In 1973, Newsweek presented an article entitled “Should This Child Die?” which told the story of two doctors (Raymond S. Duff and A.G.M. Campbell who worked at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. These men were convincing parents to allow their handicapped infants to die by withholding medical care from them. They defended their actions, claiming that the children had “little or no hope of achieving meaningful humanhood” and termed them “vegetables.”
In December 1973, a disabled woman named Sondra Diamond wrote a letter in response to the article. She stated:
“I’ll wager my entire root system and as much fertilizer as it would take to fill Yale University that you have never received a letter from a vegetable before this one, but much as I resent the term, I must confess that I fit the description of a “vegetable” defined in the article “Shall This Child Die?”
Due to severe brain damage incurred at birth, I am unable to dress myself, toilet myself, or write; my secretary is typing this letter. Many thousands of dollars had to be spent on my rehabilitation and education in order for me to reach my present professional status as a counseling psychologist. My parents were also told, 35 years ago, that there was “little or no hope of achieving meaningful humanhood” for their daughter. Have I reached “humanhood”? Compared with Drs. Duff and Campbell I believe I have surpassed it!”
Quoted in Jean Staker Garton “Who Broke the Baby: What the Abortion Slogans Really Mean” (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers) 1979 pg 80
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