Thoughts about the great paradox we call “life support.”

By Larry Peterson

Who should choose  Life or Death for a Child?  The Government or the Parent?

Upon order of the courts in Great Britain, eight-month-old Indi Gregory was removed from life support today (November 13, 2023). He passed away in a few hours. I now share the paradox of what is called “life-support.”

We begin five years ago

On April 28, 2018, the saga of Alfie Evans ended. The 23-month-old boy’s life support was shut down as ordered by the government in the UK. The pleas of the parents did not matter. Pope Francis had helped secure citizenship for Alfie in Italy: Sorry Alfie, no Italy for you.  An Italian hospital was going to give him the treatments for which his parents had fought so hard. Sorry, Alfie, the British government said NO. Love was erased from the equation. God’s wishes were rejected. A secularized society knew best.

The saga of Alfie Evans sickened me. Except for two overriding factors, his death was unnecessary. First, the feigned necessity of his death was embedded within the secular practicality of a 21st-century judicial system. Secondly, among many medical practitioners who lean on their omniscient ability, it was in Alfie's "best interests" to die. You see, they had to help him because he refused to do it alone. He had become a "burden" to secularism.

I write this because I have experienced circumstances similar to Alfie's parents. My wife was on life-support, but unlike Tom and Kate Evans, I had the task of allowing the machines to be turned off. It was not a judge, a doctor, the courts, or anything like that. It was ME,  the woman's husband. The end result was different.

My wife, Loretta, had been ill for a long time, and on April 6, 2002, she fell into a coma. By that evening, she was on life support. There was a Catholic living will on file for each of us, and I signed a DNR (do not resuscitate). A DNR gave me control over life-ending processes. Even though her final breaths were expected, signing the DNR placed me on an even footing with all the doctors, administrators, lawyers, and whomever else would want to take charge of MY wife.

Although Loretta was a middle-aged adult and Alfie was a baby, the parallels in each case were quite similar. Alfie, at the age of seven months, developed seizures that caused him to go into a "semi-vegetative state." Alfie did have brain function, but most doctors agreed that his condition was incurable. Most importantly, the courts stripped his parent's rights to try to save him.

Two weeks passed by, and we began attempting to wean Loretta off the ventilator. Each time, her breathing stopped in less than a minute. Six doctors told us it was "no-use." On the third day, my grown children and I gathered in the small hospital chapel to pray a Rosary. We asked Our Lady and Jesus for their help.

My kids then took turns going to their mom's bedside to say their final farewells. One at a time, they came from that room sobbing like babies. I was last and sat by her side, looking at her, holding her hand, and saying whatever I said. Those words I do not remember. I do remember one word to this very day and it smashes around inside my head like a steel ball in a pinball machine.. That word was “MURDERER!” A few of her close family members were not in favor of “pulling the plug, and that word was loudly heard coming from my answering machine at home

Unlike Alfie's parents, I controlled the machine doing her breathing. Three of the doctors were there, and the chief-of-staff. I asked them to pray with us. Guess what? They all did. The machine was switched off, and the intubation tubes were removed. A minute passed by, and she kept breathing. Then two minutes passed, five, ten, and then one hour. The cardiologist said, "Don’t be fooled by this. She won’t make it.” 

Three days later, she was up in a room, and three weeks later, she came home. She had earned the title of “The Miracle Woman of Northside.” Her recovery was not only baffling; it was unexplainable. Ironically, cancer killed her exactly one year later. The “murderer” comment was never retracted.

In Alfie’s case, his parents had no choice. They were invoking God, along with countless others around the world. The Pope had secured citizenship for Alfie, and the Italians were ready to transport him to Italy to be cared for. Unfortunately, in the world of the “nones,” secularists, and atheists, God is not part of the equation. He was the common denominator in ours.

Virtually every court in the U.K. ruled against the parent’s rights. The government and their “experts” knew best; Alfie must DIE. I cannot imagine standing by as my child’s life was taken from him and his family by court order. It is incomprehensible to me.

So the state took away the parent’s right to protect their child. They subjugated Natural Law and conquered the very nucleus of any thriving civilization, the family. They pulled Alfie’s tube. He lived for five days, breathing on his own. Was that a message from above that those in charge should have tried harder?

Unfortunately for Alfie, his “quality of life” was not deemed worthy of moving forward. Loretta kept breathing and did use oxygen intermittently. If the doctors were in charge of her breathing apparatus, they might have left it off when her breathing failed on the first day.

Unlike the Evans, we were able to take three days before we agreed to leave it off. On the third day, she kept on breathing on her own and came out of the coma. Doctors do NOT know everything. They are definitely not equal to the God who created each and every one of them. They were wrong about Loretta. She lived.

The leaders and others like them who proclaim that they are doing what is “best” for the child are lost souls. They occupy extremely high-profile positions and wield significant influence. Millions of people, young and old alike, hear them and are affected by their decisions. They enforce laws that legalize abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Funding is funneled to organizations with no respect for God's given life. Who are any of them to decide WHOSE life? This is not a puzzle a riddle, or a mystery. Go to the science. Science says ‘life begins at conception.”

History has repeated itself—again and again and again with no end in site. How, you ask? By allowing the secular governments to decide to allow another innocent child to die. And it is so easy. Just sign a legal form and poof---Bye-Bye-Baby.

This time it is an eight month-old terminally ill British girl. Her name is Indi Gregory and she is just another little person who was deemed by secularists in power, that she had lived long enough.  

Just as it was with Alfie Evans in 2018, the Italian government had granted Indi citizenship. The Vatican’s pediatric hospital, Bambino Gesu, had guaranteed a bed and care for Indi as long as she would need it. Pope Francis prayed for Indi and asked for compassion. None of that mattered. The secular elitists know best. Their pomposity is nauseating.

Let us remember in our prayers the following:

·         Alfie Evans; May 9, 2016—April 28, 2018  

·         Indi Gregory; February 24, 2023---November 13, 2023

·         Charlie Gard  August 4, 2016----July 28, 2017

The above children all died as the result of being removed from life support. Indi Gregory and Charlie Gard passed on after several hours without support. Alfie Evans lasted five days.

Loretta Peterson lived one year after being removed from life support. She was functional and alert but slowly faded as stage 4 melanoma claimed her. She died on April 4, 2003. Please pray for all of them and their families.

Copyright©Larry Peterson 2023