“Baby Joseph” has been described by doctors and the media as being in a “vegetative state” – a term I think we throw around way too freely these days. According to LifeSiteNews, this “vegetative” baby has to have his hands tied down by doctors because he has managed to remove the tube from his mouth on at least two separate occasions. Now a video has been released showing Joseph reacting to his parents.

According to the video description on YouTube, these videos were taken soon before Baby Joseph was scheduled to have his brearthing tube removed earlier this week. The family has since been told that they are no longer allowed to videotape him – curious.

Sam Sansalone, a spokesman for Joseph’s family asks:

“How could a supposedly persistent vegetative state child have so many occasions of purposeful neuromuscular movements of yanking out their uncomfortable air tube, so many times that hospital staff would have to tie his hands to prevent further episodes?”

Say what you want about whether his movements are “voluntary” or not, but the V-word should never be applied to any human being.

As I said last week when a boy born without cerebellum baffled doctors when he started learning to walk and communicate:

There is a lot about brain activity we simply do not know. Brain scans, etc… can only tell so much and doctors are not mind readers. We should never give up on life when it needs us the most!

What is most frustrating about the story of Baby Joseph is that his parents aren’t asking doctors to go to heroic measures to save or extend his life. They just want to be able to take him home and care for him and make him comfortable until he dies naturally. They announced this afternoon that they are appealing last Thursday’s Ontario Superior Court decision that backed the hospital.