We've blogged before about how New Zealand is strict about denying immigrations to fat people, but apparently the country's not keen on letting the deformed in, either.
Here's the story about Baby Miracle:
Doctors had told the parents of a Samoan baby born with severe facial deformities that she should be left to die within hours. The couple refused, secretly feeding their daughter in hospital with a plastic syringe, and four months later she lives.
The case quickly attracted supporters, moving the public in the Polynesian island nation of Samoa and in New Zealand to donate NZ$103,000 (£40,000) so that a full medical assessment could be carried out on baby Miracletina to determine her future. But the courage of her parents, Sefulu and Mikaele Nanai, and campaigners was tested again yesterday when the New Zealand authorities denied a visa to the baby girl for medical assistance, arguing that surgery would not help.
Links: Times Online Article | New Zealand's TV3 Article | Baby Miracle's Blog | YouTube Clip (and why it's titled "Half human half pig") - via Arbroath
Oh please, let us humans be not so selfish for the self!
Look at the creature. What will that thing do when it reaches any age that requires cognitive facial contact?
So so sad what a few people's self-centered, selfish acts upon their own desires will do to those that need to be put down.
Sorry, but this is one of those cases. No matter how much surgery, this one will not function properly and will cost not only the family, but everybody around it time, money and emotion that they could spend elsewhere. Bury this thing and then honour its spirit, not let it suffer through an sub-par existence in what is already a shallow physical plain on earth among materialist stupidities.
However, "Kaka" takes the cake. Couching soulless "bioethics" doctrine in a load of faux-altruistic existential nonsense? I'm near to vomiting right now.
By your sick doctrines, Kaka, I strongly suggest you avoid the emergency room if you suffer a major injury. You'd be a "burden" on society, taking up "time, money and emotion" that could be spent "elsewhere"... Better to let anyone who might be "defective" or suffer massive injury die, so that only the "strong" and the "perfect" might live...in a cold and heartless world, devoid of the singular inspiration provided by those noble souls who have overcome illness and physical deformity.
In a world absent of Helen Kellers (blind-deaf), Hank Williamses (spina bifida), Jesse Jacksons (cleft lip), Lord Byrons (club foot), Chris Burkes (Down syndrome), John F. Kennedys (Addison's disease), Christopher Reeveses (spinal injury), Lisa Bentleys (cystic fibrosis), or Susie Maroneys (crebral palsy).
...In a world devoid of people like my mother, who has survived three types of cancer, two of them terminal, and still lives her life to the very fullest. Or my hydrocephalic brother, who has beaten all the odds and grown into a handsome and strong 31-year-old man with a talent for cooking and carpentry, who just happens to have a very sophisticated pump in his head.
In your premature condemnation of that child above, Kaka, you have also condemned my family, and likely your own as well. I sincerely hope that no-one in your family tree suffered from cancer or a deformity. They would likely be as thoroughly disgusted with you as I am.
--TwoDragons
Development of motor functions and speech may be severely delayed. Hyperactivity and mental retardation are common occurrences. The odds of this baby ever being a cohesive thinking being are not good.
I know its mean to say it, but this baby is not going to be any sort of Helen Keller.
Irrational bleeding hearts can do a lot of good in the world, sometimes they can just be irrational. The world is not full of happy endings. Not every situation can be fixed.
Try to help one deformed baby who caught media attention, or help 50 children, who aren't in the public eye? Sometimes issues aren't black and white. They're cold, depressing shades of grey.
IMO, if the mother is asking for public help, then she is taking money away from a LOT of other needy kids who WILL grow up to be cohesive thinking beings. Sadly, I really can't say I agree
with letting a severely deformed child have priority over a mass of other children who WONT get any help, because they don't have scary pictures to get attention with.
Two Dragons, thanks for taking the bait and letting us know that you don't think things through before speaking (or writing).
You missed my point. They had a chance to let this one go, before it was born, then to let it rest quietly and quickly before emotions took over, to let this one down with honour, dignity, and humanity.
I go to the hospital all the time. I am not physically strong myself, and know all about what it's like to struggle. Emergency Room? What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with injuries that occur on an emergency basis.
This is an ethical question, not a moral one. Do not get the two confused. Club foot? Cleft Lip? You must be joking, dear sir, if you are seriously considering comparing those problems to this one here.
LOOK at IT.
The eyes are in the wrong positions. The nose is in the wrong place. The mouth does not function. The ears are not present (pretty much).
The basic motor muscle functions relating back to the brain will be taxing enough, let alone dealing with the pure psychological non-relation that it is going to have in the open society.
There are times when the parents need to think things through and look at the future, and not their instant-moment emotions make them make hasty, desperate decisions.
The parents here have made a mistake. I can guarantee you that they will see that in less than a month.
