My latest column covers the Haleigh Poutre case and challenges Hollywood’s “Save Tookie” crowd to apply their “err on the side of life” standard to an innocent child for once.

Meanwhile, some sneering pundits seem quite upset that conservatives they disagree with are writing and talking about Haleigh’s fate. Cathy Young, for example, accuses me of “trying to turn this into a Terri Schiavo II.” What? I’m not filing court orders to end Haleigh’s life. I’m not trying to yank out Haleigh’s feeding tube. I’m not writing headlines about the child’s “right to die.” Young concedes the case deserves public attention, but then castigates those of us who are using our little keyboards to give Haleigh just that.

So, no, sorry, I won’t shut up. And I don’t plan on watching silently as we head toward Hollandization.

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The Boston Globe reports on the latest developments:

Haleigh Poutre, the brain-damaged girl whose fate has been debated in the highest levels of state government, will receive emergency life-saving measures from hospital staff if her heart or lungs stop working.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, which has custody of Haleigh, said yesterday that among its revised requests to the courts last week was that the agency no longer sought to enforce a ”do not resuscitate” order.

That order told doctors not to begin emergency measures to save the 11-year-old Westfield girl’s life if she went into cardiac or respiratory failure. DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said the agency no longer seeks to have that order go into effect and has suspended plans to withdraw life support, including her feeding tube.

”There’s a stay on everything,” Monteiro said.

Last Wednesday, a day after winning approval by the state’s highest court to withdraw life support, the agency disclosed that Haleigh’s condition had improved, that she had begun to breathe on her own and showed increased responsiveness.

Doctors at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where Haleigh has been in a vegetative state since being beaten allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather, told them last fall she was ”virtually brain dead” with no hope for recovery.

DSS sought court approval for the ”do not resuscitate” order on Sept. 19, eight days after Haleigh was hospitalized with brain stem injuries and multiple bruises.

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Related thoughts at The American Thinker: Democrat Death Trip

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