万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-04-30&05-01, 生死应该由谁决定?

Hey, my love

Emilio Gonzalez doesn't have long to live, maybe a month, maybe two. This hospital wants to pull the plug on his ventilator, in which case Emilio would die much sooner, probably within hours. The hospital says it's the only humane¹ thing to do because the ventilator and other treatments are causing the 17-month-old to be in pain.

We are inflicting² suffering. We are inflicting harm on this child.

But the toddler's mother says Emilio was on so much morphine he's not in pain. Catarina Gonzalez says she knows her son only has a month or two to live, but she wants him to have every possible minute of life. Even though a rare genetic³ disorder's left him unable to speak or see or eat on his own. She says his life still has value.

I put my finger in his hand, and I am talking to him, and he will just squeeze it, you know, open his eyes and turn his head towards you and he'll look at you and look at you for a good while.

So the question is, who gets to decide whether Emilio will live or die, his mother or the hospital? In an unusual law, the state of Texas says, the hospital. If doctors feel treatment is inappropriate, they can take someone off life support, even if the family disagrees. Doctors say for them, it’s a matter of ethics⁴, according to this hospital spokesman.

We have to have a point at which it will be permissible⁵ for a physician to say I have my sense of professional ethics, and I have my moral values, and I am simply not going to do this anymore.

Emilio's mother has taken the hospital to court because she says it has overstepped its bounds.

They are trying to play God by saying who lives and who dies.

A lawyer for Austin Children's Hospital says it's not playing God and that as a Catholic hospital, the church's teachings are clear.

In the Catholic tradition, we are obligated to use ordinary means to pursue and preserve our lives. We are not required to use extraordinary means.

So how did this Texas law come about, giving hospitals the right to decide when it's the time for someone to die? President George Bush, when he was governor of Texas, signed the law. Many see an irony⁶ given his stance six years later that Terry Schiavo should be allowed to live.

The legislative⁸ branch, the executive branch ought to err⁷ on the side of life.

Doctor Lainie Ross, a pediatrician and bioethicist, disagrees with the Texas law.

I think the mother should absolutely make the final decision. I would definitely not pull the child off the ventilator.

Bioethicist Art Caplan says the hospital should decide. So there are situations where even though a mother's love would say I don't whatever want she to give up, medicine does have to set some limits to the continuation of care.

In Texas, the legislature is reconsidering the law, giving hospitals the right to make life and death decisions. It's not clear if a decision would be made in time, to change the fate of Emilio Gonzalez.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Austin, Texas.

1 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

2 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 permissible   

adj.可允许的，许可的

参考例句：

• Is smoking permissible in the theatre?在剧院里允许吸烟吗？
• Delay is not permissible,even for a single day.不得延误，即使一日亦不可。

6 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

7 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

8 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。