Question

1. Ever since heard of the birth of Alexandra, the Mongol baby whose parents wanted her to die. I have hovered between thinking they were right and believing they were wrong. There are many people in this most public of private grief’s that apparently have found it possible to make up their minds. I wish I found it as easy. 2. Tests done during pregnancy had not shown that Alexandra was a Mongol. When she was born, it was discovered that she also had an intestinal blockage, which could kill her in days unless it was removed. The baby’s father and mother, who is a dentist –which means she has more medical knowledge than most of us –, said “ No “ to the operation. They felt that the added disability was God or nature’s way out from a life marred by physical and mental handicap. 3. Doctors at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, London, accepted their right to decide. And refused to operate without their permission. But social workers at the hospital decided the parents were wrong. And referred the case to Hammer smith Council. This faceless body turned out to be not so faceless, after all. For its chief adviser in the case was social Services Director David Plank, himself a father s Mongol child who died four years ago, aged two. 4. Between them, Mr. Plank and the Council also decided Alexandra’s parents were wrong. And applied to have the baby made a ward of court. But Mr. Justice Eubank in the High Court thought the parents were right. Nature and not medicine, he ruled, should take its course. 5. A few hours later, two more judges in the Appeal Court decided the parents were wrong. Alexandra, they announced, must be given the change of life. 6. And after that it became a free for – all. The British Medical Association, representing Doctors had no doubt that the parents were right. Doomed babies, they said categorically. Should be allowed to die. Any doctors who refused to carry out an operation on such babies would be given full support. 7. This infuriated Life, the anti – abortion fanatic who just had to point out that Alexandra’s parents were wrong. And the organization immediately stepped up a campaign urging nurses to report doctors who deliberately let handicapped babies die. 8. The other frightening group. EXIT, who seems to want us all to commit mass suicide when we choose, then got in on the act. 9. In their book, Alexandra’s parents were right. Because it is the quality of life that matters. Not life itself.

Answer 1

ALEXANDRA THE MONGOL BABY

Answer 2

The basic idea of this story is to show how a private problem became public. What was a matter between the child and the parents became a topic of public debate with everyone voicing opinions on the matter when these were not welcome. What is to be noted here is that the unconventionality of the parents' stand is what brought about such a debate. If the parents had simple agreed for an operation, no one would have wondered why but because the parents denied operation- something not a lot of people do- due to their own personal beliefs, it became a matter that needed to be discussed and debated.