Anencephalic Babies

A condition that effects 1,000 babies in the US each year is anencephaly.  Anencephalic babies are born with no cerebrum or cerebellum; they possess only a brain stem.  These babies can breathe on their own and their hearts beat normally, but the children will never be able to think or become aware.  The babies are not technically brain dead, but the longest a child has ever lived is two and a half years. 

The child to live that long was Baby K, her mother continued to keep her alive despite how futile it was.  Baby K's medical bills got up to $500,000 she died of a heart attack; $500,000 dollars for 2 1/2 year is $16,666 a month.  Most people wouldn't be able to afford that kind of care and Baby K's mother was no exception.  Baby K was kept alive using insurance money.  Is this fair?  Other people's money is going to keep this "born-dead" child alive.  Probably making insurance more expensive for others. 

Another famous anencephalic baby was Theresa, whose parents wished to donate the child's organs to extremely young recipients.  Around 2,000 newborns need organs that can only come from other newborns.  Theresa's parents were denied a choice in the matter because she was still "alive".  When Theresa died ten days later it was to late to harvest and donate her organs.  This makes it seem as though Theresa's short life was for nothing, ten days is not long enough to create a large impact on the world.  But Baby Theresa's story has helped to try to change the law, so the parents of these babies can donate the child's organs.  Should this law be changed?

 What constitutes a living person?  Are we living because we can breath and our hearts beat, or are we living because we know we are alive?  A statement parallel to Descartes' "I think, therefore I am",  I am alive, therefore I live.  Do we become alive when we start to understand our existence?  If you argue this side we aren't technically alive until age one.  Are we alive before the age where we reach self awareness? Do we count as living if there is no possibility of ever reaching this age?  Is that where the line is drawn, the possibility of knowing of our existence?  These questions are often brought up in the issue of abortion, when are we alive? 

I think an anencephalic baby's parents should be allowed to make the decision to donate their child's organs if they wish to do so.  I also think that Baby K shouldn't have been kept alive using insurance money, if her mother had the money and was able to afford the child's care on her own, she can spend her money on whatever she chooses to.  This condition is one of very few that all doctors agree are futile to try to treat.  Anencephaly is always fatal before the third year of a child's existence.  If the organs or tissues can help another child have a life that this child has no possibility of having then that should be done.  It should not be manditory of anencephalic babies' parents to donate organs, but the parents should have the option to.