No to the Feds

A win for Baby Jane's parents

Despite its strong objections to overbearing Big Government, the Reagan Administration has been trying to intervene in the painful private dilemma of a Long Island, N.Y., couple with an incurably ailing child. Last week Federal District Judge Leonard Wexler, a recent Reagan appointee, threw out the U.S. Justice Department's unprecedented suit seeking the hospital records of the infant known as Baby Jane Doe.

Baby Jane was born six weeks ago with a protruding spinal cord and a host of other congenital defects; doctors believe she will be almost totally disabled and severely retarded for as long as she lives. After agonized consultations with medical experts and religious counselors, her parents decided not to authorize major surgery that might prolong Baby Jane's life. A right-to-life activist lawyer sought to force the surgery, but two New York appeals courts and a state children's agency declined to override the parents. Justice then sued to obtain the records from University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y., to determine whether it had violated a federal law that forbids discrimination against the handicapped.

Wexler found "no discrimination," only a great deal of caring. The hospital has always been willing to do the surgery, he pointed out, and failed to do so "not because Baby Jane Doe is handicapped but because her parents have refused to consent to such procedures." Wexler concluded that the parents' decision was a "reasonable" one based on a "genuine concern for the best interests of the child."

Mr. and Mrs. A., as they are designated in court documents, continue to visit Baby Jane in the hospital, where they feed and try to comfort her. Despite Wexler's ruling, said her father, "I don't feel any big celebration is in order yet." Indeed the Government later announced an appeal. "We've been in nearly every court but the U.S. Supreme Court," said Paul Gianelli, lawyer for the parents. "And we've won, but . . ." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.