Poll: Your child is born without a brain. Would you raise it regardless?

[CardinalPiggles]

I'd (want to) let the doctors kindly put it down.

It wouldn't be a person, it wouldn't live very long, it'd be extremely expensive to keep it alive.

I can't see any logical reason to keep it, seeing as it would have no life. An empty shell of a human being.

 

[Vivi22]

We're basically talking about a child that isn't, and never will be, an actual thinking person with a life, personality, or thoughts. As such, it is a complete waste of time and resources and should be killed and discarded. I'm all for not killing things unnecessarily, but aside from meeting the most basic definitions of what it is to be alive, it's not really a living person. At some point you need to draw the line somewhere. Moreover, if I were reduced to some similar state of functioning due to severe brain damage of some sort, I wouldn't just want my family to let me die, I would expect it of them. Why should I do any less for my own child?

 

[Fleischer]

As a bit of background, I am expecting my first child to be born in March. I've been to a few of my wife's medical visits, and I was there for both ultrasounds. The technicians and doctors there have taken steps to scan for such abnormalities in our fetus, and if my unborn child had a condition like that, both my wife and I agree that having an abortion would be the correct act; however, if the baby is born and survives, then I do not condone euthanizing the baby. It would be murder. If you refused to give a modicum of medical care for the child, then you would be committing negligent homicide. Them be the bones of that matter, to me.

 

[Caffeine_Bombed]

So we have only 2 choices: Raise or kill. A little black and white don't you think? What about giving up the child to a family with the time and 'expertise' to raise him/her properly?
Or is this now the Capital Wasteland?

 

[Easton Dark]

So we have only 2 choices: Raise or kill. A little black and white don't you think? What about giving up the child to a family with the time and 'expertise' to raise him/her properly?
Or is this now the Capital Wasteland?

I'd be curious to hear someone's ideas for what the proper way to raise something that's thoughtless is.

 

[hazabaza1]

Course I'd raise it, even if it wasn't for very long. What? You think I'd throw it into a dumpster somewhere?

It's still a baby, even if it doesn't have any awareness. And parenthood is just a special thing, you don't discard your baby like it's some kind of broken toy. You raise it and treasure it for however long it's alive.

Those saying that they wouldn't obviously are not parents and/or are too young to understand what being a parent/having a child is like.

Would you get rid of the baby if it puked too much too? Parents don't put up with all of that crap for nothing.

It wouldn't be a baby, it'd be a fleshy paperweight that occasionally wriggles.

Hell, I'm one of those guys that gets annoyed at the whole "fuck kids" attitude and I care massively about my younger brother and sister but if something has no brain it can't reciprocate your actions in any way. Even newborns/children of a few months of age can do that.

 

[hazabaza1]

Course I'd raise it, even if it wasn't for very long. What? You think I'd throw it into a dumpster somewhere?

It's still a baby, even if it doesn't have any awareness. And parenthood is just a special thing, you don't discard your baby like it's some kind of broken toy. You raise it and treasure it for however long it's alive.

Those saying that they wouldn't obviously are not parents and/or are too young to understand what being a parent/having a child is like.

Would you get rid of the baby if it puked too much too? Parents don't put up with all of that crap for nothing.

It wouldn't be a baby, it'd be a fleshy paperweight that occasionally wriggles.

Hell, I'm one of those guys that gets annoyed at the whole "fuck kids" attitude and I care massively about my younger brother and sister but if something has no brain it can't reciprocate your actions in any way. Even newborns/children of a few months of age can do that.

You're essentially saying you'd throw away your baby because it's disabled. Call it whatever you want, but it's still YOUR child. If you can't comprehend a parent/child relationship then maybe you shouldn't be making posts on a thread like this.

There's a difference between being disabled and being an empty shell.
If I ever do have kids I hope I can be a good father, even if they are disabled, but something without a brain isn't something you can father. Not even close.
There is a big difference between something being disables physically or mentally and something being nothing more than the build up for a body. Hell, I'd care for my cats over a "child" like this, at least the cat will have thoughts, hopes, objectives, even if they are ridiculously short term.

I'm probably not getting my point across but I just don't get how anyone can say that a newborn without a brain can count as an actual child.

 

[Childe]

What would you do?

how is this even possible.....the brain controls everything....including your heartbeat and your breathing.....

