Hey everyone. We posted a story on Diabetes News Hound this morning about a trial going on in California involving the 2006 death of a diabetic teenager. The parents are being charged with second-degree murder for not helping their 17 year old daughter who was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis for days before she eventually died. Check out the article -- I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts and to know if any of you have been following this case more closely? This is the first I've heard of it.
That's horrible. I hadn't heard anything about it either. How could no one, including the girl, not know what was going on? It did say she was wearing a diaper though, so maybe she had some kind of mental disability or something also going on?
I don't think thats the case, although thats a possibility. I think she was wearing it because she couldn't get up, was in and out of consciousness, and the family sort of lived in filth. I mean, the paramedics had to wear protection before entering the trailer.
I was wondering why she was wearing a diaper too. Not that it makes the parents any less wrong for what they did. I get praised at every endo visit for checking Brandan's sugar often and keeping a chart because the nurses say that it's rare for parents to be so attentive. I don't do anything that any other loving parent would/should. It makes me sad.
part of me wonders why the daughter wasn't taking care of herself? she was 17 years old and should have been able to do her own shots and blood tests. she had diabetes at least 5 years because something similar happened in 2001. could it have been (slow) suicide? maybe she wanted to die. if it was, the parents can't necessarily be blamed (though they could have put her in therapy or something).
now that i've said that... i certainly think the parents should have done something LONG before she went into a coma or wore a diaper. she developed bed sores... those don't happen overnight. how long had they ignored her condition? granted, they lived in filth anyway, but why wait to call 911 until she's unconscious and not when she starts exhibiting signs of illness?
lots of questions in a case like this that will probably not be answered. so sad to hear.
The interesting thing about this case, compared to other similar ones, is that the parents didn't withhold medical care for religious reasons. It sounds like a case of extreme poverty and misinformation if I'm reading between the lines correctly. That's almost more sad -- it makes me wonder what we can do as a society to assist and educate families who might not be medically literate and may not have access to typical resources that most families take for granted (transportation, a literacy level sufficient to read a dr's instructions, etc).
yeah these people were obviously scum. they didnt want to call 911 cause they were embarrased about animal feces? girl in a diaper dieing of diabetes.. these people should be in Jail.. along with the religous ones. Theres always these horrible neglect cases. I remember when i was much younger hearing my mom talking about a girl in the hospital who was diagnosed with T1.. her parnets thought she was just being "annoying" with the whole thirst thing.. they took fluids away from her and found her drinking out of the toilet bowl. They finally said well maybe something is wrong.. it just makes me thankful i wasnt born to a pair of brely functioning idiots. (this kind of stuff makes me so mad!)