My slight dyslexia makes my lists & orders back to front sometimes. Sorry about that.
This child was given an evaluation and on the basis of that the New Zealand medical team decided that the chance that a life saving difference was negligable.
There is a set budget for medical support that New Zealand gifts to Samoa in the form of aid.
This budget is very generous and is applied in varying amounts to a large number of pacific nations.
If it had been decided to fly this child to New Zealand for surgery, healthcare and support, it would have meant that a LARGE number of other, more worthy cases would not have been treated.
It is worth looking at these facts before blasting New Zealand for 'Denying Entry' as it is unfair and plain wrong.
You even refer to the child as an "it". Congratulations, you are as inhuman as the pronoun you use.
I have nothing further to say on the subject, I have stated my defense of this child, and you will either understand it or you won't.
By the way, it's "madam", not "sir".
--TwoDragons
Would it be possible for the government of New Zealand to permit entry of Baby Miracle whilst leaving medical care to be picked up privately (or strictly through donations?)
While I don't agree with unrestrained spending on a (medically) lost cause, I will never be quick to judge the "worthiness" of lives.
Right. So how in the hell dare you judge me?
You want to talk Semantics? Fine.
How many deaths by ALCOHOL are there in a year in the US, let alone the world? DRUNK DRIVING?
How about CIGARETTES?
OK, so you've stated your case - I don't see you running to the family to give them a hand, DIRECTLY.
Well? What are you going to do about it? If you such conviction on saving this thing, then you had better prove to me, and all the people here, right here, right now, to get over to that family's place and give them all the help they need, to let them know you care THAT much, and to tell the world that YOU, on TV, are Denita TwoDragons from Neatorama.
Cos if you don't, then you're a hypocrite, just like the rest of us here. A pathetic and, in fact, a lot WORSE than us for not helping and giving every penny you've got in rehabilitating this THING. And, to top it off, if you don't help that thing all the way to its adulthood, until it has fully grown to become this BEAUTIFUL WOMAN you so think it will become, and watch it become this spectacular independent woman, I will always point the finger at you, Ma'am, that you are much more pathetic and useless than I am.
I am a realist. Statistician.
You want to know what's sad? Look here and then you'll see:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/cmprfact.htm
1 Million out of 100 Million is always 1%.
You think about that.
So, 1 in 300 million is what? That's right - 0.003% of the population, if this THING was a part of the US population. You do the maths on how this affects the entire planet - costs, time, energy -
why doesn't the woman just TRY again?
Some people can't even have children - you want to fix them too, do ya, TwoDragons? Yeah? How you going to fix those who can't have their own? IMPORT some foreign child from some far away land just because that person wants to HOLD a baby? Give me a break. Don't be daft.
I'm yet to see any effects of LIVE AID when they tried to help Ethiopia.
I know that is off topic, but wanted to add that. I read the comments and don't agree or disagree, but I do find "human marvels" quite interesting from a scientific perspective. Looking back at ancient myths you have to think there must be some truth some fact in which the stories began.
"My slight dyslexia..."
Dyslexia? You sub-human. Your parents should have let you die and just "tried again" for the betterment of the species.
BTW, your name suits you.
Maybe someone else pointed this out, but Christopher Reeve is the only person on your list whose condition was the result of an accident, not a genetic disorder that was present at birth or developed as the individual aged. I just think he's a poor example, he never cared about anyone with spinal injuries before he had his own. After he was injured then he devoted time and gads of money trying to solve the problem his accident caused.
@ Kaka
Your comments regarding foreign adoption are horribly wrong. I went through the social services department of California when I was a child, and all the adults who were supposed to make decisions about child welfare were nothing short of corrupt, and I decided when I was young that I would not adopt from that same system. Those of us adopting from outside the US do so for reasons that go far beyond holding a baby. We want to be parents, to welcome a child into our lives that we can love and raise and send out into the world. It's not just HOLDing a baby, and it's not importing either.
People like you Kaka, make this world an ugly place.
More power to you.
@ All the nay sayers.
What is wrong with what Kaka is saying? Let me ask this real question, are doctors trying to kill deformed babies?
Do you believe when the doctors said it was in the best interest of the child to be starved and eventually die, where they doing so in ugly reform?
Open your eyes, perhaps even your minds. Who knows if this child is even thinking, if this child is nothing more then a vegetable. Beyond all that perhaps this child is alive and conscience then we have to say and ask - when my nose gets hit slightly it stings, perhaps this child with deformities so great, it got the name "half human half pig", lets imagine it can feel and every second of its waking life is cursed by the pains of abnormalities.
I think what the parents did was selfish. In the off-chance this child grows up who will mate with her? Who will show it love with such deformities? You may think im being cold, but really. really, think about the odds of this child finding love in this cold dark planet.
