# I wonder why we haven't heard about this. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 30, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881 "2013-07-30T04:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/21 "2013-07-30T12:41:37Z")
I figured out why this is in the Pit. It’s a God Pitting! You see, as the Congresswoman noted, God heard her prayers (and her husband’s and their supporters’). i.e., “But most of all, we are grateful to God for hearing those prayers”. Clearly the OP is asking why God chose to hear these prayers and not of the the six-year-old who was raped tortured and murdered last week, or those of the latest batch of Syrian non-combatants to be executed, let alone those of the millions of devout Jews and so many others who were murdered during the Holocaust. That God, I tell you. He’s just impossible to figure. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/22 "2013-07-30T13:13:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not sure what the debate is here but I’m willing to go on record as being against birth defects. Oh, I don’t know. I think I need to hear from both sides on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/23 "2013-07-30T13:34:35Z")
I’m firmly in the Pro-Birth Defects camp because I embrace diversity and think we should all love each other just the way God made us. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/24 "2013-07-30T13:34:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not sure what the debate is here but I’m willing to go on record as being against birth defects. I think the debate will center on whether or not **nearwildheaven** should start threads. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/25 "2013-07-30T13:36:52Z")
As already noted, the reason “why we haven’t heard about this” is because the parents chose not to announce it for a couple of weeks. It’s also been reported by Fox News around the same time as the story linked to in the OP. I suspect the reason that CNN apparently hasn’t picked up on it yet is because it’s an atheist liberal outlet that wants to deny the power of prayer. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/26 "2013-07-30T13:44:29Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I suspect the reason that CNN apparently hasn’t picked up on it yet is because it’s an atheist liberal outlet that wants to deny the power of prayer. Am I being whooshed here? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/27 "2013-07-30T13:48:12Z")
By the way, Potter syndrome/sequence covers a whole range of abnormalities, which in addition to partial or complete lack of kidneys includes various levels of pulmonary hypoplasia (insufficient development), facial abnormalities and clubbed feet. Whether the experimental treatment used here will allow for long-term survival is still up in the air. > [@leftfield6](#): > > Am I being whooshed here? Pray for guidance. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/28 "2013-07-30T13:53:58Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Am I being whooshed here? I don’t want to speak for **Jackmannii** , but I’m pretty sure he is 100% serious. Anyone who knows anything knows that CNN is nothing but an evil left wing propaganda machine. The only place to get fair & balanced reporting is Fox News. Cite: Fox was the only media outlet to cover this story. Coincidence? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/29 "2013-07-30T13:54:28Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I figured out why this is in the Pit. It’s a God Pitting! > > You see, as the Congresswoman noted, God heard her prayers (and her husband’s and their supporters’). i.e., “But most of all, we are grateful to God for hearing those prayers”. > > Clearly the OP is asking why God chose to hear these prayers and not of the the six-year-old who was raped tortured and murdered last week, or those of the latest batch of Syrian non-combatants to be executed, let alone those of the millions of devout Jews and so many others who were murdered during the Holocaust. > > That God, I tell you. He’s just impossible to figure. Maybe they should have prayed a little more before god gave their baby the birth defect to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/30 "2013-07-30T13:57:50Z")
This thread should have been aborted. Who is keeping it on life support? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/31 "2013-07-30T13:58:18Z")
As the aunt of a child with a birth defect, I’m against birth defects but in favor of people who have them. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/32 "2013-07-30T14:01:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The newsworthy thing is that they volunteered for an experimental treatment that seems to have allowed their fetus to develop useful lungs, meaning this might be a viable alternative for other such families in the future. > > I suppose we could debate the ethics of performing experimental procedures on an otherwise doomed fetus in hopes of producing a surviving child? Yeah, I think the focus is on the wrong organ here. The problem isn’t her lack of kidneys, exactly - it’s that her lack of kidneys meant a lack of fetal pee, and that’s mostly what amniotic fluid is. Lungs need that fluid to develop, and the chest wall muscles and diaphragm need that fluid to “practice” breathing to get strong enough to breathe air. So without that fluid (due to no kidneys) now what? The answer, although experimental, is to repeatedly inject saline into the amniotic sac and hope that it provides the same lung developing benefits as fetal pee would. I’m not seeing why it’s any of our business before the family would like to share it. It’s not unknown in antenatal medicine, it just hasn’t been tried very often 'cause it’s not often that babies have no amniotic fluid. It’s been used successfully in [premature rupture of membranes with low amniotic fluid](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11035330) for over a decade, and [somewhat less successfully for other causes of oligohydramnios](http://publications.nice.org.uk/therapeutic-amnioinfusion-for-oligohydramnios-during-pregnancy-excluding-labour-ipg192/the-procedure) in the years since. It’s way cool, and while I think her thanks are a little misplaced (um…God screwed up this time, it was doctors and nurses that saved your baby, dear.) it’s certainly a common enough misplacement of gratitude that it just flies under the radar these days. But, yeah, I also agree that “survival” is a relative and time dependent term. It’s been less than 3 weeks, lots can still go wrong. And there are many things that can go wrong, horrifically wrong, with the growth and development of a premature infant. Of course, I wish them all the best of luck, but they still have a very long, expensive and hard row to hoe, and they will never entirely be over the fear that something could go wrong related to their little miracle’s rapid entry into the world. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/33 "2013-07-30T14:37:02Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > As the aunt of a child with a birth defect, I’m against birth defects but in favor of people who have them. ^ As the spouse of an adult with a birth defect I also take this position. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/34 "2013-07-30T14:44:25Z")
I am pro-birth defects. Without birth defects, where would we get our heroes like Wolverine, Beast, and Cyclops? Our planet would have been destroyed by the Brood or the Skrulls were it not for birth defects! Do you want the Earth destroyed? Answer me that, you anti-defectors!!! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/35 "2013-07-30T17:22:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > This thread should have been aborted. Who is keeping it on life support? The thread is on the waiting list for an OP transplant. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/36 "2013-07-30T17:27:57Z")
How bizarre. After posting this nonsensical OP and seemingly leaving the thread, the OP comes back, not to explain the OP, but just to post _this_: > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Threadjack: You must be a fan of Foster Dad John, too! All hail Chickenfish! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/37 "2013-07-30T17:32:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > As the aunt of a child with a birth defect, I’m against birth defects but in favor of people who have them. I oppose birth defects but I support the troops. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/38 "2013-07-30T17:38:25Z")
My thoughts, such as they are: “Yah, science!” and ``` "How lucky they are that they can afford hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars of healthcare." Even with insurance, most Americans would be bankrupted by this kind of miracle. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/39 "2013-07-30T18:11:23Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I figured out why this is in the Pit. It’s a God Pitting! > > You see, as the Congresswoman noted, God heard her prayers (and her husband’s and their supporters’). They prayed for a kidney-less child? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881/40 "2013-07-30T18:12:04Z")
Medical question, but since the forum is kind of wonky anyway: is it possible to artificially “grow” a pair of kidneys [ala this article on stem cells](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8443740/Scientists-create-human-kidneys-from-stem-cells.html) or do they have to wait for an infant with healthy kidneys to die? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wonder-why-we-havent-heard-about-this/664881.md?page=3)