what is the MRP of life?

‘Life is a congenitally transmitted sexual disease with 100% mortality’. - Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s world.

‘So God created mankind in His own image’. - Genesis 1:27.

The surgical intensive care unit was buzzing with activity on Monday morning. A platoon of doctors was on rounds making their assessment of the critically ill. After they had ceremoniously washed their hands to control hospital borne infections, they moved on to the next bed. The patients on the other side were the only living beings in the midst of the high technology medical equipment. There were tubes sticking out of all the orifices of human body. Machines delivered breaths to the sedated patients through an endotracheal tube, with monitoring of vital parameters displayed on digital screens. The nursing students with their teachers, the respiratory technicians and the critical care fellows- all made the place busy enough.

Suddenly high priority alarms went off. I, being the peripheral registrar posted there for the month swung into action. The patient in the isolation room suddenly had a cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped and her blood pressure was not recordable. Advanced life support was initiated. I climbed up the bed and began chest compressions, to aid pumping of blood to vital organs. After 5 minutes of resuscitation, her heart began to beat spontaneously. The consultant immediately called the relatives and explained the grave condition of the patient. My shift of work had finished and I requested my colleague to keep me posted about the status of the patient. Within two hours my phone bleeped with the message that the patient had passed away.

22 year old Rani (name changed) had come to the hospital after giving birth to their second child 10 days ago in a local hospital by cesarean section. The baby was fine and all thought that it was a happy ending. On the third day after surgery, Rani developed fever. She continued to be unwell, when she was discharged noting that she would improve as days pass by. But that was not the case. She developed severe abdominal pain and pus started forming over her tummy. She was then referred to my place of work. She presented with severe pain in the abdomen, with high fever and restlessness. The doctors took her for surgery before which a CT scan was done whose report I’ll divulge later. The pus was drained and Rani was kept in ICU as her blood pressure was low and her vitals were unstable. High end antibiotics were started to fight the tough infection.  Even after a week there was no improvement in her condition. She was taken for repeated surgeries as her area of infection kept on enlarging.

Days passed by. The problems began to increase and so were the costs. Rani’s husband left no stone unturned to see her young wife well and back home. He was prompt in paying all expenses till the last penny. One day, a scrupulous nurse noted some watery discharge over her wound on the lower abdomen. It was urine. The anterior abdominal wall was so eroded, that the urinary bladder, which lies in close proximity, got perforated. Her abdomen and its contents were contaminated by urine. She had to be operated again. This time the bowels were washed, bladder resutured and infected tissue debrided. The infection worsened and her kidneys shut down after a while. She had to be dialyzed- the procedure by which, the toxic products the kidney normally removes through urine, are extracted by an external machine. Rani was on ventilator for 3 weeks already and her lungs were showing signs of infection. She acquired pneumonia from the ventilator. She could not be be weaned off the machine. She had to undergo tracheostomy. Her windpipe would be cut and air would be directed into the lungs rather that the tortuous path of the airway.

After nearly a month she was stable. The medicines to keep her blood pressure normal were stopped. Her infection was showing a downward trend. Her kidneys picked up again. Her lungs were good with tracheostomy. A silver lining of this mortal cloud seemed to be in sight.

But the next day, there was pus again in the trachea. She was finding it hard to breath. The breathing tube was changed but to no avail. She was gasping. She was immediately shifted back to ICU. She was connected back to machine. The infection could not be contained. Her heart stopped. She died.

The CT abdomen revealed a surgical mop that was left behind during the Caesarean section she had. It was removed in the subsequent surgery. But the infection it brought along could not be defeated.

22 years is not an age to die. With a newborn at home and an elder one just 3 years old, Rani would have had a million dreams. Her husband would have imagined a good if not rich life ahead. Her father would have longed to see her daughter happy with kids. When we broke the bad news, the father crashed in agony. The husband just drew a blank face. As their countenance suggested they were not people who would sue facilities and start a legal battle. They just took her body and left.

I reached home and television was showing news of attempt to legalize abortions before 24 weeks. I was stunned. People in ICU were fighting for lives. They were in the valley of shadow of death in every sense. Doctors, nurses and paramedics were working relentlessly to save lives. Technologies are invented, drugs are tested, and personnel are trained to save lives. But in the name of humanitarian, eugenic and social causes we are killing babies. The same society that clamors for medical care also turns a blind eye to children yet to be born. We talk of gender equality, freedom of sexuality and liberty to choose. Some are good in themselves. Everyone’s rights need to be protected. But what about the fetuses in mothers’ wombs? The new amendment states that failure of contraception is a tenable ground for abortion as it affects the mental health of the mother. What about the life in totality of the baby growing in her womb? Do we consider it life or a pound of flesh? The status of law enforcement in a society can be assessed by examining the rights of the weakest group of it. What is the price of life? Is it the cost of dilatation and evacuation?

The Bible holds a high regard to human life. Man was made in God’s own image. He breathed life into men while he just spoke other beings to existence. When He saw man He called him ‘very good’. The Bible also says that we were all conceived before the foundations of the world and even before we were in our mothers’ womb, God knew us by name and has all our days written in His book. We are all precious. We are His special creation. Aborting children for convenience and social approval is wrong. And what is the worth of a child? Ask Rani’s father!