Father: We didn't feed babies for days

[Wild Redhead]

A mother is facing up to 70 years in prison after a jury found her guilty of starving her twin sons nearly to death.

http://www.ajc.com/news/clayton/fath...ed-150997.html


I beginning to think I could whole heartedly back the death penalty for slimballs that do things like this.

[snoozn]

This does make mandatory sterilization seem like a good idea. But the real question is how to prevent cases like this from happening, rather than worrying about the ideal punishment. I was glad to see the grandmother will face charge for not reporting abuse that she was aware of. For babies that don't have any other caretakers, it's possible for this kind of thing to go under the radar. I wonder if either of these poor excuses for parents had any previous record for drug abuse. Perhaps such people should have a legal requirement for a nurse to check their offspring every so often. Some problems are serious and hard to solve. I sure hope the twins are getting the best possible care now.

[Chloe]

They weren't in their right minds, obviously. Poor little babies. failed by their drug-addled parents, and failed by a system that ought to properly monitor families with small children.

[Wild Redhead]

The couple was getting about 90 Methadone tablets every three days, along with occasional prescriptions for Xanax, Oxycontin and other drugs, he testified.

How could they possibly get that much that often and not have any red flags pop up. If they are that drugged up I doubt they went far for their prescriptions.

[woodness03]

Originally Posted by Wild Redhead

How could they possibly get that much that often and not have any red flags pop up. If they are that drugged up I doubt they went far for their prescriptions.

Don't worry though - If the kids were sick and the parents purchased medicine with pseudophedrine in it to take care of them, the parents would be arrested. The system works....or so I am told....

[Syllavus]

This is one of the saddest stories that I've ever heard. Those poor babies. The mind boggles at someone getting to a point where they could let such a thing happen to their children, it's a wonder they were saved in time.

[ULTRAGOTHA]

ETA Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Redhead

How could they possibly get that much that often and not have any red flags pop up. If they are that drugged up I doubt they went far for their prescriptions.

Different pharmacies and different doctors.

Happens all the time.

[snoozn]

Originally Posted by Chloe

They weren't in their right minds, obviously. Poor little babies. failed by their drug-addled parents, and failed by a system that ought to properly monitor families with small children.

But the question is how to balance privacy and safety. Babies are especially vulnerable because they can't communicate and often don't have caretakers outside of their parents. If the OP couple didn't have any criminal record, why would anyone monitor them? I'm not even sure if known drug abusers are monitored when they have children.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by snoozn

But the question is how to balance privacy and safety. . . .

The horrific dilemma of any government that undertakes regulation of caregiving. If they take action to protect an individual, everyone reacts against the "intrusive government that throws an old woman out of the house she's lived in all her life." If they don't act, and she starts a kitchen fire and dies, everyone reacts against the "careless government that didn't even bother to protect a helpless old woman." Gotcha/gotcha: type I and type II errors.

Not to mention a vast insufficiency of trained case workers...

Silas