Date: 2006-11-08 19:01 Subject: Permanent Growth Attenuation Security: Public Tags: ethics, science

This story on permanent growth attenuation badly creeps me out. In short, a severely disabled 6-year old girl has received a combination of hormone and surgical treatment to arrest her growth at about that biological age, in order to ease her family's ability to care for her over time.

I have a constellation of reactions to this, which I'll have to consider. Science fictionally speaking, the idea is exciting. In real-world terms, it tempts me to outrage. I am not a medical ethicist, however, and I need to think through my own opinions on parental choice, children's rights and the rights of the disabled. I think if I were not a parent myself I might view this differently as well.

A test case of technology outstripping social mechanisms if ever there was one.

(Thanks to danjite for the tip-off.)