mrmeaner Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 Speaking of compassion, what would be accomplished by jailing the mother? Preventing her from otherwise rushing out and doing it again unless she's restrained? Who would rightfully gain? The same sort of thing happened to the son of a guy I knew. He picked up a double shift and the wife worked midnights. He was in the bed trying to get the baby to sleep again and woke up to the sound of his wife screaming. He was serving a sentence for negligent homicide, but he might be out by now. In his case, his ex-wife pushed fo the charges. I'm sure that made the difference though.
Michael Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 I guess I have trouble understanding vengeance.
DwayneEMTP Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 EDIT: Holy crap! I got a call between creating this post and hiting the submit button and half the friggin City posted! Sorry for the redundancy. This would depend on quite a few factors for me. Why was she taking the medication? Did she have a history of it, or did she get caught off guard by their effects? Did she have available help for the child, or was she in a damaged condition trying to care for them both? What I do know, is that if this hit the news, there was a ton of pressure for the DA to bring charges. If they failed to do so there was most likely nothing there. And if there was something there, how do you punish someone worse than having a dead child? Unless she purposely chose to kill her child, what is to be gained by prosecution? (persecution?) Sometimes and accident it just an accident. Dwayne
Michael Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 Unless she purposely chose to kill her child, what is to be gained by prosecution? (persecution?) See, I have a problem even with pro/persecution beyond protecting prospective victims and making useful restoration to actual victims, which would not include nourishing their bloodlust. From what I understand, prison doesn't by and large release kinder, gentler individuals into the general population.
cynical_as_hell Posted November 28, 2008 Author Posted November 28, 2008 dwayneEMTP "Why was she taking the medication? Did she have a history of it, or did she get caught off guard by their effects? Did she have available help for the child, or was she in a damaged condition trying to care for them both?" she was taking the medication for pain relief. she had just been to a dentist the previous day. As far as I know, she didn't have a history of using pain meds. She seemed to be a very normal, everyday, mother just trying to get some relief from whatever work the dentist did. She did have help for the child, although it is unclear as to why she didn't use the help.
DwayneEMTP Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 dwayneEMTP "Why was she taking the medication? Did she have a history of it, or did she get caught off guard by their effects? Did she have available help for the child, or was she in a damaged condition trying to care for them both?" she was taking the medication for pain relief. she had just been to a dentist the previous day. As far as I know, she didn't have a history of using pain meds. She seemed to be a very normal, everyday, mother just trying to get some relief from whatever work the dentist did. She did have help for the child, although it is unclear as to why she didn't use the help. Then you and I are on the same page if I understand you correctly. Leave her be, let her mourn, give her the help and support she needs to care for herself and any remaining children. For once in our God forsaken lives let's attempt to help a damaged person improve their state instead of nourishing our animal instincts with punishment. And Cynical? Be careful girl, your soul is showing.... Dwayne
Asysin2leads Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 It all depends. If she had been passed out from shooting up heroin, it may have been a different story, but otherwise a DA would be hard pressed to go for a manslaughter or reckless endangerment charge. There is such a thing as prosecutorial discretion, and I think we can pretty much agree she has been punished enough.
spenac Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 Probably the only parents that have not allowed their baby to sleep with them are rich people with hired help that raise the kids. In this case she probably had no idea just how hard the medicine would make her sleep. Now someone mentioned a similar case of the dad accidentally killing the child. That brings up the double standard that sadly takes place in courts daily. If he did nothing illegal and it was an accident he should not have been prosecuted even if the mother demanded it. There can not be a double standard. Both the father and mother need to have equal rights from conception on.
Laura Anne Posted November 28, 2008 Posted November 28, 2008 Awe, this makes my heart ache. That poor mother doesn't need to go to jail....she's going to serve a life sentence for what happened. From the sounds of it, she made a horrible mistake and now she lost her baby because of it. I don't think she needs to be lawfully reprimanded. As far as feeling cold and unattached, that honestly sounds like a normal response to a very abnormal situation. Cynical, a lot of times when we have calls where a child loses their life, it's very hard for people to comprehend. It isn't normal in our society nowadays for children to die. When it DOES unfortunately happen, we as humans need to seek a reason; a blame. Even though you feel that it isn't the mothers fault, you may feel like blaming her for her mistake, just like that other father who was mentioned in here. Try not to close yourself off to other patients who may be in need of your compassion during an ordeal which involves your professional care. If you didn't react the way you mentioned by closing up and didn't feel anything after a call like that, then I'd probably think there was something wrong with you!! Your reaction is normal. I'm very glad to see that you posted that you understand the mistake that mother made and realize that it was just that, a horrible, horrible mistake. Learn from it, don't close yourself off from it.
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