Tuesday, May 16, 2006

I Stand Corrected

It appears that the story of the 14 year old kid and his mother won't go away as the news outlets are beating it TO DEATH. I drove by KU the other day and saw the news vans parked outside the hospital, and the family clamoured around them like children around an ice cream truck in July.

Oddly enough, the family won't sign a waiver allowing the hospital to discuss the boy's medical care/condition on the news. Meanwhile, they are making all kinds of wild, unfounded accusations on the news...based on medical educational information they may have read in Lady's Home Journal.

While the hospital could defend itself in this matter, their hands are tied so they just have to remain silent. They have said they will have lawyers fight the restraining order, but in the end, they are going to come off looking like the bad guys.

The general population, while sympathetic to the mother, thinks she's an idiot. She has mentioned that if the judge agrees that her son is braindead, she will also concur.

Which is like having a pastry chef give a professional opinion on a water main break.

The courts will more than likely side with the hospital on this matter. The boy will be ultimately taken off the vents (if all the other organs don't stop functioning first), and this story will give way to something more sensational for the media to blather about ad nuaseum. To the Star's credit, they did run a story today that differentiated between being in a coma, and being braindead.

With heavy sighing, I will continue to monitor this story.

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