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smiles and hugs and screams and plants kisses firmlyon a stranger's cheek." 67 She was using a wheelchairand attending school. 68 "I'm thrilled as canbe," her father said. "The fact that she's able torelate to us and her environment is amazing. Hermental awareness is fabulous now." 69 She was"learning to mix with her peers." 70 Of course, shestill has spina bifida. She does not walk, and requiresfrequent catheterization; she has had to have surgeryfor a dislocated hip. 71 But, in the followingdescription of Baby Jane Doe at 4, it is hard torecognize the pain-wracked, unaware, bedriddencreature of her doctors' confident predictions:She has recently begun to demand more than her shareand often resorts to throwing toys or M&Ms when thefocus shifts away from her. Then she whispers, "I'm bad,"aware that her mother is displeased with her behavior.. . .Later, she whispered, "Dance, Daddy, dance," asher father swept her into his arms to sway to the music ofStevie Wonder. 72A woman who works in parent support inPhoenix, Arizona, told the Commission about asimilar story:We also have our own little Baby Doe in Arizona andher name is Jessie. . Jessie was supposed to die the firstnight that she was born. She also had spina bifida,hydrocephalus, lots of severe brain damage, and all ofthose things that were not compatible with life, so notreatment was done for Baby Jessie. Days and days anddays went on and Baby Jessie fooled everybody and didnot die.Finally about the 21st day, right at the time the signswere hanging up in the nurseries, somebody got realnervous and said, maybe she's not going to die, maybe webetter do surgery. So by this time, unfortunately it wasreally too late to do much repair on her back, but they didput a shunt in and that little girl now talks in sentences andgoes to regular preschool.Her family really believed what the doctors said: Shewill die. So they just waited for her to die. And so for me87Kerr, Baby Doe's Success[S\ Progress Defying Prognosis, Newsday,Dec. 7, 1987, at 2.68Kerr, Baby Doe's Success\:] Legal, Medical Legacy of Case,Newsday, Dec. 7, 1987, at 2, 23.69Kerr, Baby Doe's Success[S\ Progress Defying Prognosis, Newsday,Dec. 7, 1987, at 2, 23.70Kerr, Baby Doe's Success[f] Legal, Medical Legacy of Case,Newsday, Dec. 7, 1987, at 2, 23.71Kerr, Baby Doe's Success[S\ Progress Defying Prognosis, Newsday,Dec. 7, 1987, at 2, 23.72Id.73Protection of Handicapped Newborns: Hearing Before the UnitedStates Commission on Civil Rights 264-65 (1986) (vol. II) (testimonyof Betsy Trombino).as a parent I have a real difficult time with someonemaking that kind of a prognosis for a child and not doingany treatment. Because I have seen too many kids whodefy all the prognoses made for them. 73One family in the Chicago area can give twoexamples of negative predictions disproved. Theyare the adoptive parents of a child with spina bifidaleft to die in Robinson, Illinois, until the JusticeDepartment intervened. 74 When he was a year old,the Chicago Tribune reported that his adoptiveparents "believe that his alertness proves there hasbeen no brain damage and that his paralysis from theknees down won't keep him from walking." 75 Theirother example is their child born a few years earlier:"When she was 4 months old, the doctor told us she hadsome kind of neurological impairment—they still don'tknow exactly what. They advised us to put her in aninstitution and forget about her," said the mother.The child is now an alert, active 5-year-old who movesnormally around the house, and speaks many words, withonly slight hesitation. 76Patricia McGill Smith, deputy director of theNational Information Center for Handicapped Childrenand Youth, told the Commission about a case inOmaha, Nebraska. A child was born with spinabifida, and there was "a recommendation of notreatment based on the fact that the child had spinabifida and predictable mental retardation." After 4months of debate, the parents changed their initialdecision to accept that recommendation, and thechild received treatment and lived. Ms. Smithtestified, "I have tracked the progress of that childand that family ever since. The young lady had nomental retardation whatsoever." 77Such positive results for children born with spinabifida are not anomalous. Dr. David McLone, whoheads a major neurosurgical department and formerlychaired the Professional Advisory Council of theSpina Bifida Association of America, testified:74Telephone interview with Robert D'Agostino, Former DeputyAssistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Departmentof Justice (Dec. 1, 1988).75Nelson, 2d miracle baby gives family joy, Chicago Tribune, Apr.24. 1983, Sec. 3, at 1, col. 1.76Id.77Protection of Handicapped Newborns: Hearing Before the UnitedStates Commission on Civil Rights 254-55 (1986) (vol. II) (testimonyof Patricia McGill Smith, Deputy Director, National InformationCenter for Handicapped Children and Youth).41