Paper Cranes save Baby's Life!

[belinda]

Why is it always the woo-woo belief that is credited with saving someone's life....and not the dedication and expertise of the medical staff. Not until the bottom of the article is there any mention of the Doctors and other staff, and that was only a tribute...the "credit" was given to paper figurines. Maybe we should be grateful for even that small tribute

 

[uneasy]

All I can say about that article is !!!

I couldn't resist the urge to send them a feedback scolding them for slighting the doctors.

 

[Dancing David]

Am I disappointed or what, I thought like they flew down and saved the baby.

has any body read the children's book about the girl who makes the paper cranes to fight a-bomb leukemia, she dies anyways. Very sad.

 

[Mercutio]

Maybe the conjoined twins needed paper cranes. All they got were the prayers of an entire nation...

 

[Yahweh]

Clearly, these saved the baby's life. Paper cranes were there, baby lived, need I say more? [/sarcasm]

 

[Drifterman]

What a grotesque article. That is mighty sloppy journalism.

But, maybe someone could start a company selling "E-Z fold" paper cranes, and sell them to hospitals. You'd make a fortune!

 

[uneasy]

If I invent a paper crane folding machine, will I get an unlimited number of wishes?

 

[Tez]

Damn that article annoyed me - partly because I used to live in Brisbane and so know the paper in question. I sent them the comment:

The Courier Mail should be ashamed to perpetuate superstitous nonsense by publishing such stories. I only hope that whenever any of you have a serious illness for which you receive successful medical treatment, you give credit to the scientific process which has culminated in your salvation. Modern medicine represents the epitome of human ingenuity and exploration - "treatment" by folding 1000 paper cranes, while possibly heart-warming to people of limited intellect (such as those of you who decided to publish such trite), to more intelligent folks represents the abject failure of some humans to accept their limited place in this awesome cosmos...

 

[Jethro]

has any body read the children's book about the girl who makes the paper cranes to fight a-bomb leukemia, she dies anyways. Very sad.

It was mentioned in the article. Apparantly she didn't make enough. So it was her own damn fault for not folding fast enough.

 

[rwald]

I wonder, if they had so much faith in all those paper cranes, why did they bother going through with traditional medicine?

 

[aggle_rithm]

Spirit of poop

The article also credited the baby's "fighting spirit".

Fighting spirit?!? All a newborn baby does is lay there and poop. He didn't know who he was, where he was, or what he was doing there. What fighting spirit?!?


And, about the a-bomb girl who couldn't fold fast enough...

How do they know the leukemia was caused by the a-bomb? Lots of children develop leukemia, unfortunately, without being exposed to radiation.

 

[athon]

Re: Spirit of poop

The article also credited the baby's "fighting spirit".

Fighting spirit?!? All a newborn baby does is lay there and poop. He didn't know who he was, where he was, or what he was doing there. What fighting spirit?!?

I agree.

Another thing you always hear is how much somebody fought to survive. Now, while there are many who probably do just lay back and desire to die, such as somebody who has had cancer ten times and has no desire to go through chemo' again, I think that the majority of people who have an injury or are incredibly ill would 'fight to survive'. It's part of the 'psychi' (for lack of a better word) of all organisms to do that.

Then again, you don't hear of the poor bastard 'who didn't really feel like surviving, but got another chance to live anyway...'

Athon

 

[Dr. Imago]

The Courier Mail should be ashamed to perpetuate superstitous nonsense by publishing such stories. I only hope that whenever any of you have a serious illness for which you receive successful medical treatment, you give credit to the scientific process which has culminated in your salvation. Modern medicine represents the epitome of human ingenuity and exploration - "treatment" by folding 1000 paper cranes, while possibly heart-warming to people of limited intellect (such as those of you who decided to publish such trite), to more intelligent folks represents the abject failure of some humans to accept their limited place in this awesome cosmos...

WOW! AWESOME! Man, that is some outstanding writing. Short enough that they'll actually read it, too.

Other than that, I can only echo what others have said so far on this thread. I'm sure that the doctors, though, are not miffed or insulted for not getting more credit. I can already tell you firsthand that sadly most are used to this kind of thing and are just happy to not get sued... but, that's probably a topic for another thread.

-TT

 

[Tez]

WOW! AWESOME! Man, that is some outstanding writing. Short enough that they'll actually read it, too.

Other than that, I can only echo what others have said so far on this thread. I'm sure that the doctors, though, are not miffed or insulted for not getting more credit. I can already tell you firsthand that sadly most are used to this kind of thing and are just happy to not get sued... but, that's probably a topic for another thread.

-TT

Thanks TT - if only I could get myself pissed off while I'm writing my papers (I have 3 hanging over my head right now), theyd probably be much better written!

I realise that the doctors are used to this sort of nonsense (my sister did her two years intership in a redneck queensland town, the stories she tells are incredible). Here's a sideways looking at the issue: Without some respect for the process of science and its place in medicine, people expect miracles from their doctors (heck if those paper cranes could heal this child, why can't these doctors?). Unreasonable expectations lead to unreasonable lawsuits, which lead to unreasonable insurance premiums, which are killing certain areas of medicine. Thus, (following this admittedly tenuous chain of reasoning) doctors should go on the attack against all such nonsense, rather than letting the obviously harmless stuff wash by.

I realise thats not completely well thought out. And of course doctors have so much time on their hands...

 

[QuarkChild]

I read the book "Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes" in elementary school, although I didn't know (or had forgotten) that it was based on a true story. I remembering wondering about what Jethro mentioned--did people who believed in the legend think Sadako died because her 1000 cranes weren't folded until it was too late? It just seemed silly to me--like why did her classmates finish her 1000 paper cranes after she died? What's the point?

 

[belinda]

I It just seemed silly to me--like why did her classmates finish her 1000 paper cranes after she died? What's the point?

I never read the book, but I would think that maybe her friend's finished the cranes in memory of her....if it were me, even though I think such beliefs are a load of (insert desired expletive), I would still respect my friend and want to remember her...maybe through doing something with all of our friends together. (Although in my case it would probably one all mighty drunken party !)

 

[Tez]

Well, this is odd. I'm in an argument with a highly non-skeptical journalist friend here in NY, and wanted to send him this idiotic Courier mail story as part of our discussion (which is basically about the burden, if any, on journalists to be skeptical!).

Now I try the link and it doesnt work.

I go to the archives they suggest, and its not there.

Did enough of us flame them that they yanked it?

I've tried looking for a web archive of the page, but cant find one...

 

[Deetee]

I just saw this thread and was also struggling to find the article. The closest I get is on the search at newstext with the phrase paper cranes. But to get the actual text they want $$$.

http://www.newstext.com.au/

 

[tracer]

Re: Spirit of poop

The article also credited the baby's "fighting spirit".

Fighting spirit?!? All a newborn baby does is lay there and poop.

But they poop heroically!