“Owen, 7, does not have the strength to maneuver a computer mouse, but when a nurse propped her boyfriend’s iPad within reach in June, he did something his mother had never seen before,” Hager reports. “He aimed his left pointer finger at an icon on the screen, touched it — just barely — and opened the application Gravitarium, which plays music as users create landscapes of stars on the screen.”
Hager reports, “Over the years, Owen’s parents had tried several computerized communications contraptions to give him an escape from his disability, but the iPad was the first that worked on the first try. ‘We have spent all this time keeping him alive, and now we owe him more than that,’ said his mother, Ellen Goldstein, a vice president at the Times Square Alliance business association.”
“When Owen was about 8 weeks old, his mother noticed his right arm drooping. It led to a crushing diagnosis: the motor-neuron disease known as spinal muscular atrophy Type 1. A 2003 New York Times article about spinal muscular atrophy said his parents had been told Owen would be ‘paralyzed for his life, which doctors predicted would last no more than about two years,'” Hager reports. “Owen will turn 8 on Nov. 11. While his condition is not expected to worsen, he is extremely sensitive to infection and once nearly died of pneumonia; three specialized therapists and a nurse help keep him alive.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Joe J.” and “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
Re: @breeze
“The old election analysis that ‘It’s the economy stupid’ seems to have been replace by ‘It’s the stoopid, stupid'”
Who is the “stoopid”? Is it the guys currently in charge or the guys possibly about to be put in charge? Or is it the people that supports the guys currently in charge? Or is it the people that supports the guys about to be put in charge?
Careful, ‘cuz it’s a trick question…
No matter how you answer…
YOU WILL BE CORRECT, SIR!
MDN Magic Word “gives” as in who gives a ‘Q@#$%@#$%’!!!
Re: @breeze
“The old election analysis that ‘It’s the economy stupid’ seems to have been replace by ‘It’s the stoopid, stupid'”
Who is the “stoopid”? Is it the guys currently in charge or the guys possibly about to be put in charge? Or is it the people that supports the guys currently in charge? Or is it the people that supports the guys about to be put in charge?
Careful, ‘cuz it’s a trick question…
No matter how you answer…
YOU WILL BE CORRECT, SIR!
MDN Magic Word “gives” as in who gives a ‘Q@#$%@#$%’!!!
The sad thing about “Aunt Julia” is that he thinks his life is worth more than this poor kid’s.
The sad thing about “Aunt Julia” is that he thinks his life is worth more than this poor kid’s.
@Aunt Julia
OK, simple question, what is a reasonable limit on the amount of money to spend on a person to save / sustain their life?
Another question, can you say that the same reasonable limit applies to your life too?
Money: you can’t take it with you (Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s…).
Life is precious in invaluable, and you only get one.
Putting a price on life makes life itself commodity to be bought, sold or traded. That sounds like slavery to me.
BTW, with regard to the article, awesome application of the iPad’s capabilities
@Aunt Julia
OK, simple question, what is a reasonable limit on the amount of money to spend on a person to save / sustain their life?
Another question, can you say that the same reasonable limit applies to your life too?
Money: you can’t take it with you (Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s…).
Life is precious in invaluable, and you only get one.
Putting a price on life makes life itself commodity to be bought, sold or traded. That sounds like slavery to me.
BTW, with regard to the article, awesome application of the iPad’s capabilities
@ Aunt Julia
I wish your moma had aborted you then we would have one less redneck moron on the planet
@ Aunt Julia
I wish your moma had aborted you then we would have one less redneck moron on the planet
@ Julia
You are true Nazi, and I don’t use that word lightly. They killed the retarded before the Jews, Gays, and anyone else that was not “perfect.”
I am pro choice. Mainly because I don’t believe a raped women should be forced to have that man’s kid. Also men will be jailed because a women decides she does not want to have a child and the only way she can have a abortion is to lie and say she was raped. Pro life is pro rape.
Julia you are not pro choice, you are pro death camps.
@ Julia
You are true Nazi, and I don’t use that word lightly. They killed the retarded before the Jews, Gays, and anyone else that was not “perfect.”
I am pro choice. Mainly because I don’t believe a raped women should be forced to have that man’s kid. Also men will be jailed because a women decides she does not want to have a child and the only way she can have a abortion is to lie and say she was raped. Pro life is pro rape.
Julia you are not pro choice, you are pro death camps.
