Visitation hearing for severely disabled woman examines the basics of parenthood
Law • 3/22/11 5:22:09 pm • Views: 635
The parents of Abbie Dorn, severely injured when her triplets were born, are in court in hopes of establishing her right to spend time with her children. Her former husband objects.
Judge Frederick C. Shaller faces a daunting array of questions this week as he decides whether a paraplegic woman who communicates largely by blinking has the right to see her triplets.
What is a parent? What is communication? What is a relationship? Does a child, not yet 5, benefit from visiting a mother who neither moves nor speaks? Can that woman — Abbie Dorn, 34 — think, feel, love, want? How is it even possible to know?
