What rights do parents or doctors have to terminate a life? How disabled is too disabled? As a parent, how far would you go to save someone you love?Īccelerated Reader/Renaissance Learning UG 5.9Īccess-restricted-item true Addeddate 13:01:08 Boxid IA1949002 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Handle With Care is an absorbing narrative which also questions the basis of medical ethics and of personal morality.

And the obstetrician she's suing isn't just her physician - it's her best friend. But it means that Charlotte has to say in a court of law that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she'd known about the disability in advance. As the family struggles to cover medical expenses, Charlotte decides to file a wrongful birth lawsuit against her obstetrician for the monetary payouts which might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. Willow O'Keefe is born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a brittle bone disease, which means she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, and a lifetime of pain. What constitutes a valuable life? Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care is an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.After her daughter contracts a fatal disease, Charlotte O'Keefe must confront some serious questions that ultimately lead to one final epiphany: what constitutes a valuable life What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more.

Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, funny as it seems, perfect. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of 'luckier' parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. In this provocative story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, 'Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance' (Stephen King). When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated-she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain.

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult