Pain and Suffering in This World: Examples from a Doctor’s Desk (Part I)

After a very long hiatus, here I am, back and kicking. Some people have been asking me about the blog – mostly due to no new entries. Well, here it is. This is a true story as it was told to me by the primary source.

Jakarta, 2004. You have just graduated from medical school. As you were driving home from the hospital (and of course, you were stuck in the traffic jam as well), you recounted the events of your first week of work. Within that week you realized just how lucky you are and everyone else you know. For however bad they think life dealt them, there are people out there who got it far worse. And you certainly encountered a lot of those people during this first week. However, there were several particular cases that week which were stuck in your mind as you were unable to shake the thoughts. At the government hospital where you worked, almost all of your patients were the economically underprivileged, or the poor – and uneducated.

You saw them as they entered the examination room during your first day. A very young couple with their first baby. About 5 months old. A classic Hydrocephalus case (a condition with fluid in the brain that causes the babies’ head to bloat – look at picture), you thought to yourself. It is a very common condition in a poor country. Despite your lack of experience, you noticed that this was a pretty severe one. “Doctor, please help, my baby is sick” the mother said to you. She looked worried. You took a look at the CAT scan result of their baby. Your heart skipped a beat. You took a second look, and it confirmed your diagnosis. You took a looked at the young couple. They looked back expectantly at you. You realized this was not an ordinary Hydrocephalus case. Mainly because you couldn’t locate the baby’s brain in the CAT scan photos. Somehow this one was so severe that essentially the baby’s brain was a liquefied mush (probably because the condition existed since the baby was in the womb), leaving only the medulla oblongata (the part of the brain that regulates vital non-voluntary bodily functions) intact.

“Will my baby be okay, doctor?” the father asked you. You could not bear to tell them what you saw. Medically speaking, the baby is alive. Since the medulla oblongata is intact, it will remain alive at least for a long time. But you also know having no brain would mean. Without the rest of the brain, can you really say that it is really alive? Sure, the baby can still eat, breathe, and poop (all involuntary reflexes). But it cannot process information. It cannot think; it cannot learn. It does not have a brain. Sure the ears can still hear sound and transmit the auditory stimuli. But without the brain to process the stimuli, can it really hear? It can’t. Without a brain, it does not have any feelings. The baby’s brain function is lower than that of the lowest of animals. Animals can still process information; they can be trained; they can feel fear. Without brain, this baby is, functionally, the same as a plant. It does not have a mind. It can only exist, without even knowing its existence.

Apparently the parents do not know this. You see in the mother’s eyes, a hope that you can cure her baby. But not even the most advanced of medical science can help. How can you tell the young couple that their baby is essentially a vegetable? How can you break the terrible news?

Can this baby be considered full and complete, as a human being? Christianity preaches that every human being is created in the image of the Creator. How about this baby? Because we are created in this image, every human being has a God-given conscience, or “natural inclinations towards the good” as the theologians like to call it. With it, every human being can tell between good and evil (even though I always argue it’s a product of cultural teachings). This baby certainly can’t do that. So was this baby created in His image? It does not even know it existed. Did God make a mistake when he created this baby in His image? Or is this baby just not a human being? Is it really alive? Does it have a full and complete soul? After all, it does not have a mind, and it does not know it even existed…Finally, how if you were this baby? How if it is your baby? Who can you blame?

To be Continued…