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Has everyone had a chance to talk about Ashley yet? (<\/span>link<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n Ashley is a nine year old girl with with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153static encephalopathy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That just means that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got brain damage, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not ever going to get better. In her case, her abilities and thoughts are somewhere around a three-month old baby. That is, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t walk or talk. Her parents (mostly her dad), have to lift her to take her anywhere.<\/p>\n Soon, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get too big to lift (so they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to use mechanical means, or have a professional stranger do the work). She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll also grow breasts, and start menstruating, which anyone can see would make her life less comfortable.<\/p>\n The solution? Nothing nice. Her parents and her doctors decided on the following course:<\/p>\n Remove her uterus.<\/p>\n Remove her breast buds.<\/p>\n Give her hormones to stop her from growing.<\/p>\n Remove her appendix (maybe while they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in there, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hitting the possible trouble spots?)<\/p>\n She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always remain about the size and shape that she is now. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being called the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Frozen Girl.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n To me, this is one of those stories that sounds shocking and disgusting at first. Then, as I read the comments of the parents and doctors, I start to see their point of view. The main thing that they want to get across is that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in order to make things easier for them (the caregivers), but to improve Ashley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure where I land, though I obviously lean towards thinking that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an ok decision. Except in a sort of fuzzy way, she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be hurt by it (after she heals from surgery, that is), but it does seem like a grotesque answer. Still, when the question is as impossible as this one, I guess the answers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to be pretty.<\/p>\n [Incidentally, BBC quotes some Chat Room participant as saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I find this offensive if perverse.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (<\/span>Link<\/a>) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me that they bother quoting this random person, who obviously meant to say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offensive if NOT perverse. Now he or she will have to go down in history being misunderstood.]<\/span><\/p>\n