Australians debate ethics of dying boy's wish for sex

[zzyzzx]

Australians debate ethics of dying boy's wish for sex

A terminally ill boy had his dying wish granted in Australia this month, but ethicists are still at odds over whether it was the right thing to do.

The wish was not for a trip to Disneyland or to meet a famous sports star. Instead, the 15-year-old wanted to lose his virginity before he died of cancer.

The boy, who remains anonymous but was called Jack by the Australian media, did not want his parents to know about his request. Because of his many years spent in hospital, he had no girlfriend or female friends.

Jack died last week, but not before having his last wish granted. Without the knowledge of his parents or hospital staff, friends arranged an encounter with a prostitute outside of hospital premises. All precautions were taken and the organizers made sure the act was fully consensual.

The issue has sparked fierce debate over the legal and ethical implications of granting the boy's request. By law, Jack was still a child, and the woman involved could in theory face charges for having sex with a minor.

The debate was sparked by the hospital's child psychologist, who wrote a letter to Life Matters, a radio show in which academics debate ethical and moral dilemmas. The scenario was presented in the abstract, with no details about the boy's identity.

"He had been sick for quite a long period and his schooling was very disrupted, so he hadn't had many opportunities to acquire and retain friends, and his access to young women was pretty poor," the psychologist said recently in an interview with Australia's The Daily Telegraph. "But he was very interested in young women and was experiencing that surge of testosterone that teenage boys have."

Hospital staff initially wanted to pool donations to pay for a prostitute, but the ethical and legal implications prevented them from doing so. The psychologist presented members of the clergy with the dilemma and found no clear answer.

"It really polarized them," he said. "About half said, 'What's your problem?' And the other half said [it] demeans women and reduces the sexual act to being just a physical one."

Dr. Stephen Leeder, dean of medicine at the University of Sydney and a Life Matters panellist, said the issue was a difficult one.

"I pointed out that public hospitals operated under the expectation that they would abide by state law," he said. "While various things doubtless are done that are at the edge of that, it's important the public has confidence that the law will be followed."

Jack's psychologist, who works with children in palliative care, said the desire was driven in part by a need for basic human contact.

"In a child dying over a long period of time, there is often a condition we call 'skin hunger,' " he said. The terminally ill child yearns for non-clinical contact because "mostly when people touch them, it's to do something unpleasant, something that might hurt."

Dr. Leeder called the diagnosis "improbable."

Judy Lumby, the show's other panellist and the executive director of the New South Wales College of Nursing, argued the details as presented made it abundantly clear the boy's wish ought to be granted. "I said that I would try my darndest as a nurse to do whatever I could to make sure his wish came true," she said.

"I just think we are so archaic in the way we treat people in institutions. Certainly, if any of my three daughters were dying, I'd do whatever I could and I'm sure that you would, too."

[bilbogod]

If this guy was British then I suppose this kind of treatment would be wholly justified. For years our National Health Service has been shafting its patients. You get better treatment in a whorehouse, than you do in a state funded hospital. It does set a worrying precident though for any old Tom,Dick or Harry to feign illness eagerly awaiting their school chums to fork out for a remedial Pro..
Btw, this reminds me of a little story...(Oh no here he goes...
A friend of mine cracked his vertebra jetskiing over a freak wave in Thailand. This little incident saw him hospitalised for 6 weeks or so. Fortunately for him, one of the local girls helped stave off the boredom buying bags of doughnuts and giving him the odd torso twist All went well until the surgeon decided to pull back the curtain unannounced one day, revealing Mark's (oops there goes his name!)little escapades. Its a constant source of amusement to his friends to reminise over the surgeons outspoken utterances...."oh Mr Mark, Mr Mark, I'm sooo sorry Mr.Mark". Before rapidly closing the curtain to allow Mark to continue away from the bemused gaze of the other patients on the ward. A stern bollocking from the surgeon was to follow on from this little event.. But that was directed at the girl and not Mark. She was told that such practices were unlikey to be good for Marks' back.
The irony of this little event, is that Mark was told he could have the air ambulance back to England as soon as he felt happier about his condition. I think his is probably a unique situation, since he didn't request that air ambulance until he was well and truly happy that his Thai therapies had worked

[bilbogod]

Btw -In a poll, it would be interesting to see how many people would rather get laid on their 15th birthday than go to Disneyworld. Lets face it, given the option, Disney would go out of business overnight

[Greg12]

I don't see ney problems with this.

Look, he's dying ppl, he's probally suffered alot, let him have this.

[BerrantRyke]

I see notthing wrong with this..

The kid was DYING... Let him go with a smile at least...

Damn media!

[speedy]

God, I hope Dr. Laura (U. S. talk radio bitch) don't hear about it, Mrs. Morals would have a stroke.

For those that don't have the "pleasure" of listening to Dr. Laura, she is one wacked out looney with a BIG mouth. Her claim to fame is calling gays "biogogical errors" and other such signs of affection. She delights in belitting people that call in asking her advice.

What cracks me up is all the things she gets up on her sopbox to lecture about as "wrong" she's done herself. Few examples, she broke up someone else's marriage. Had affair, became Jewish to hook the guy, was a total non beliver previously. Posed nude, and is estranged from her mother whom she has refuesd to talk to for years. She of course preaches family values and wags her finger at extramaterital sex, and women that work if they have childern. Of course Dr. L has a kid, and works if you call running your mouth three hours a day working. Classic example of do as I say, not as I do.

Hey if that's what made the kid happy, glad it happened. But geez, couldn't they find someone more his age?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: speedy on 2001-12-26 23:31:09 ]</font>

[Sefy]

The kid was dying at the time, what's the big deal of giving him a last wish, god knows in the US the starting age is like what ? 12 now ? it's not like he was going to live to see age 16 or 18 to be of concentual age! and he wasn't raped for god's sake!

Screw the ethics! i'm glad he died and got his wish, there aren't many pleasurable things left in this planet, so atleast he got to experience one of them.

[marvel2020]

I'm with everyone else on this one, SCREW THE ETHICS, SCREW THE LAW and SCREW THOSE OBJECTING.

He had his wish fufilled and died a happy man i'm sure.

[Dhruv]

Damn, they found out about me!!


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dhruv on 2001-12-27 01:44:00 ]</font>

[neo2810]

Could've been worse, he could have caught AIDS

[bilbogod]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>Could've been worse, he could have caught AIDS</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>Dude - the guy's terminally ill??

In a similar situation to this guy, an english patient was told by his doctor that there was some good and bad news. The doctor lowering his eyebrows, told him that the bad news is that this he had got cancer. Barely holding back his tears, the patient eagerly asked the doctor what the good news could be... The doctor replied "Well you've also got Alzheimer's disease; by the time you get home you should have forgotten all about the bad news"