DAA - Disability Awareness in Action

Australia: Parents wanted euthanasia for drowned disabled child

Posted 18/1-11 at 16.39

An inquest in New South Wales is investigating whether Maia Comas, a two-year-old disabled girl who drowned in a pool at her home in 2007, was the victim of a "deliberate act" or an accident.

Pablo Comas, Maia and Samantha Razniak

The child's parents, Pablo Comas and Samantha Razniak, described themselves to social workers as "happy and beautiful people" living an "idyllic" lifestyle. But they were also so distressed by their daughter's impairment and had asked whether euthanasia was "legally possible".

As they explored the possibility of foster care arrangements, admitting the girl's condition was "dragging us down", Maia was found dead in an inflatable pool.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/tragic-toddler-better-off-dead/story-e6freuy9-1225985197134

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/nsw-coroner-lifts-suppression-order-on-parents-of-girl-who-drowned-in-inflatable-pool/story-e6frg6nf-1225986235843