 

[Jamous]

As depressing as the thought is I'd kill it. It sounds pretty bad when you put it in those terms; they seem to project this really malicious intent onto your actions. If it literally had no brain and thus no chance of developing in any way shape or form (also; of experiencing ANYTHING) then you'd kill it, just as you'd turn off Life-Support in a truly hopeless case there. Similar idea to Euthanasia as it should be practiced, but that opens up a whole new can of worms...
Just in case anyone thinks otherwise; I'm certain that I'd likely be absolutely emotionally destroyed by having to make that decision. Not a situation or choice I would wish on anyone.

 

[redmoretrout]

Jesus Christ, how can you watch that video and think "that child should die", when you clearly see the love the mother and the rest of the family have for him. I really do not think people who say yes I would kill that child are putting themselves in the position of the mother or family.

When ethical questions like this come up people often attempt to separate their emotions from the logical decision. I would argue this is a completely futile endeavor because ethics itself is an emotional response to a situation. I do not see how any form of ethics can exist without emotions.

Thats my long winded way of saying "No, of course I would not kill the child you monster."

 

[Caffeine_Bombed]

So we have only 2 choices: Raise or kill. A little black and white don't you think? What about giving up the child to a family with the time and 'expertise' to raise him/her properly?
Or is this now the Capital Wasteland?

I'd be curious to hear someone's ideas for what the proper way to raise something that's thoughtless is.

When I say properly I don't mean in terms of some sort of skill level.
You'd be suprised how many families are out there that will adopt children with varying degrees of disability. People who will do everything they can to make a child feel loved, because their parents can't or won't, even if the child can't process that.
I can fully understand euthanasia if a child is in incurable pain, but to just say "kill it" because you don't this it's worth the effort? Anyone who thinks like that can eat shit and die in my opinion.

 

[Caffeine_Bombed]

Jesus Christ, how can you watch that video and think "that child should die", when you clearly see the love the mother and the rest of the family have for him. I really do not think people who say yes I would kill that child are putting themselves in the position of the mother or family.

When ethical questions like this come up people often attempt to separate their emotions from the logical decision. I would argue this is a completely futile endeavor because ethics itself is an emotional response to a situation. I do not see how any form of ethics can exist without emotions.

Thats my long winded way of saying "No, of course I would not kill the child you monster."

Here, here.
Worst case scenario: the child cannot raise hs shield and may betray us to the Persians. But that's just silly...

 

[Cheeseman Muncher]

The thing with kids born with this sort of defect is that they only have a brainstem so they exist purely on autonomic functions, there is no consciousness. Normally, they die after a few days/weeks but occasionally you'll come across one that has been effectively kept alive on a ventilator/with ludicrous amounts of medication.

These kids are not "medical miracles", it's a futile effort to keep a child alive that is never going to have any conscious experience wasting both time and resources. Hard though it may be, if I had a child born with anencephaly I'd much rather let them go peacefully than drag out the inevitable.

 

[hazabaza1]

There's a difference between being disabled and being an empty shell.
If I ever do have kids I hope I can be a good father, even if they are disabled, but something without a brain isn't something you can father. Not even close.
There is a big difference between something being disables physically or mentally and something being nothing more than the build up for a body. Hell, I'd care for my cats over a "child" like this, at least the cat will have thoughts, hopes, objectives, even if they are ridiculously short term.

I'm probably not getting my point across but I just don't get how anyone can say that a newborn without a brain can count as an actual child.

There's no difference when it's YOUR child.

You can say you'd kill it pretty easily when you see it as A child or someone elses child, however if it were your child, You have to be pretty heartless and emotionless to say that you'd kill it.

You keep on saying that there'd be no difference if it was my child, but maybe just thing for a second that... maybe there might be? OMGWTFBBQ

Not everyone thinks like you do, evidently, so stop resorting to saying that everyone who disagrees with you doesn't understand.

 

[Fuzzed]

I would just do what my parents did with me.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Snip

The comments in that link pissed me the hell off. Too many religious nuts going on about how "God made a baby survive this long without a brain to show that he's really in control". Urgh. They don't seem to realize that the brain stem provides all most of the functions you'd need to be "alive" (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.). You don't need the forebrain to be alive (in the technical definition of the term), you need that for higher level cognition.

Sorry, had to rant about that, and your post seemed relevant. None of this was directed at you.

 

[Macgyvercas]

What would you do?

how is this even possible.....the brain controls everything....including your heartbeat and your breathing.....

Correction: The BRAIN STEM controls heart rate and breathing (and most other automatic functions). The cerebrum is for higher level cognition and memories and the cerebellum (best as I understand it) is voluntary motor control (among other things). The baby was born with a brain stem only.