Thursday, July 20, 2006

How incredibly sad.

Agency was within hours of removing kids from the home: Allegations of sex abuse led to the intervention of a protective agency and a ban on the dad's presence in home.

And now the youngest child is dead and the four-year-old in the hospital with burns over much of his body from a fire that it is alleged the mother set.
Best interests of who?

Remade life not enough: Ohio high court denies mom who lost daughter

Thoughts?

This statement particularly disturbed me: "If the court had ruled for Fugate, Roberts said, it could have opened the floodgates for other parents to do the same thing. "It could have created problems not only for us, but other children services agencies across the country," he said."

Is this really what we're worried about when we're practicing family and juvenile law? The administrative convenience of the agency? Seems a bit backward to me.
What are they smoking over there in Indianapolis?

Audit finds disorder in Payne court: Report cites poor bookkeeping, $2,317 for going-away party

Now THAT'S a party I would like to go to!

And the rest...that's why the public doesn't trust the justice system.
An update to a story previously mentioned on this blog.

Baby's kidney illness pits parents against doctors Kidnapping case reveals conflict between homeopathic, traditional Western medicine.

I am not up to date on the state of parental rights. But it seems to me that the parent was pretty much eliminated from the equation as related to this baby's medical care. How is that possible?

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Fascinating...

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen that can cause invasive disease in predisposed individuals, including pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. During pregnancy, listeriosis leads to spontaneous abortion, preterm labor, or neonatal disease. Tropism of L. monocytogenes to the placenta and maternal immunosuppression, have been hypothesized to be the cause of the susceptibility to listeriosis during pregnancy. This study presents a series of experiments in a pregnant guinea pig model of listeriosis and mathematical simulation of the infection, which led the authors to propose a new model. A single bacterium is sufficient to cause placental infection. Due to decreased clearance in the placenta there is a strong increase of bacteria in the placental compartment, which becomes a nidus of infection leading to continuous seeding of maternal organs. Thus, the increase of bacteria in maternal organs is not due to immunosuppression but to efflux of L. monocytogenes from the placenta. This process will be interrupted by expulsion of the infected feto-placental tissues. Therefore, spontaneous abortion and prematurity can be regarded as survival mechanisms for the mother. Furthermore, this study hypothesizes that expulsion of the infected placenta may be important for the natural history of listeriosis.

link


Even more fascinating (and frustrating)...

The study is the first to trace such a pathway of infection, and it dashes the widely-held assumption that immune-system changes during pregnancy are to blame for elevated Listeria infection rates.

link
Victoria's Secret Welcomes Breastfeeding Protestors.

Last June, Ohio legislators legalized breast-feeding in public places.

So, prior to last June...it was illegal? to feed your child?

I have no words.