Pro-Life News In Brief

By Liz Townsend

Father Charged with Killing His Disabled Son

Michigan authorities charged Lawrence Beard of Royal Oak with murder for the death of his son Jonathan, 17, who had cerebral palsy and suffered from seizures. The felony charge, filed September 11, could result in a sentence of life in prison.

Jonathan's body, wrapped in blankets, was found August 15 in the condominium where he lived with his father, the Associated Press (AP) reported. His teachers at the Wing Lake Developmental Center, where Jonathan attended school, last saw him on June 6, and became worried when he never returned. When a school official went to check on him, Jonathan's body was found on the floor amid rotting food and empty beer bottles, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The medical examiner estimated that Jonathan had died six weeks earlier. According to Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca, the medical examiner "determined that parental neglect, in the deprivation of fluids and nutrients, was a contributing factor as a cause of death," the AP reported.

Child Protective Services had been notified several times in the past year that Jonathan was not being cared for properly. The driver who took Jonathan to school told the AP he called the agency four or five times. "He was not bathed properly," Chris Manhire said.

"He smelled of urine or body odor. His hair wasn't cut. He started missing a lot of school this year. I was starting to get concerned about him. I thought it was a neglect problem." Despite the reports, Jonathan remained with his father.

Lawrence Beard was admitted to a local hospital for medical and psychiatric treatment after his son's body was discovered, according to the AP. He was still in the hospital when the charges were announced. A trial date has not yet been set.

Abortion Clinic Regulations Upheld In South Carolina

A federal appeals court upheld South Carolina's Abortion Clinic Regulation Act September 19, rejecting pro-abortion arguments that it would violate patients' privacy rights, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The act establishing requirements for abortion clinics has been in litigation since Gov. Carroll Campbell signed it in January 1995. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the regulations constitutional in August 2000, and the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the decision to stand in February 2001.

Although that should have signaled the end of the court case against the law, the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy filed a suit in April 2002 on behalf of two abortionists that challenged several of the provisions.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again upheld the act in a 2-1 decision. The September ruling, written by Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, countered each of the abortionists' arguments.

To the claim that allowing state inspectors to examine clinic business records violates patients' rights to privacy, Niemeyer wrote that South Carolina has confidentiality laws that will protect patient privacy, the AP reported.

The abortionists also argued that making a member of the clergy available for counseling infringes on the separation of church and state. However, this requirement "would appear at most to require a clinic to accommodate the request of patients to exercise religion, a right also protected by the First Amendment," Niemeyer wrote, according to the AP.

In addition, the regulation that abortionists must have arrangements with a physician who has emergency hospital privileges was challenged because it would allegedly change medical license requirements. Niemeyer stated that this provision is "so obviously beneficial to patients" that it is clearly constitutional, the AP reported.

Coma Survivor Files Suit Against Hospital That Urged Life Support Withdrawal

A Scottish doctor who emerged from a coma is preparing a lawsuit against a hospital that told her family she was in a vegetative state and had little chance of improvement. Dr. Fiona Smith asserted that doctors at Dundee Royal Infirmary advised her family to consider withdrawing life support, according to the Scotsman.

However, the family rejected this advice and moved Smith to St. Mary's Hospital in Lanark, where she received physical therapy. Smith woke from her coma three weeks after arriving at St. Mary's and has continued to improve, the Scotsman reported.

Smith's injuries came from a 1995 car crash in France, which took the life of her husband Jim. Doctors who treated her in Tours, France, told the family that although her head injuries were severe, she should be able to recover with proper care, according to the Scotsman.

However, once she was transferred to Dundee, her prognosis was said to be much less hopeful. Although nurses said she seemed to be aware of voices and could follow some commands, doctors said she was in a vegetative state. Her family alleged that the consultant in charge of her case told them that they needed to decide whether to continue her life support, the Scotsman reported.

The family rejected the hospital's advice and transferred Smith to St. Mary's, where she began to recover. Smith was able to return home 11 months after the accident.

A review panel set up by the Dundee hospital after her recovery considered her case, but Smith said she was dissatisfied with the results, which seemed to treat her concerns lightly, according to the Scotsman. She decided to file a lawsuit to force doctors to give coma patients the care they need so they can have the chance to recover. "I still feel I was not given that chance," Smith told the Scotsman. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my family."

She is concerned that other coma patients may have families who listen to doctors' recommendations without questioning whether a different course of treatment could lead to improvement. "[I]n years to come, other patients will be as vulnerable as I was," Smith told the Scotsman. "They might not have any family, or their family might be in awe of doctors and feel that they cannot be challenged. I want to make sure they do everything they can for those patients because I don't believe they did it for me."