It’s good to juxtapose some lay-person friendly medical info up with the hot button pro-life issues of the day. So…. if you want to learn about tracheostomies for babies, and trach care at home, read a long term internet resource put up by the Bissell family.
A London Ontario hospital is holding a baby, Joseph Maarachli, on a ventilator, and has been refusing to do a tracheotomy so the boy can be taken home to be with his family. He suffers from a neurodegenerative disease which will take his life.
His family already knows the drill…… they previously lost a child to this problem. She had undergone a tracheotomy procedure, and was allowed to die at home.
This time, it appears that the Canadians are clamping down with the cost containment. The tracheostomy is “not indicated” for a patient with this kind of terminal disease, although it used to be allowed. Apparently the money has gotten tighter up there, with that socialized medicine system.
Which do you think is worse for baby Joseph?….. intubated on a ventilator in the hospital, or a tracheostomy and vent at home? With all the publicity, security and legal intervention, he’s in limbo on the former. No secrets on where the Daily Mail reporter stands on this issue.
