The kind of JUSTICE I like to see....

[Lady Sidhe]

This is from earlier this month in the Times-Picayune, a Louisiana newspaper:

Two Booked in beating of disabled child
Cops: Relatives take revenge

After two drunken caregivers allegedly beat up a disabled 3-year old, breaking his jaw and damaging his liver, relatives armed with baseball bats and nail-studded lumber beat one of the men responsible for harming the child...the boyfriend of the boy's mother, and the boy's father were booked with cruelty to a juvenile and second-degree battery, both felonies. The boyfriend was arrested after being released from the hospital after the attack by the child's relatives.

The 3-year-old toddler, who has severe birth defects (his handicaps leave him with very limited mobility. He can roll over if he's propped on his side, but he can't sit or stand. He can't communicate because of the birth defects, but "he responds to pain sometimes, and he was very agitated...", was taken to Children's Hospital for surgery to address his injuries. The child weighs 16 lbs. His jaw was broken in three places, a lacerated liver, a broken rib, and bruises to the entire right side of his torso.

The boyfriend and the father deny responsibility for the child's injuries, though they acknowledged being drunk while taking care of him. The mother asked the boyfriend and the father to watch the child for about an hour and a half. While she was gone, the boyfriend called her several times, to argue about when she was going to be back.
She came home after he told her the child was bleeding from the mouth. He said he thought he might have a loose tooth.. The boyfriend told the police he'd been drinking all day and passed out, and didn't know the child was hurt until he woke up. The police took the child to Children's Hospital, where they determined the injures were due to abuse.

After learning of the child's injuries, three of the mother's relatives went to his trailer and beat him senseless with bats and pieces of lumber (which were torn from the trailer's door frame and full of nails).


Now THAT'S justice.

Sidhe

[Lady Sidhe]

The above is just a brief synopsis of the article. I'm not sure if the article can be found online, but it's from the first week of January, in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Sidhe

[wolf]

Pretty horrible story, there.

Just to play devil's advocate for the moment ... given the description of the child, would euthenasia following multidisciplinary assessment after birth (or abortion prior, if the level of disability is known) be justified?

[xoxoxoBruce]

yes.

[Scopulus Argentarius]

Holly Shit! .... we sure know how to cultivate 'em down here in Louisiana...

[Lady Sidhe]

Originally posted by wolf
Pretty horrible story, there.

Just to play devil's advocate for the moment ... given the description of the child, would euthenasia following multidisciplinary assessment after birth (or abortion prior, if the level of disability is known) be justified?

Well, I think that if I, personally, knew that my child would be that gravely disabled, and if I knew it EARLY enough before birth (and I mean before six months, I'd say) that the idea of abortion would be a serious option. I'm against abortion, but I think that if a person would be so disabled that they would not have a life worth living (ie, never being able to speak or communicate, or walk, or even sit up unaided) that maybe it would be kinder to send them back to try again.

I know that I myself would not want to live like that, and I can only think that no one else would either, and I think it would hurt me to watch my child have that kind of existence. (of course, I can only see it from my point of view, having had a life...I can't say that it would be my place to choose for someone else).

As far as euthanasia...that's a little trickier...as much as I believe in euthanasia, or assisted suicide, for people who make that choice for themselves, I don't know if I'd be able to pass that kind of sentence on a helpless child that's already been brought into the world. I can't even put my animals to sleep without having serious emotional turmoil for months afterward (I've had to put two to sleep, and although it was necessary because they were incurably ill--one with cancer, one with a septacemic infection) it still felt like a betrayal of their trust...I don't think I could do that to a child...perhaps if they were anencephalatic...that would be different situation altogether.

Sidhe

[Griff]

Originally posted by wolf
Pretty horrible story, there.

Just to play devil's advocate for the moment ... given the description of the child, would euthenasia following multidisciplinary assessment after birth (or abortion prior, if the level of disability is known) be justified?

No.

[Lady Sidhe]

When a man broke into a house in Newmarket, Ont., Canada,
the homeowners, identified only as Clifford, 66, and Gladys, 59, fought
back. "I shoved him down the basement stairs," Clifford said. "He fell
down all 10 stairs and I ran down behind him ...and kept punching him
and punching him. He kept yelling at me to stop hitting him because he
was on drugs. But I told him I wasn't finished with him yet." Neither
was Clifford's wife, who whacked the robber repeatedly with a tea
kettle. Why that? "I couldn't find the rolling pin so I picked up the
first thing I saw," Gladys said. (Toronto Star)



There ya go. When you break into someone's house, you're taking your chances. Hopefully, the praiseworthy Clifford and Gladys didn't get sued by drugboy....


Sidhe