We had written about this before when Baby Joseph was conscripted to Death by a Canadian medical review board.   (One News Now *Update) An infant who was refused a tracheotomy in a Canadian hospital is now recovering from the procedure that was administered at a hospital in St. Louis.   An infant known as “Baby Joseph” (Joseph Maraachli) is a disabled Canadian youngster who was set to have his ventilator removed against his parents’ wishes, a sure death sentence. However, before that was done, he was moved to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis for evaluation.

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life provides OneNewsNow with a status report. “Well, Baby Joseph, to the delight of his parents, has received a fresh evaluation of his condition and has received a tracheotomy, which the parents were astonished he was not getting in Canada.”

The tracheotomy helps him breathe more freely. Baby Joseph soon will be transferred to another hospital in St. Louis where he will be prepared for a trip home to Canada. Pavone adds that the surgery could have been done last October in his home country.

“All the medical advisors that we have at Priests for Life, as well as other doctors we spoke to, were just scratching their heads wondering why it wasn’t done right from the beginning,” he explains, “because it’s not an extraordinary or unusual procedure. So it’s a sad commentary. It’s the philosophy that some lives aren’t worth living or aren’t worth treating — and that’s dangerous for us all.”

Pavone says it is ironic that a child with a similar condition in a different hospital and city in Canada did receive the needed tracheotomy.  (article)

That’s what a death panel is – a bunch of unelected bureaucrats making life and death decisions. All government run plans have one end result – rationing. And what is rationed is that which is most expensive. And those that bear the brunt of the rationing are those that need those expensive procedures but who aren’t expected to be paying much in the way of taxes – the elderly and babies.   At least this one family escaped the Death Panel of Canadian Bureaucracy and made it to America where the kid, and his Mom and Dad, will be given a chance.   God Bless baby Joseph……. /SD