• Home
  • About
  • BIO
  • Conferences
  • Contact
  • Follow Gerard on FB & Twitter
  • Speaking

Coming Home

Dr. Gerard M. Nadal: Science in Service of the Pro-Life Movement

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Semper Fidelis
Für Elise »

Is It Unethical to Treat Down Syndrome Medically?

September 5, 2011 by Gerard M. Nadal

In a recent article at LifeNews, “Possible Treatment for Down Syndrome Raises Ethics Questions,” author Effie Caldarola raises the ethical issue of treating those with Down Syndrome with a new drug under development by Dr. Alberto Costa. The new drug promises to stimulate and normalize growth in the Hippocampus of the brain, leading to improved cognitive function, and presumably enhanced academic and vocational performance.

The issue at hand is whether or not such medical intervention is an assault on the fundamental, ontological reality and identity of the individual. For some, such an intervention represents a devaluation of the individual as they are constituted by their nuclear chromosomal configuration and subsequent developmental patterning.

It is a delicate question, and deserves a respectful hearing.

I write my rejoinder to Caldarola as the father of a twelve year-old son who was diagnosed at age five with autism, ADD, and a few other neurological impairments; so it is not without complete understanding that I see both sides of the issue.

Let us consider Joseph’s autism and the ethical/moral demands it places on us as parents, and before that what the ethical/moral demands are on any parents.

All parents have a moral obligation to raise their children to be as completely self-sufficient and functional in adulthood as they can be. We are our children’s launch pad and mission control center in life. That process involves a substantial number of years spent in school learning fundamental academics, problem-solving skills, vocational skills, life skills, and social skills. The best and brightest among us struggle in one or more of the areas along the way. Through it all, parents begin in a very directive role and graduate to being mentors when their children reach adulthood.

The learning that takes place for the child is thought to occur in the classroom, on the basketball court, etc. In truth, it does not.

Learning is a neurological process that takes place in the brain. That brain relies on multiple sensory inputs resulting in the stimulation of new neural cells being generated, and new connections being made between new and existing neurons. We take that brain to the classroom, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, and the psychological therapist for very selected and targeted interventions meant to effect the greatest possible degree of change in the child with autism or Down Syndrome.

We do so because we have an obligation to do so. It would be criminal negligence to ignore the normal needs of the healthiest child, and all the more if we did absolutely nothing for the special needs child. All of our interventions in school and in therapy are aimed at stimulating growth and development in a brain that has some serious flaws in the normal unfolding of the genetic program.

From this neurological vantage point we now consider what it is that Dr. Costa is attempting, and what it is that folks find objectionable about it.

Dr. Costa is trying to aid the process of neurological development that takes place in school and in the various therapies. His medical approach, absent any serious side-effects, would prepare the neurological environment, fertilizing the ground as it were, for the interventions of the therapists. Such fertilization is intended to maximize the yield of those educators and therapists who plant and cultivate the seeds.

What, then, can be so objectionable about that?

Joseph’s autism has sculpted him, yet it doesn’t entirely define him. Being a scientist, I have approached Joseph’s diagnoses from the perspective of looking at what in his neurological environment is preventing him from attaining that knowledge and those skills that will help him to function as an independent adult long after my wife and I are gone.

Do we want Joseph to only become “functional enough” and then leave him looking sufficiently autistic? No, of course not. We want him to be all that he is capable of becoming, given the brain with which God has blessed him. He will never not have autism. He will forever retain certain of the traits that define autism. However, we want him to have as many options in life as possible.

This isn’t because we reject his autism. It’s because his autism ought not limit his options if there is anything we can do about it.

Joseph’s great dignity does not come from having autism. It comes from being a child of a loving God, entrusted to a mother and father who love him simply as their son. It matters not how he is neurologically configured. We don’t love him any more or less than we love his sisters. We love him simply because he is our son, and that love compels us to seek the very best for him in life.

Parents of those with Down Syndrome are no different. However, some have come to define their child by the child’s developmental and neurological configuration, and not by the more metaphysical realities. Like Joseph, high academic achievement in the child with Down Syndrome will never ameliorate their underlying physical reality.

What it can do is give that child a different kind of laughter and joy.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Biomedical Ethics | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on September 5, 2011 at 2:12 PM Leticia Velasquez

    A well reasoned, yet thoroughly Catholic reply to objections to medical research. My nine year old daughter with Down syndrome and I watched the film “The Miracle Worker” last night. Christina was able to understand that Annie Sullivan was battling to increase Helen’s ability to help herself, even if it meant she had to battle Helen herself. It was true love, Annie fighting Helen’s intellectual darkness, and leading her to the light. And that light shone for millions.


