Olivia Stanca Dies As Parents Agree To Withdraw Baby's Life Support

[DTMark]

I don't normally burst into tears when I read news articles. It has only ever happened twice, the second time being yesterday. This.

Olivia Stanca dies as parents agree to withdraw baby's life support

The parents of a baby girl who pleaded with a judge to overrule a decision to turn off her life support machine have announced she has died.

After a court heard that Olivia Stanca - whose first birthday was on Monday - would die within hours, her parents agreed to the withdrawal of life support on Wednesday after a long legal battle.

Great Ormond Street Hospital asked the High Court for treatment to be withdrawn from the baby, who had suffered repeated infections and organ failure after she was born with cancer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11422017/Olivia-Stanca-dies-as-parents-agree-to-withdraw-babys-life-support.html

That's so very sad.

I've lost relatives, and we lost both of our cats to cancer. I have some sense of what the parents went through.

But I will never have children. And I cannot come anywhere near imagining the complete and total devastation the parents must feel. Children aren't cats. I never had a biological bond with ours, even though the death of both left me totally devastated and numb.

Sorry this is a rather sad post, but sometimes, we can be reminded that no matter how bad something seems, it pales into insignificance compared to how that couple are feeling right now.

[Bossybabe]

I have some experience [at second hand] of losing a child. Their lives will just never be the same.

[SarahBell]

I couldn't finish watching the secretly filmed footage of a babysitter abuse a child.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/video-of-nanny-abusing-toddler-shocks-uganda-after-father-posts-footage-online-9882690.html

[Ill_handle_it]

Whenever I hear of a court battle in these cases,I expect to read that parents follow a particularly extreme Abrahamic religion of one kind or the other. In this case I've so far only been able to find child mentioned on their backward websites and no direct link to the parents. I suspect there's more this this story than is mentioned here.

[Guest]

Whenever I hear of a court battle in these cases,I expect to read that parents follow a particularly extreme Abrahamic religion of one kind or the other. In this case I've so far only been able to find child mentioned on their backward websites and no direct link to the parents. I suspect there's more this this story than is mentioned here.

Could they not have just thought she had been through enough suffering and had no hope of recovery?

[DTMark]

From what I had read the couple were petitioning for some very expensive treatment which doctors did not believe would succeed.

I would have paid any amount if Maddy, our female cat, could have been treated - and I mean any amount, but I was persuaded that the treatment would not succeed, she would be more likely to endure further misery, and had to let it go.

I think you'll always do absolutely everything that you possibly can, as the parent (owner) you don't stop until every single possibility is exhausted.

The moment of realisation when "all is lost" is the proverbial "dagger in the heart".

[bendy]

From what I had read the couple were petitioning for some very expensive treatment which doctors did not believe would succeed.

I would have paid any amount if Maddy, our female cat, could have been treated - and I mean any amount, but I was persuaded that the treatment would not succeed, she would be more likely to endure further misery, and had to let it go.

I think you'll always do absolutely everything that you possibly can, as the parent (owner) you don't stop until every single possibility is exhausted.

The moment of realisation when "all is lost" is the proverbial "dagger in the heart".

+1

Regardless of religion, when doctors refuse treatment on ground of 'expense' when banks get bailed out to the tune of trillions, it really brings home what a ******ed up world we're all in

[Snafu]

I'm soft as feck these days (parent etc) Couldn't finish reading that story the other day.

[Guest]

I hate to say it, but the decision also has to weigh up financial cost/risks/benefits ... a low cost treatment with minimal risk and large benefits vs a £££ one with little chance of success. The money saved can always be spent elsewhere on other needy kids.

[bendy]

I hate to say it, but the decision also has to weigh up financial cost/risks/benefits ... a low cost treatment with minimal risk and large benefits vs a £££ one with little chance of success. The money saved can always be spent elsewhere on other needy kids.

...or asset/commodity speculation.

[libspero]

I hate to say it, but the decision also has to weigh up financial cost/risks/benefits ... a low cost treatment with minimal risk and large benefits vs a £££ one with little chance of success. The money saved can always be spent elsewhere on other needy kids.

NHS England budget works out at around £1800 per person per year.

After you've factored in overheads (facilities, staff, PPI costs etc).. you can work out how much is left on average per person for treatment.

That's the cold truth. If you really want the latest and greatest then you're probably needing to move to the US kind of cost of healthcare.

[winkie]

+1

Regardless of religion, when doctors refuse treatment on ground of 'expense' when banks get bailed out to the tune of trillions, it really brings home what a ******ed up world we're all in

...world war one when thousands of young men innocently were led like lambs to the slaughter upsets me more.......that is intent...it shouldn't have happened.

....when we get sick it is no fault of another, and drugs often can't cure only contain for a period of time....even with animals quality of life is paramount....some of us our lives will last a day, others thousands of days, we can't choose how long.....every happy and healthy day is a day to be thankful for...grateful for every day that is spent with those that we love, every new day is a bonus.

[SarahBell]

I hate to say it, but the decision also has to weigh up financial cost/risks/benefits ... a low cost treatment with minimal risk and large benefits vs a £££ one with little chance of success. The money saved can always be spent elsewhere on other needy kids.

+1

[Ill_handle_it]

Could they not have just thought she had been through enough suffering and had no hope of recovery?

I'm suggesting the exact opposite.

[chronyx]

The next time someone tells me yet again how I'd make a great Dad, I'll tell them one of the first thoughts I had was "Why don't they just have another one?" :-/

[Bradbury Robinson]

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a cold hearted b*****d when it comes to a lot of things, I do feel some compassion I just don't get overly worked up about the situations.

However, there was a case last year in America of a guy leaving his kid in a car who died, Google 'Justin Ross Harris', and reading that I was a mess. At the time our little boy was about eight months old and not long been in his new car seat so I think it resonated a little. There was a bit in the story about the boy having scratched the back of his head and neck due to the heat and that got me.

Looks like the trial is still ongoing.

[DTMark]

I'm not making judgements about the rights and wrongs of the case. So far as I am concerned, the parents' ultimate decision is the correct one. You judge continued misery against prognosis.

When I made the ultimate decision to have our cats put to sleep - that's the hardest, most soul-wrenching decision. There is nothing as difficult or harrowing. To give the nod to end life.

A qualifier - when I make an analogy with cats, I don't mean to belittle or reduce the situation. I'd ask you to try your best to understand that cats, to me, are my children. The children that I will never have. I don't regret that or rue that situation. As a gay man I have no paternal desire or instinct. It simply isn't present in me. If you are religious, you might conclude that God has decreed that "this line ends here, with you" (oh, how it must feel to be gay and fervently religious - but that's another topic).

The common thing is that life is fickle in a way. We think it's so 'certain'. Those parents didn't deserve that. And saying "Well, that's just life" (or not) is so far from how those people feel. The empathy strikes me so strongly it reduces me to tears.

There are some things that you see or read which help to define how you see the world, and this is one of them.

No, I haven't been going at the bong.

[SarahBell]

When I made the ultimate decision to have our cats put to sleep - that's the hardest, most soul-wrenching decision. There is nothing as difficult or harrowing. To give the nod to end life.

A qualifier - when I make an analogy with cats, I don't mean to belittle or reduce the situation. I'd ask you to try your best to understand that cats, to me, are my children.

I was going to write before about the decision to put my cat Rosie down.

I've written it out three times now and have deleted them all.

It was the best decision for the cat.

[Guest]

In case my response seemed cold...

The decision made by the hospital/doctors had to consider all factors, and is no doubt heart wrenching. But the decision for the parents must be utterly devastating. I feel tearful/angry/physically sick when I think of even minimal harm being done to my two little ones, and cannot begin to consider what it is like having to decide whether to end treatment. The loss of a child, for whatever reason, must be beyond comparison.

[DTMark]

I was going to write before about the decision to put my cat Rosie down.

I've written it out three times now and have deleted them all.

It was the best decision for the cat.

< sends hugs.

I still haven't fully come to terms with Maddy's death. Not even close.

As she passed away, so did a little piece of me.