Parental Duties toward Severely Impaired Infants: An Ethical Analysis

Keniston, Kenneth, and the Carnegie Council on Children, All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure, (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977), p. 192.

Silverman William A. “Mismatched Attitudes about Neonatal Death.” The Hastings Center Report, December 1981, pp. 12–16.

As filed by Philippe Aries. Centuries of Childhood, (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), p. 19.

See Piers Maria W. Infanticide. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1978).

Aries op. cit., p. 39

Silverman op. cit., p. 13

Piers op. cit.

Weir Robert F. Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 11.

See Althaus Paul The Ethics of Martin Luther, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972), p. 82

Silverman op, cit., p. 12.

I am indebted to Rev. William Eddy of Tarrytown, New York, for bringing the impact of this passage to my attention.

Feminist theologian Elisabeth Fiorenza, in her In Memory of Her, (New York: Crossroads, 1985), points out Christ's affirmation of women, See Ch 2.

Shelp Earl E. Born to Die? Deciding the Fate of Critically Ill Newborns, (New York: The Free Press, 1986), p. 37.

Silverman op. cit., p. 12.

Jerome “Letter to Laeta,” in Early Latin Theology, translated by S.C. Greenslade, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956), p. 337.

Luther Martin “Concerning Marriage.” in Forrell George , ed ., Christian Social Teachings, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing Co., 1966), p. 169.

McFadden Charles J. Medical Ethics, (Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Co., 1956), p. 53.

Ramsey Paul Fabricated Man, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970), p. 38.

de Mause Lloyd . ed., The History of Childhood, (New York: The Psychohistory Press, 1974), pp. 40–53.

See, for instance, Kakar Sudhir Indian Childhood: Cultural Ideals and Social Reality, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1979).

See Hauerwas Stanley Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986).

This was pointed out to me by David Schmidt, Trinity Center for Ethics and Public Policy.

Koop M.D. , Everett C. “Ethical and Surgical Considerations in the Care of the Newborn with Congenital Abnormalities.” in Horan Dennis J. , and Delahoyde Melinda . eds., Infanticide and the Handicapped Newborn, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1982), pp. 89–106, p. 91.

Koop M.D. , Everett C. “Ethical and Surgical Considerations in the Care of the Newborn with Congenital Abnormalities.” in Horan Dennis J. , and Delahoyde Melinda . eds., Infanticide and the Handicapped Newborn, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1982), p. 96.

Darling Rosalyn Families Against Society, (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Library of Social Research, 1979), p. 72.

Darling Rosalyn Families Against Society, (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Library of Social Research, 1979), p. 72.

Darling Rosalyn Families Against Society, (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Library of Social Research, 1979), p. 172.

Darling Rosalyn Families Against Society, (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Library of Social Research, 1979), p. 172.

By “ideological” I mean that an incomplete picture of events is presented due to unquestioned prior assumptions, e.g., about what it “should” be like to parent a severely impaired child.

See Carr J. “The Effect of the Severely Subnormal on Their Families,” in Clarke A.M. , and Clarke A.B.D. . eds., Mental Deficiency: The Changing Outlook, (New York: The Free Press, 1974); also B. Farber, Family Organization and Crisis: Maintenance of Integration in Families with a Severely Retarded Child, (Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 25. I. Serial No. 75); also, J.B. Fotheringham, and D. Creal, “Handicapped Children and Handicapped Families,” in International Review of Education. 20(3), pp. 353-371.

Harris Sandra L. Families of the Developmentally Disabled: A Guide to Behavioral Intervention, (New York: Pergamon Press, 1983), p. 85.

Waisbren S.E. “Parents’ Reactions After the Birth of a Developmentally Disabled Child.” in American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 84 (4), pp. 345–351.

The expression “chronic sorrow” is taken from Kennedy J. F. “Maternal Reactions to the Birth of a Defective Baby,” in Social Casework. (1970), 51. 40. One of the many studies on high divorce rates is by R.C. Abrams, “The Impact of Cerebral Palsy on the Patient and His Family,” in Debuskey M. . ed., The Chronically Ill Child and His Family, (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1970).

