“Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not
follow they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of
their children.”
__
Dennis Lindberg died in 2007, his case has faded in the memories of many (myself included); for a few, not so much. Isolde Raftery is one such individual,,,
This is the
second of two medical cases that pose a dilemma. While I understand and accept that Washington state allows for this type of decision
by law, called the mature minor doctrine, it doesn't take away the stupidity of religious indoctrination. Although the law in question allows for autonomy in decisions concerning transgender and pregnancy issues, killing one's self based on religious brainwashing, that is counter to medical science is asinine.
As Raftery notes,
… I reached out to Dr. Douglas Diekema, a senior ethicist at Seattle Children’s.
Although Diekema wasn’t involved in Dennis’s care, he said he believed Dennis was too young to make such a grave decision.
Brain research shows that most of our decision-making is driven by the
emotional side of our brains. In teenagers, that’s even more pronounced,
because teen decision-making relies more on mid-brain structures, or
the socio-emotional part of the brain, than adult decision-making.
…
Given Dennis’s rough start in life, Diekema
said he wondered if Dennis was refusing blood to maintain his
relationship with his aunt and his standing in a church community that
provided him social support and nurture.
“He may not feel as obligated to make that same decision when he’s 30,” Diekema said.
Two points to consider, one of which is alluded to above, "Given Dennis’s rough start in life, Diekema
said he wondered
if Dennis was refusing blood to maintain his
relationship with his aunt and his standing in a church community that
provided him social support and nurture." You see Dennis was a child convert,
Dennis adapted well to his new life in Mount Vernon, a farm city an hour
north of Seattle. Mincin taught him to brush his teeth and encouraged
him as he learned to read. She immersed him in the Jehovah’s Witness
faith, connected him with mentors and brought him to the nearby Kingdom
Hall. On Saturday mornings, Dennis donned a suit and tie and
proselytized in the area.
,,,
When Dennis asked if he could call Mincin “mom,” she gently said no.
He had a mother, she said. When he asked to be baptized as a Jehovah’s
Witness, she resisted. He was so needy, she told me later, so eager to
please. She worried that he was seeking social, not spiritual,
acceptance.
In seventh grade, Dennis convinced Mincin that he was ready.
And
so, at 13, Dennis was baptized. The same day, he signed what Witnesses
call a “blood card,” saying he would refuse blood. Around this time,
Mincin became his legal guardian. His parents said they believed it was a
temporary arrangement so that Dennis could cross the nearby border to
Canada for a religious convention.
So a convert at 13, dead at 14. I'm sorry, and not to belittle Dennis or his faith, no man understands the intricacies and ramifications of religious belief in one years time.
Point two, this is a wholly, man made doctrine, to further the cause of isolationism among the JW cult.
Jehovah’s Witnesses became adamant about refusing blood around 1945,
when blood banks were established in Chicago and San Francisco.
Elders
at the Watch Tower Society in Brooklyn pointed to Genesis 9:4, which
condemns cannibalism, and Leviticus 17:10, which says, “I will set my
face against that soul who eats blood and will cut him off from among
his people.”
Not that it’s been uniform. Some Witnesses say they
would take fractions of blood but not whole blood or specific parts –
plasma, platelets, red blood cells or white blood cells. Others accept
organ transplants.
,,,
Years later, Mincin recalled what went through her mind: “I knew I was
helping him to actually die. It was awful. But the other option was more
horrifying. To abandon Dennis in his strong conviction to uphold Bible
principles as we understand them and allow transfusions to be forced
upon him, would have killed him in so many other ways.”
But for me, here is the clincher, "“I know that you and a lot of other people want me to have the
treatment,” he said,
“but more people think I should follow my faith.” If Teresa Vaughn's encounter with Dennis at the hospital (as reported by Raftery) is accurate, Dennis has become a martyr for the cause and that is all.
I asked her how Dennis’s death affected her faith, and she said it was strengthened initially.
“Now that the years are passing, I feel like everybody has forgotten the courageous stand he took,” she said.
“Intellectually,
I know that is not true. But, somehow, I want his name written down
somewhere in our literature. I want him remembered. It's as though life
goes by and he never existed. Not to me, but to others. It's hard to
move on.”
I am all for religious freedom. As an atheist I will fight for your right, AS AN ADULT, to practice you chosen faith in private. What I will not fight for is the death of a living, breathing, minor child.
Like the doctrine of original sin in mainstream Christianity, JWs believe receiving blood makes one unclean and unworthy.
To say, "I don't believe Dennis' decision is the result of any coercion. He is
mature and understands the consequences of his decision," is poppycock. Dennis was being taught that he was a failed human being by accepting the advances of medical science, that is coercion in my book.
When religion becomes state sanctified insanity, which in my opinion, it
is.... Superstition becomes "sacred," and people die from it. Everyone
who knows even a little bit of history knows how destructive religious
thinking is to humankind,,,
When A 14-Year-Old Chooses To Die Because Of Religion, Can Anyone Stop Him? | KUOW News and Information
PS:: I lied!! There is a third case I am muddling through without much luck,,,
