Crazy crazy crazy

[jillithian]

Boston Court Approves Ending Life Support for Girl in Coma

BOSTON, Jan. 17 - Massachusetts's highest court ruled Tuesday that the state can withdraw life support from Haleigh Poutre, an 11-year-old girl who has been in a coma since September, and whose adoptive mother and stepfather are accused of abusing her.

Haleigh, of Westfield, Mass., was hospitalized on Sept. 11 with a brain injury and multiple bruises, burns and cuts. Her aunt Holli Strickland, who adopted her, and Ms. Strickland's husband, Jason Strickland, were charged with assault, but Ms. Strickland died in an apparent murder-suicide after charges were filed.

The state Department of Social Services, which was granted custody of Haleigh, successfully petitioned a juvenile court for permission to remove life support. Mr. Strickland challenged the state in court, asking to be considered Haleigh's de facto parent and to be allowed to argue for keeping her alive.

The Supreme Judicial Court rejected Mr. Strickland's petition on Tuesday, saying he did not provide enough of her daily care to be a de facto parent. The court added that Mr. Strickland "stands charged with criminal assault in connection with injuries inflicted on" Haleigh. "To recognize the petitioner as a de facto parent, in order that he may participate in a medical end-of-life decision for the child, is unthinkable."

The opinion also upheld the state's right to remove life support, saying that Haleigh "is in an irreversible and permanent coma, with the least amount of brain function that a person can have and still be considered alive."

Mr. Strickland's lawyer, John J. Egan, said he was "disappointed they chose to decide it on the most narrow ground possible and not address the more substantive issues." Mr. Strickland might be able to pursue the case in federal court, but Mr. Egan said no decision had been made.

Denise Monteiro, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services, said that Haleigh's doctors would re-evaluate her and that family members would be consulted before life support would be removed.

One relative being consulted is Allison Avrett, Haleigh's biological mother, who lost custody of her when she was 4 because of accusations that her boyfriend had sexually abused Haleigh. Ms. Avrett said Tuesday that the ruling made her feel "good and bad" and that she supported removing both the ventilator and the feeding tube.

The court's opinion noted a raft of complaints about abuse and neglect of Haleigh to the Department of Social Services since September 2002 and indicated that the department had been talking to Ms. Strickland about placing Haleigh in a residential treatment facility. Since 2004, the state had arranged regular counseling for Haleigh and was making monthly inspection visits to the home. The state is investigating why it did not catch the extent of Haleigh's abuse.

"Some describe this as a case about death," the opinion said. "It should more correctly be described as a case about a young girl who has suffered tremendously from acts of violence and cruelty and who now will be permitted to pass away with dignity."

The opinion added that Haleigh's "memory will remind us, time and again, that we, as a society, need to do more to aid children who are neglected and abused, and thereby denied the care and nurturing they so desperately want and need."

Comments

[verucagonff.livejournal.com]

That's so sad.

And on an angry note, if they indeed did abuse her, that woman should be resurrected so she and her husband can walk from one end of the country to the other while every child in America hits them with baseball bats.