Hauerwas Stanley Truthfulness and Tragedy, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1977), p. 172.

Featherstone Helen A Difference in the Family: Life with a Disabled Child, (New York: Basic Books, 1980), p. 19.

Featherstone Helen A Difference in the Family: Life with a Disabled Child, (New York: Basic Books, 1980), p. 35.

Cited by Robertson John A. in “Involuntary Euthanasia of Defective Newborns.” in Biomedical Ethics. Mappes Thomas , and Zembaty Jane Z. . eds., (New York: McGraw Hill, 1981), pp. 391–397, p. 395.

Department of Health and Human Services. “Child Welfare Notes. #1.” Washington, D.C.: DHHS Administration for Children. Youth, and Families, 1983, p. 48383.

Turnbull Ann P. , Brotherson M.J. , and Summers J.A. “The Impact of Deinstitutionalization on Families: A Family Systems Approach.” in Bruininks Robert H. , and Lakin K.C. . eds., Living and Learning in the Least Restrictive Environment, (Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, Pub., 1985), pp. 115–140, p. 115.

For an excellent bibliography of this literature, see Blacher Jan . ed., Severely Handicaped Young Children and Their Families: Research in Review, (New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1984).

New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Family Support Services: Expanding Alternatives for Families, (Albany. New York: OMRDD, 1986), p. 1.

New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Family Support Services: Expanding Alternatives for Families, (Albany. New York: OMRDD, 1986), p. 1.

Coyne Ann “Techniques of Recruiting Homes for Mentally Retarded Children.” in Child Welfare 67 (Feb. 1978), pp. 123–133.

See Coyne Ann , and Brown Mary Ellen The Adoption of Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Study of Public and Private Child Placement Agencies, (New York: Child Welfare League of America. 1980).

Kimmish Madeline H. America's Children. Who Cares? Growing Needs and Declining Assistance in the Reagan Era, (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, 1985), p. 2

Moynihan Daniel Patrick Family and Nation, (New York: Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovich Publishers. 1986), p. 194.

Callahan Daniel “Imperative Duties and Impossible Demands; Families as Caregivers.” unpublished paper delivered at the Hastings Center. April 5, 1986, p. 1.

New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Family Support Services: Expanding Alternatives for Families, (Albany. New York: OMRDD, 1986), p. 1.

New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Family Support Services: Expanding Alternatives for Families, (Albany. New York: OMRDD, 1986), p. 18

New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Family Support Services: Expanding Alternatives for Families, (Albany. New York: OMRDD, 1986), p. 19.

Donagan Alan The Theory of Morality, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977), p. 86.

Gustafson James A. Ethics From a Theocentric Perspective, vol. 2, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), p. 171.

Beauchamp Tom L. , and Childress James F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 2nd edition, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 153.

This is the definition of supererogation given by Millard Schumaker in Supererogation: in Analysis and a Bibliography, (Edmonton. Alberta: St. Stephen's College, 1977), p. 11.

Urmson J.O. “Saints and Heroes.” in Melden A.I. . ed., Essays in Moral Philosophy, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1958), pp. 198–216

Urmson J.O. “Saints and Heroes.” in Melden A.I. . ed., Essays in Moral Philosophy, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1958), pp. 198–204.

Schumaker op. cit., p. 24.

Aiken William , and LaFollette Hugh . eds., in Whose Child? Children's Rights. Parental Authority, and State Power, (Totowa. New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980).

Blustein Jeffrey Parents and Children: The Ethics of the Family, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 148

Blustein Jeffrey Parents and Children: The Ethics of the Family, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 148

Shelp Earl E. op. cit., p. 172.

See O'Neil Onora , and Ruddick William . eds., Having Children: Philosophical and legal Reflections on Parenthood, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), p. 113