Extra finger is bound to draw attention
Our neighbour gave birth to a new baby. He’s a beautiful, healthy little boy, but has six fingers on each hand.
The “extra” fingers are about half-size, and don’t seem to move independently. Despite my best efforts, I can’t help staring at the baby’s hands. If he were my child I’d want those extra fingers amputated to spare problems later in life. What’s your opinion?
So. I was taking my favourite kid to pick out a new kitten. The local vet had pre-selected a young tabby that she thought would be perfect: playful, cuddly, pretty. Pre-spayed. With six toes on each front paw.
“No thanks,” spake the child, gravely. “She’s very pretty. But I want a normal cat.”
My liberal-thinking friends would, of course, be horrified (that being one of the things liberal-thinkers do best).
Especially on Facebook. “The child should be taught the Gospel according to singer/songwriter Ray Stevens: ‘everything is beautiful, in its own way.’ ”
And, of course, they are absolutely right; that’s worth teaching, even if the ROM’s architecture and the existence of cockroaches prove it’s not true.
The problem, however, is that your neighbour’s kid won’t grow up in an “everything is beautiful” utopia.
He’s going to grow up in the real world, where kids will be kids, adults will stare and gloves tend to come with four fingers and a thumb.
Polydactyly is a congenital condition in which humans (and other critters) are born with one or more extra digits. Often, as with your neighbour’s child, extra fingers may be less than fully developed — perhaps smaller, sometimes without independent movement or bone structure.
In rare situations, however, digits are fully formed and functional.
Depending on the type of polydactyly with which a child is born, the removal of extra fingers may be a relatively minor procedure, or a significant reconstructive effort. The scope of the intervention is one factor parents must consider in determining their approach.
But there are others. Obviously, a person can live a healthy, happy life with a couple of extra fingers; indeed, if they are functional, an argument could be made that they’re advantageous in some circumstances — playing a Chopin Étude or gesturing to other drivers in Toronto traffic might be examples.
So some parents sincerely believe that “God gave her to us this way, and it’s not for us to interfere.” Other parents simply can’t bear the thought of inflicting pain on their newborn child for what they perceive as merely cosmetic reasons.
From an ethical point of view, this is appropriately a parental decision; the role of the medical community is to counsel, not coerce. Nor is it appropriate for family members, neighbours or newspaper columnists to pass facile judgment.
Remember: while it’s often easier to perform corrective procedures when a child is very young, the option of allowing the child/person to make the decision themselves later in life is still a viable one.
But I’ve been to the vet. I’ve seen a perfectly lovely little cat rejected by a perfectly lovely little kid, all because of an extra digit on each front paw.
So if your neighbour’s kid were mine, I’d be working with doctors to have those extra fingers removed. Send your questions to star.ethics@yahoo.ca