The Baby Hatch
September 9th 2008 12:36
Source: http://www.metrophile.com/Baby-Hatch.jpg
Foreign child left in baby hatch in Kumamoto
KUMAMOTO — A baby with foreign nationality was left in the baby hatch at a Kumamoto hospital, according to a report on Monday by a panel examining the practice. The interim report, submitted to the Kumamoto prefectural government, also noted a handicapped baby was left at Jikei Hospital in the city of Kumamoto. Details of the two cases were not immediately available.
It has already been reported that a total of 17 infants were left anonymously at the baby hatch between its opening on May 10, 2007, and March 31 this year. Reiho Kashiwame, a professor of child welfare at Shukutoku University who heads the panel, said, ‘‘We have decided to make our report public in order to stir debate on the baby hatch.’’
KUMAMOTO — A baby with foreign nationality was left in the baby hatch at a Kumamoto hospital, according to a report on Monday by a panel examining the practice. The interim report, submitted to the Kumamoto prefectural government, also noted a handicapped baby was left at Jikei Hospital in the city of Kumamoto. Details of the two cases were not immediately available.
It has already been reported that a total of 17 infants were left anonymously at the baby hatch between its opening on May 10, 2007, and March 31 this year. Reiho Kashiwame, a professor of child welfare at Shukutoku University who heads the panel, said, ‘‘We have decided to make our report public in order to stir debate on the baby hatch.’’
Source: Japan Times News
In 2006, Jikei Hospital of Kumamoto prefecture opened up the first "baby hatch"/"baby post" (kou no tori no yurikago; literal trans. "Storks Cradle") in Japan. For those who have never heard of such a term before, it is basically a facility where parents can anonymously abandon unwanted newborn babies at the hospital. From there, the child will be under the hospitals care for a specific time frame before being handed over to other authorities.
How does the facility work?
There is a hatch which is opened and is connected to an "incubator" like mechanism/box. This incubator is large enough to fit a child inside and has a heater function to ensure than the baby is kept warm.
All the parent has to do is place the child inside, close the hatch and leave. There is pen and paper available in case the parent wants to leave a message.
Following this, the weight of the child inside the incubator sets off a timer. This gives the parent enough time to leave the area before an alarm sounds and alerts hospital staff of a baby arrival.
Controversy
Without a doubt, opening such a facility has caused concerns on legal and ethical grounds. Debate heated up further soon after a 3-year-old boy was left inside the baby hatch. Since its opening, 17 children have been abandoned at the site.
Is it ethical for such a facility to open?
Is it ethical for parents to anonymously abandon their unwanted child?
However, Jikei Hospital officials maintain maintain a stance which argues that:
- It is more important to protect the life of the child.
- That this will help with the aging population issue.
In my opinion, this may lead to a generation of child who have no idea who their parents are. This will also present many issues for them in the future - how will their birth certificates be issued? Without such legal documents, how will they prove their citizenship? How will they apply for marriage?
Isn't it making it too easy for parents to abandon unwanted children? With such a facility, parents are not bound to any responsibilities. What happens if parents choose to abandon a disabled child?
Even before the opening of the baby hatch, parents had other options.
It is perhaps interesting to also note that in Japan, abortion is legal if it is done based upon socioeconomic grounds but only for the first two trimesters (source: link here).
Aside from this, parents also have the option of giving a child up for adoption (see here for more details).
However, while there are other options available, prevention is always better than cure.
Perhaps there is an issue of raising awareness of methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
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