This is a terribly tragic case: Javona Peters has been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (a terrible name for a diagnosis, the only one I know of which contains a pejorative, a derivation of the V word). She became unconscious less than three months ago, and so the diagnosis seems rushed to me. In any event, from the story:
The emotionally shaken father of a 16-year-old girl in an irreversible coma at Montefiore Medical Center is wavering in his opposition to ending what’s left of her life.”I’m 85% changed in my mind now, but I don’t know the legality,” said Leonard Peters, whose daughter Javona Peters is in a permanent vegetative state after what was supposed to be a routine operation on Oct. 17. “I’ve got to think about it. I’ve got to talk to my lawyer,” he said, a day after the Daily News reported on the teen’s condition. “I mean, if nothing is working for Javona, I don’t see the point now.”
Until Wednesday, Peters opposed pulling the plug. “I don’t give life and I cannot take a life,” he told The News last week.
The reporter’s hope killing “what’s left of her life” comment aside, imagine the pressure this poor man is under to accede! Javona’s mother, from whom he is estranged, wants the tube pulled. We know that too often medical teams and social workers pressure and cajole for such outcomes. But I would urge all concerned to hearken to the lessons we should learn from the Haleigh Poutre case. (More, here, here, here, and here.) She too was a girl diagnosed as permanently unconscious. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through its Department of Public Social Services, sanctioned by the MA Supreme Court had agreed to dehydrating her. But, before the deed could be done, Haleigh awakened—even though the doctors were sure she would never again be aware
My first question is: What’s the rush? The story says the mother wants to sue the hospital, but that doesn’t require Javona’s death. So again, what’s the rush?
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