  2. on September 6, 2011 at 1:04 PM (Prolifer)ations 9-6-11 - Jill Stanek

    […] Coming Home has a post examining the ethics of treating the effects of Down syndrome using medication. […]


  3. on September 6, 2011 at 6:38 PM Subvet

    As the father of two young boys with autism I found your post very informative and enlightening. Your conclusions are dead on the money.


  4. on September 7, 2011 at 10:36 PM priestswife

    very interesting…even some of the vitamin/enzymes for kids with DS are rejected by some as being unaccepting of who their child is- I say…maybe…we are obligated to use ethically discovered, non-extraordinary means to help out family members—extraordinary measures are the real puzzlef



Comments are closed.

  • Archives

    • January 2021 (7)
    • November 2020 (1)
    • May 2020 (2)
    • September 2019 (1)
    • May 2019 (2)
    • April 2019 (1)
    • February 2019 (1)
    • April 2018 (2)
    • January 2017 (1)
    • December 2016 (1)
    • November 2016 (1)
    • October 2016 (10)
    • July 2016 (2)
    • June 2016 (1)
    • May 2016 (1)
    • April 2016 (1)
    • March 2016 (1)
    • February 2016 (3)
    • December 2015 (1)
    • November 2015 (2)
    • October 2015 (1)
    • September 2015 (1)
    • August 2015 (3)
    • April 2015 (1)
    • February 2015 (1)
    • December 2014 (3)
    • November 2014 (1)
    • October 2014 (4)
    • September 2014 (15)
    • August 2014 (6)
    • June 2014 (5)
    • May 2014 (1)
    • April 2014 (2)
    • March 2014 (2)
    • February 2014 (1)
    • January 2014 (3)
    • December 2013 (17)
    • November 2013 (9)
    • October 2013 (12)
    • September 2013 (4)
    • July 2013 (2)
    • June 2013 (5)
    • May 2013 (2)
    • April 2013 (3)
    • March 2013 (6)
    • February 2013 (2)
    • January 2013 (1)
    • December 2012 (18)
    • November 2012 (6)
    • October 2012 (13)
    • September 2012 (1)
    • July 2012 (10)
    • June 2012 (13)
    • May 2012 (8)
    • April 2012 (1)
    • March 2012 (11)
    • February 2012 (21)
    • January 2012 (5)
    • December 2011 (18)
    • November 2011 (3)
    • October 2011 (23)
    • September 2011 (24)
    • August 2011 (22)
    • July 2011 (22)
    • June 2011 (29)
    • May 2011 (8)
    • April 2011 (11)
    • March 2011 (18)
    • February 2011 (42)
    • January 2011 (26)
    • December 2010 (30)
    • November 2010 (34)
    • October 2010 (33)
    • September 2010 (16)
    • August 2010 (15)
    • July 2010 (7)
    • June 2010 (21)
    • May 2010 (33)
    • April 2010 (14)
    • March 2010 (41)
    • February 2010 (36)
    • January 2010 (59)
    • December 2009 (59)
  • Categories

    • Abortion (258)
    • Advent (26)
    • Biomedical Ethics (82)
    • Birth Control (51)
    • Bishops (87)
    • Black History Month (10)
    • Breast Cancer (65)
    • Christmas (26)
    • Cloning (4)
    • Condoms (16)
    • COVID-19 (1)
    • Darwin (2)
    • Development (6)
    • Dignity (119)
    • Divine Mercy Novenas (10)
    • DNA (3)
    • Embryo Adoption (2)
    • Embryonic Stem Cell Research (6)
    • Eugenics (29)
    • Euthanasia (8)
    • Family (44)
    • Fathers of the Church (11)
    • Fortnight for Freedom (1)
    • Golden Coconut Award (3)
    • Health Care (14)
    • HIV/AIDS (5)
    • Infant Mortality (2)
    • IVF (4)
    • Joseph (6)
    • Lent (17)
    • Margaret Sanger (19)
    • Marriage (6)
    • Maternal Mortality (2)
    • Motherhood (12)
    • Neonates (1)
    • Personhood (20)
    • Physician Assisted Suicide (4)
    • Planned Parenthood (64)
    • Priests (50)
    • Pro-Life Academy (23)
    • Quotes (10)
    • Radio Interviews (3)
    • Right to Life (34)
    • Roots (1)
    • Sex Education (25)
    • Sexually Transmitted Disease (12)
    • Stem Cell Therapy (7)
    • Transgender (1)
    • Uncategorized (205)
  • Pages

    • About
    • BIO
    • Conferences
    • Contact
    • Follow Gerard on FB & Twitter
    • Speaking

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: