Withholding Treatment from Baby Doe: From Discrimination to Child Abuse

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The Baby Doe method is defined as detention therapy by law, unless the infant is irreversibly in a coma, or treated as "almost useless" due to the survival of the newborn. Evaluating the quality of life of a child is not a just reason to refuse to provide medical care. The law came from a number of propaganda cases involving the death of disabled neonates. These children's parents treated corrective gastrointestinal birth defects in a standard way to prevent their death by preventing nutrition and hydration. The main case was a 1982 incident on Baby Doe in Bloomington, Indiana, infants with Down's syndrome refused to operate a tracheoesophageal fistula due to esophageal obstruction, resulting in infant death.

"Baby Jane Do" was involved in the same situation in 1983, which also attracted public attention to the treatment of disabled neonates. Baby Jane Doe was born in New York City on October 11, 1983. And open spine, (meningeal hernia of the meninges), hydrocephalus and microcephaly. Surgery to close the defect and reduce moisture in the brain will prolong her longevity, but she is bedridden, paralyzed, epileptic and severely brain injured. Parents consulted with experts, clergy, social workers. They decided to treat the newborn with antibiotics and bandages instead of surgery to correct the defect.

The Baby Doe regulation represents the first attempt by the US government at birth to directly intervene in the treatment of newborn babies with severe birth defects. The name of the rule comes from the case of controversial Bloomington in Indiana State in 1982 which is the name created by the media. Baby Doe Rules stipulates that hospitals and physicians must provide maximum care for disabled infants unless selected exceptions are fulfilled as a federal funded requirement I will. If the doctor or guardian chooses to refuse comprehensive treatment if they do not meet the exception, they are responsible for medical negligence. After a long court struggle, President Ronald Reagan signed the law on October 9, 1984 as amendment of the 1974 Child Abuse Prevention Act (CAPTA). Since then, the rules of "baby ranch" have influenced the medical rights of parents. How decisions made for children and how that law affects treatment options in the United States