Chin Music Press - Adventures in Publishing - How to say nothing in 158 words

How to say nothing in 158 words

Life in the US

Catching up on blogging today while our office printer churns out the 300+ pages of our next book, Last of the Red Hot Poppas, for proofing this weekend.

Those outside of the Seattle area will probably not be familiar with the case of baby Riley. In a nutshell, and at the risk of losing some of the nuances, a mother took her baby out of a hospital without permission because she wanted to buy some time to decide whether the kidney surgery the hospital said was necessary really was the only option. The state issued an Amber Alert, saying the baby was in imminent danger — which he wasn't — and when the mother was caught, she was jailed. The state did its best to paint the mother as a loony, but we hear from a trusted source that she was just a caring mother who took great care of her kid (cloth diapers, no less) and wasn't comfortable being marched down an inevitable path by the medical community. The American health care system can be a bureaucratic nightmare, as too many of us know firsthand, so she took drastic action.

I and many others petitioned the governor to delay the surgery to make sure it really was inevitable. Caring parents shouldn't be forced into health care decisions for their kids by a system that is so focused on profit and liability issues that healing is almost an after-thought.

OK, I'm finished ranting. The point of this post is to show how to say nothing in 158 words. Here's the response I received from the governor's office today, days after the court-ordered surgery had occurred:

Thank you for writing to Governor Gregoire about Riley Rogers, the 9-month old who has now had the surgical procedure necessary for him to be treated for his kidney condition.

As a mother, herself, the Governor can appreciate how difficult these past weeks must have been, not only for Riley's family but also for the physicians who felt there was no alternative but to seek court intervention in this case.

There are no easy answers in sensitive medical cases, like this one, that involve conflicting views about treatment. The hospital and the mother are both considering the child's best interests. This case ended up in the court system because current law prevents a physician from overriding a parent's decision. It is unfortunate that this private, personal matter could not have been resolved in some other way - the Governor can imagine that the decisions made by both sides were very difficult.

Governor Gregoire thanks you for contacting her.

And thank you for that stimulating lesson in using words to say nothing. And thanks for letting a "private, personal matter" be decided by large grey hospital too petrified by liability issues to explain itself.

But seriously, notice how the writer uses the phrase "as a mother herself" to express empathy with the medical community. It's twisted and makes no sense, but the cliche phrasing lulls you into nice thoughts of "mom."

Also, no one was questioning the motives of the physicians. It was that the institution itself wouldn't give the mother time, not that some evil doctor was lurking in the background. So by stressing how caring the physicians were, she dodges the whole issue.

So where does the governor stand? Perfectly poised on top of the fence, looking down on both sides, feeling overwhelming empathy for both as she stays above the fray.

Bruce Rutledge >> July 07, 2006

Comments

Actually what creeps me out is the part where it says "current law prevents a physician from overriding a parent's decision". It seems to suggest that the law will not be permanent - that at some point physicians will make the decisions for all of us.

Good God.

Colleen at July 10, 2006 11:09 AM