You can say what you want about Kaka but in the end, while he may make this world an ugly place, the real world isnt flowers and butterflies, its fools like the nay sayers that decorate it so, wake up to our problems and see we are not equal, we dont all win the race, we cant all be superheroes, so say what you want but this planet was Ugly and Fake way before Kaka opened his/her mouth. thanks.
.mark
Let's say there's me, the person who is on one side of the opinion, and there's TwoDragons on the other.
Now let's use this split down the middle and apply it to the rest of the world's societies -
shall we call that, simply, 50/50?
OK then. We've established that there will always be 50/50 divide in opinions.
Question is, who will be left standing, if we went to War over this?
The realist, me, or the dreamer-emotional-outburster?
Let's go. Now. Outside.
Oh, and by the way - this is Equality - I am not calling you man or woman, doesn't matter - I am calling you out as an EQUAL -
so bring out your weapons, bring out your guns, I'm ready for you.
Cos I am not dreaming. That THING should've been let go.
Less clutter, less waste. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
SURVIVAL of the FITTEST.
Yeah I should've probably been put down for my dyslexia - which is quite un-noticeable thanks to the computers fixing my spelling mistakes. hahahahahahaha!
In end you can get bogged down with silliness’ (and possibly ill used pride?) over a very serious issue. Then no one cares anymore to listen -err, read- and take your points seriously, even if they do hold weight.
mark - thank you.
LuAllen - huh? You lost me. In the very famous words of one gorgeous fashion icon Heidi Klum, "You're either in, or you're out."
What more is there, really?
Very funny !
Good luck to the kid however.
As your name suggests, so are your comments! Here is a piece of advice for you, wait until you have a deformed baby of your own then you can decide whether to kill it or let it live. You have no right to make a decision regarding other peoples choices. It really is up to the parents of the child to decide. If I could make a decision as a child when born i will definitely not choose you for a parent. People like you are a waste of resource, energy and air. As far as im concerned I rather have a deformed child that will cause no harm to others than a having a normal child that may grow up to become a serial killer. I hope that you will not bring up or are not currently raising that serial killer.
Thanks to all those who helped and supported baby Miracletina with donations, compassion and with prayers.
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I personally feel that every human's life is worthy of an attempt at being saved.
However, it takes money. I think we all agree that there is no free lunch, don't we?
That's my opinion.
nelsonjonkane@live.com
that just about sums up my thoughts on this little baby girl & ne other child not given the chance to just say hey they shldnt b here they dnt look or act like the rest of us so called normal humanbeings gees we treat deformed animals better making tv shows & news articals about them come on people
Im sorry to break any hopes out there, but she wont be able to do anything in life. she will be blind, most likely deaf, and mentally challanged. I feel sorry for her and i am gracious that god made me the way i am. Respect.
Ytzayana
You 2 can type alot of bull but in reality the parents wont give a shit what you say! I bet they dont even come on this site. Your life must be so messed up you have to come on and leave nasty comments! So you can keep leaving nasty comments its not going to change the fact that this little one is loved by her family! maybe if your were loved and cared for you wouldnt be on here talking kaka!
Enough Said!
You know what! you guys are so stupid, how dare you guys says those stuff to her, i bet she's prettier in the inside. What kind a people are you guys! it doesn't matter how she looks! all it matter is that she's alive, and i bet you all, 1000000% that the inside of this little girl is stronger than all of you....you guys are wasted in the world of neverland.
GET A LIFE AND ENJOY IT...
I know you dont want that happen so im telling you right now WHO ARE YOU TOO JUDGE?WHO EVA DA PHUK YOU ARE.i BETTAH NOT SEE YOU AROUND. CUS IM GONNA WOOP YOUR BUD.
to baby Miracle
May God bless you with many more year to live.
and you will always be in our prayers!!
I don't know why people complain about homeless children and at the same time think of sterilizing humans as some kind of abomination. If someone is very likely to produce a child with some debilitating defect that will cost the child and everyone else pain, undue suffering, and money, that person shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. It's cruel.
You people are forgetting that because people with debilitating genetic disabilities are allowed to pass those genes on, it has lead to increasing incidents of innocent children being born with horrible diseases. You don't even know if talented disabled people wouldn't be born or if they would just be born in healthy bodies to different people.
but if that was you how would you feel? well put yourself in their shshoes
I guess you lost... aww.... :(
I agree there's no free lunch and to another poster who commented on the mother wanting free aid, a lot of money has already been raised to help this CHILD. If the cat scan results that have just done acording to the articale say she can not be helped the money is to go to helping care for her for the rest of her life. SHe's not an animal to be euthanized because looking at her is inconvienant I know my spelling and tying isn't the best I appologize I'm a bit worked up and typing fast.