In this week’s episode of Private Practice, the Ethical Story of the Week involved a baby who was born with both a penis and a vagina. The parents had a couple of options – choose a gender or leave the baby as is and let it sort itself out later.
Addison told the parents that only 30% of babies born like this orient towards male. But the dad wanted a boy, and convinced Addison to turn the baby into a boy so he could grow up “normal.” But at the last minute, she decided she couldn’t do the surgery. The dad called the baby a freak and stormed off, leaving the mom there to figure things out on her own.
Usually, these storylines scream one thing or another at us. Like in a recent episode, the subject was vaccinations, and despite the mom’s protestations, Cooper jabbed a vaccine into a kid. We get it. Whoever wrote the episode thinks everyone should be vaccinated, despite the parents’ wishes.
But in this week’s episode, it wasn’t quite as cut and dried. You’ve got the parents wanting their baby to be normal and not the subject of kids’ cruel jokes. You’ve got the dad deciding that if he couldn’t have a boy, he didn’t want any baby (though Naomi talked some sense into him later). And you’ve got Addison, deciding she couldn’t forever maim this kid into being something it might not want to be (and who really knows until the kid grows up and figures it out?).
It would definitely be a tough choice. I’m trying to decide what I would do as a parent. Would I make a gender choice for my baby? Or would I let things be and let the kid decide later on?
What would YOU do?
Clacked by Jane Boursaw 
on Feb 21, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
Penis. It’s easier to make a vagina in the future than it is to make a penis.
I would hope I’d wait. There is no way to tell what gender the child would identify with and I’d feel horrible choosing something my child wasn’t.
I really liked this episode, really moved me. I felt for the parents (what a shock) but I really felt for the child. Also it’s always nice to see a Buffy alum on TV
There were 2 Buffy alums in this ep: Anya & Forrest (black commando dude)
I would watch a TV show, get all judgemental, and when put into the same situation in real life react totally different. Seesh.
Seriously though, in (our equivalent of) high school we discussed this and I had an opinion but nowadays I tend to think that I don’t voice my opinion about things that happen 1 in a 100,000 births.
I have to agree with Oreo. Don’t cut anything off unless it’s necessary. If the testicles posed a threat to the babies health so be it but wasn’t this purely a cosmetic decision? (I don’t watch Grey’s). What’s the argument here anyway? Cut something off due to a percentage? The chances are 7 to 3. Heart surgery sometimes has less than a percent chance to succeed and here 30% isn’t an issue? Wowie.
Talk about a topic that should’ve been handled differently. I for one am reassured that not watching Grey’s was a good decision. Anya or not.
God I love Anya. Another reason to finally start watching Buffy again. Or just “Once more with feeling” :-D