Now on topic. This is not only great for this boy, but other disabled people. Now we don’t need specialized, expensive tools to improve peoples lives. A easy to obtain device with some affordable software can now help a lot of people. Those who see the iPad as nothing more than a media consuming device have no vision of it’s true potential. Just think who the iPad will be helping after it’s first year; third year.
Now on topic. This is not only great for this boy, but other disabled people. Now we don’t need specialized, expensive tools to improve peoples lives. A easy to obtain device with some affordable software can now help a lot of people. Those who see the iPad as nothing more than a media consuming device have no vision of it’s true potential. Just think who the iPad will be helping after it’s first year; third year.
C1:
Was just last night wondering if the update would be quietly released in days to come, my iPad’s begging for folders and multitasking.
C1:
Was just last night wondering if the update would be quietly released in days to come, my iPad’s begging for folders and multitasking.
Boy, this story got pulled off the rails. I have something that’s more relevant. I want to believe this story. But I’m concerned of bias in the facilitator who holds up his hand and guides it to the screen. There have been issues with this in the past where given a non-biased facilitator, the results cannot be duplicated. I wish the story addressed this.
Boy, this story got pulled off the rails. I have something that’s more relevant. I want to believe this story. But I’m concerned of bias in the facilitator who holds up his hand and guides it to the screen. There have been issues with this in the past where given a non-biased facilitator, the results cannot be duplicated. I wish the story addressed this.
The problem with pulling the plug, Auntie Julia, is who makes up the rules on pulling the plug and will they make an exception for you when it comes to your turn to die prematurely.
The selfishness of keeping a child, in dire straights, alive much longer than necessary, just because you can’t bare to see it die, is contrasted with the eagerness to pull the plug, on a geriatric relative, so you can get your hands on your inheritance.
Health care costs an awful lot of money and in many instances we can’t afford to keep throwing money at lost causes. Even if we do love that lost cause.
The problem with pulling the plug, Auntie Julia, is who makes up the rules on pulling the plug and will they make an exception for you when it comes to your turn to die prematurely.
The selfishness of keeping a child, in dire straights, alive much longer than necessary, just because you can’t bare to see it die, is contrasted with the eagerness to pull the plug, on a geriatric relative, so you can get your hands on your inheritance.
Health care costs an awful lot of money and in many instances we can’t afford to keep throwing money at lost causes. Even if we do love that lost cause.
As others stated, the original post by “Aunt Julia” was harsh. But it contains a grain of substance that deserves further debate. Human life is only truly “priceless” when you have infinite resources to expend. And the reality is that all resources are finite. And control over the allocation of finite resources has led to many historical conflicts.
Human life is often assigned a value in the real world. Companies weigh the cost of alternative parts versus the cost of litigation for injury and death. And the justice system levies monetary compensation for wrongful death. We are also willing to spend lives in car accidents and military actions. From the viewpoint of a society, human life clearly has a finite value.
In my experience, we also occasionally prolong life beyond what is reasonable or desirable. But who asks the people who are potentially trapped in such a situation? I wonder what Owen Cain would prefer?
This is a very difficult subject full of moral and ethical implications as well as economic ones.
As others stated, the original post by “Aunt Julia” was harsh. But it contains a grain of substance that deserves further debate. Human life is only truly “priceless” when you have infinite resources to expend. And the reality is that all resources are finite. And control over the allocation of finite resources has led to many historical conflicts.
Human life is often assigned a value in the real world. Companies weigh the cost of alternative parts versus the cost of litigation for injury and death. And the justice system levies monetary compensation for wrongful death. We are also willing to spend lives in car accidents and military actions. From the viewpoint of a society, human life clearly has a finite value.
In my experience, we also occasionally prolong life beyond what is reasonable or desirable. But who asks the people who are potentially trapped in such a situation? I wonder what Owen Cain would prefer?
This is a very difficult subject full of moral and ethical implications as well as economic ones.
Gee – on the whole you Americans are several flavours of fscked up aren’t you! Quite unbelievable.
Gee – on the whole you Americans are several flavours of fscked up aren’t you! Quite unbelievable.
@The Australian
Indeed.
@The Australian
Indeed.
Aunt Julia wrote:
“I’m already sick and tired of paying for extreme means of keeping people alive who normally wouldn’t be.”
And I’m already sick and tired of paying for extreme means of killing people who normally should live. The Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq for example, which cost untold lives and us taxpayers three trillion dollars.