The dangerous operation might give the child a chance at normal life, but it might also kill her. Yet without the operation, she faced almost certain death within the next few years. Pamela Frances Lamphere, now 22 months old, had been born with her bladder outside her body. This rare malformation, called exstrophy, usually causes death (of urinary tract infection) before a child is five.
It was a desperately hard decision for any parent to make. In Chicago, Fred W. Lamphere and his wife, Irene, could not agree. Last week, trying to force an operation for Pamela Frances, her father brought suit...