Parents Deserve Credit or Blame?

Most of us can never understand what another parent goes through when faced with decisions as presented in this article.

From Scientific American:

Parents of a severely disabled girl recently revealed that they took the dramatic step of keeping their nine-year-old daughter pint-sized to, in their view, give her a better life. The child, Ashley, has a condition called static encephalopathy, a rare disorder that causes permanent brain damage. The effects on development depend on the part of the brain involved and on the severity of the damage. Developmental problems may include any of a range of disabilities such as cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, mental retardation, autism, PDD, speech delays, attention deficits, hearing and vision impairments, oral motor problems… Ashley’s parents, who live in Seattle, report their daughter has the mental capacity of a three-month old baby and cannot walk or talk; they call her “Pillow Ashley,” because she doesn’t move from wherever they put her down, usually on a pillow. These parents feed and bathe Ashley, clothe and carry her–just as they would an infant. Recognizing she would never improve, they decided to start controversial treatments three years ago that involve giving her hormones to minimize her growth. This has kept her small and made it easier to care for her and involve her in family activities. Ashley’s parents also opted for surgery to block breast growth and had her appendix and uterus removed (since she will not be bearing children) to eliminate bleeding and discomfort that might accompany a period. They began administering the hormone therapy in July 2004 through patches on the skin. Ultimately, it could reduce her adult height by 20 percent and her weight by 40 percent.

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I know as a parent of a healthy child, I can’t begin to understand what they are going through. However, I have proposed a question in the title of my post and I’m curious to know the opinions of the Baby Talker community are.