Baby dies at 11 ounces...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7873695/?GT1=6542
What do you all think about this? Article says baby was taken by c-section because a sonogram raised concerns she would die in the womb.
posted by st_ignatius110 @ 4:03 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
I can't wait to hear what Fang has to say about this.
I do hope and pray that the baby was baptized.
I don't know what I would do in this case if I had to make the same decision. My gut tells me that I would have the baby delivered in the hopes that we could have him/her baptized.
What do I have to say about it?
Not much...I grieve for the parents, but if there really was a grave risk that the baby would die if left in the womb, then there was nothing else that could be done. I guess it's either a 0.1% chance of survival outside the womb, or a less than that chance of survival inside. It's amazing how modern medicine can save premature infants, so the doctors had every reason to hope that they would be able to save her.
Let us just remember to pray for this little ones soul.
Let us just remember to pray for this little ones soul.
Why? She's either in heaven with Our Lord or in Limbo. Infants don't go to Purgatory so they don't need our prayers. We ought to be praying for her family.
Thought Limbo was not an official teaching? Thought there was no official teaching as to what actually happens to unbaptized infants when they die.
It is nearly impossible to know with certainty what my husband and I would decide in such a situation, but I probably would not opt for the surgery. Ultrasounds are just not reliable. By choosing surgery, you are nearly sealing the fate of the child, maybe not to death, but almost certainly severe disability. I've known women who have been informed of life threatening complications in their child. Prayer has worked miracles, not necessarily every time saving the life of the child, but in one family, it preserved the life of the child until she was old enough to be born safely and could be operated on, and she is now healthy and happy, and other families have been a great witness through their continued pregnancy and the eventual loss of their child.
Personally, because of the unreliablity factor of ultrasound examinations, as well as questions concerning its safety, we do not do ultrasound examinations without cause. I cannot say for sure (because of the lack of details in the story) whether this child's condition would have raised concerns necessitating an ultrasound examination during pregnancy or not, so the question about what I might do may just be moot.
I would never say that this family made a bad or wrong decision. In this scenario, there may not be a right answer. The opportunity to baptize would be a consideration, but it probably would not be the primary consideration, because I would rest on our desire for baptism. There is no doubt that I would want the child baptized if it were possible, and if the child was born prematurely, my first act (as parent definitely, as a midwife I might even do so as well) would probably be to baptize and then determine if the baby was alive.
The story is tragic. My heart and prayers go out for this family.
Thought Limbo was not an official teaching? Thought there was no official teaching as to what actually happens to unbaptized infants when they die.
Whether there is an official teaching on the matter or not (and I tend to believe that there is, but that's another topic), we do know that unbaptized infants don't go to Purgatory. We also know that baptized infants go straight to heaven. So there's no reason to pray for infants who die.
Ah, I see what you are saying. No need to pray if they are in hell..no need if they are in Heaven. But how do we know they cannot go to purgatorY? Or do you say they go to Heaven for sure?
Either they go to Heaven or they go to Limbo (which is part of hell). They wouldn't go to Purgatory since they have no sins to expiate. So our prayers cannot help them.
Ok..lol..back to the Limbo deal here...I was told the Church no longer holds to the view of Limbo. Is that right or wrong? I am only asking because I have NO idea about this.
Limbo is an attempt to harmonize what we know about the superabundant mercy of God and what we know about the fate of those who die in Original Sin. Even as late as the XVIIIth century the Jansenists were claiming that those who died in Original Sin, even unbaptized infants, suffered the torments of hell. They were not condemned for this opinion, but they were condemned for calling Limbo "a Pelagian fable." This means that, at the time, both opinions were allowable. Later, Bl. Pius IX would state that only those guilty of deliberate sin would suffer the torments of hell. So, this really leaves only one fate for the Unregenerate.
Most people today probably believe that unbaptized infants go to heaven (but then most people seem to believe that everyone goes to heaven), but this is not consonant with the traditional teaching of the Church.
I don't really have anything substantial behind my opinion except the doctrine of the baptism of desire, but I personally believe that what the parents would desire or would have done had the child lived would impact on the fate of the child. Since the Church accepts the faith of the parents when baptizing the child, it makes sense to me that the faith of the parents would be a consideration for God, should the child die before being able to be baptized.
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