Multiple toes and fingers?? (six on each limb) Amputate?!?!

[Jfur]

My friend's baby has six fingers and six toes. I think it's kind of cool, but everyone is saying that her (the baby's) life will be destroyed if she does not amputate them :Q

What do you guys think (obviously, it's not my choice)??? is this overreaction? should they wait and see what the kid thinks?

 

[ChrichtonsGirl]

I'd have them removed. You just know that the child's friends and classmates are going to consider him/her abnormal and will probably make fun of him/her. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say the child's life will be "destroyed," but why ask for more heartbreak that kids get anyway?

Having it done when the child is an infant is also far preferable to waiting until the poor kid's in elementary school and he/she'll have a vivid memory of the surgery. Plus, I'd think the earlier it was done, the more likely it is that the baby will heal without the same kind of scarring.

Unfortunately, my son's in elementary school right now and I know for a fact that some kids can be cruel monsters. Even without any kind of medical abnormality, kids just make fun of kids they think are different in any way - cool or not, it's like slapping a banner on the kid asking that his peers make fun of him/her.

*Edit for dumb spelling mistakes

 

[Raspewtin]

my personal opinion is not to have it done (assuming they are completely functional, most 6th digits are nonfunctional and those should be amputated IMO). sure there will be social pressure, but to amputate an extra digit b/c of society seems wrong to me. I think there needs to be a limit to what one will do to fit in with society. You do one thing, then another thing, and eventually seems like doing anything to yourself to please society is okay. this is from my personal experience. I don't believe anything is an accident I guess.

ChrichtonsGirl has some good points though, although there will be scarring, even as a baby.

 

[Jfur]

when I was born (at UCLA Medical Center), a doctor told my Mom that my little toes should be removed becasue they were missing a joint and I would be a freak :| Fortunately , my Mom refused to let him do it, and my toes came out fine. I understand the point about social pressure, but I really wonder... It's a tough choice. Some cultural traditions appraently see this as a sign of luck, too

 

[SilverThief]

Thats a tough question. My wife and I are expecting any day now. Would we want to amputate in a situation like this? Probably so, like you've all agreed kids can be absolutely cruel.

 

[Elledan]

Do those extra toes and fingers have bones in them? If so, keep them. If not, amputate immediately.

BTW does anyone doubt the existance of evolution after this?

 

[SSP]

A cousin of mine have 6 toes, and my aunt didn't amputate it. Granted her fingers are fine, and you can't see the leg when shes wearing shoes. But in this case, I agree with ChrichtonsGirl. Chop it off!

 

[Jfur]

<< Do those extra toes and fingers have bones in them? If so, keep them. If not, amputate immediately.

BTW does anyone doubt the existance of evolution after this? >>



Elledan -- my podiatrist says I have &quot;toes of the future&quot; and that eventually all humans will lose this joint and then the entire toe... Of course, my dentist says my teeth are of the &quot;cro-magnon&quot; type