Evil Genius

The problem with life support is that it can technically keep anything alive even if the body itself is no longer able to just that. You could attach a decapitated cody to a life support unit (provided you can keep all the blood ion the body) and you could sustain the life of that body. The question is if a person can still be considered alive like that. A human needs his brain to 'be'. You're nothing without your brain. Thus is it can be proved that enough vital parts of someones brain are damaged that person should be considered dead even if life support could still make sure that de body technically would still be alive. A life support unit makes it very hard too decide whether a person is alive or dead but monitoring brain functions and functionality is a very good way to see if someone is alive. Brain tissue still is almost impossible to keep alive with a LS unit thus areas that are already damaged greatly will only continue to regress. If the girl is kept in life support for long than she will become like Shiavo: a person with 0% chance of ever waking up.

I believe this case to be somewhat the same. I only know about it from the small article stated at the top but that article says that the little girl has sustained severe brain damage. Ethically speaking it would be better for the girl and all people involved in this case if she was just allowed to die in peace.
The fact that the father is fighting so that the girl will be kept alive is probably only in self interest (I use the word probably since i can only speculate that this is the case).



Ok that was some more or less official info and here is my personal opinion on the specific case.

I really am grossed out by the actions of this man. From what i can tell he really cares not for the life of his daughter. I don't really know what will happen with the little girl (though the chance that she'll make it is nearly 0%) but whatever happens to her i do think the father should be charged with the highest possible. And personally i would even consider the girl already dead because of explanation stated above which would thus grant atleast a charge with excessive abuse with death as a result (well we have something like that here in holland dunno for you americans)

vtwahoo wrote:I respectfully disagree. I think that the cases are very similar. In both cases individuals who are not legally responsible for a peson in a persistent vegetative state chose to prolong said persons's suffering merely to satisfy their own selfish needs.

Pretty much the same thing I was thinking overall.

Although one can relate to the parents in a way the reasons for the man wanting to see his daughter alive aren't positive at all. That said, I would like to see the girl survive but, like previously mentioned, the chances of her making it are already gone.

I honestly feel bad for the girl but it is odd to see another case like this pop up. The Schiavo case, the recent ruling in the assisted suicide, and now this. I know that a lot of people want people to survive stuff like this but, along with that, it sometimes extends into being a matter of wishful thinking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4627248.stm

She might still have a chance.

if this part is true

Haleigh is now breathing on her own

then she would probably no longer need life support and the chances of her brain damage getting worse are quiet small.

Still i don't care if she recovers or not (well ok i do but it is just the way this is said) but the father should still be punished big time for what he did.

And as said i do really want the girl to come out of this as unscathed as possible but the phrase just is: i don't care what happens i still...... and so on.

He should get atleast attemped murder.

It all depends on how good his lawyer is and how much the jury buys thier bull.

in this case the jury will probably hate that guys guts but still the jury has to be unanimous and that can still be a problem.

I dont think the jury will have a problem giving this guy what he deserves.


Im more interested in what they will charge him with.

well, with the "60 day rapist" story on my mind, I am not even sure about this
what the fuck is wrong with these people?

Hopefully that judge was one in a million.....

Libaax wrote:Hopefully that judge was one in a million.....

which would still mean that there could be more that 1 of those types of judges.... i prefer to hope that he was truly unique

How many judges are there in US more than a million ?

You also have to consider, however, that with the publicity that this case is getting the guy could appeal a guilty verdict with the argument that the jury was biased and he didn't get a fair trial.

vtwahoo wrote:You also have to consider, however, that with the publicity that this case is getting the guy could appeal a guilty verdict with the argument that the jury was biased and he didn't get a fair trial.

it's a god given fact that he will fight his verdict. I mean who would want to go to jail for murder when there is a slight (very very very slight) chance that you could go either free or get a lower sentence