and sepsis sets in...and when one cannot swallow even a sip of water medical intervention has for all intents and purposes ended, the doctor signs off with the family's permission, and hospice takes over. And while I have high praise for hospice in general and for all who attended my mother, I do have to say once again that hospice can do more when the pain and suffering reaches a point that it has become nothing but a living hell.

And while some will not like what I am going to say it still must be said...as I believe hospice must be legally allowed to turn up the morphine drip thus ending the hell on Earth for our loved ones. This would take but a few seconds, and in my family's case would have spared my mother from five days of a living hell as well as spared our family the specifics of watching our mother and my father's beloved wife gasp for every breath, moan if even gently touched, drown in her own secretions, and die from starvation and thirst...yes starvation and thirst...for the truth is that for the five days my mom was in hospice she was not allowed even a sip of water for fear of aspiration causing more suffering without medical intervention being allowed. And it must be understand by all that once hospice is called in medical intervention ceases in full.

Is this really how we want our loved ones to journey 'home'...yet this is how many are dying throughout our country simply because the religious have dictated what the legalities of life and death should and should not be. Shouldn't we...the doctors and/or the family...be allowed to 'pull the plug' so to speak...just as we do for our cherished animals...when no hope whatsoever of survival is at hand...shouldn't the family be allowed to say our goodbyes to the person when they are still conscious and know we are there by their side instead of them being unconscious, drugged-up, and in reality alone in their death...that would be the humane and civilized thing to do yet that is what we are not allowed to do.

Sadly, death and dying in America is big business with end of life care not only becoming a matter of professional commitment coupled with responsibility, but of dollars and cents as well, all while the true wishes of the family are for the most part ignored. As my mother lay dying...as her body rotted from within...we begged and pleaded with both the doctors and with hospice for it to end not for our sake but for hers. When the unconscious cry through the pain they still feel...when they begged to die while still of this world...to be free of the physical horrors consuming them...we are legally forced to sit back and watch as the morphine is upped a bit at a time until their heart can take no more...and in my mom's case it took five long days of hell.

This, in a word, is cruel...cruel to the point that no one of faith should abide this as it goes against everything we believe our God would condone for isn't the basis of faith to be one with God...yet how can you be one with God when you are cursing Him for allowing this suffering to continue.

And this is cruel for nonbelievers as well for suffering becomes pain personified, and it is inbred in the human condition that suffering must be alleviated by any means humanly possible, yet we allow our loved ones to suffer and linger on as we fear the legalities that come with someone's passing by a human hand.

And so while the pain is finally over for my mom, my family's final memories of her are one of unbearable pain and suffering...pain and suffering that did not have to happen as there are better ways to leave this world and be one with God if only religious dogma and legalities were set aside for the good of not only the dying but of the ones left behind in their grief.

In Part 2 of this two-part series I will touch upon how legally a true death with dignity can be achieved while at the same time letting the dying be one with God as they travel on the final road 'home.'