Britain's youngest mum: Girl who was pregnant at 11 says she will fight to see her daughter
By MAUREEN CULLEY
Last updated at 5:30 PM on 1st June 2010
Aged just 12 years old, this is Britain's youngest mother holding her newborn baby.
Still a child herself, the new parent's sunken, fearful eyes and inability to smile transform what should be a joyful moment into a desperately unsettling scene.
Tressa Middleton's pregnancy four years ago shocked the nation when she admitted having sex while drunk and spoke of her excitement at becoming a mother.
Now the Scot is 16 and fighting for the right to see her adopted daughter again, as the uneasy images of her holding her baby are shown for the first time.
She yesterday admitted spiralling into a deep depression and turning to alcohol and drugs after the baby was born, when she found herself battling to keep the infant.
Unsettling: Pictures taken of Tressa Middleton soon after the birth in 2006
Miss Middleton said she has quit drugs and alcohol and spoke of her regret at ever letting her baby go.
She told the Scottish Sun: 'I'm not a big drinker now and I don't smoke hash any more. In the past I've cut myself but I don't do that any more. I'm going to give myself a couple of years to get my life sorted, then I'm going to fight for access to my little girl.
When her daughter was born in 2006, the pair were taken into foster care. Eighteen months ago, a child psychologist decided it was in the best interests of the infant that she be adopted.
Miss Middleton signed papers handing over her daughter to an anonymous couple who, when the adoption became official, decided that they did not want to allow the birth mother any access.
Her only contact is now a letter from the child's new parents every six months, updating her on the little girl's progress.
Miss Middleton said yesterday: 'I got to meet her adoptive parents but I wasn't allowed to know their names. They were maybe mid-30s. They seemed lovely but it doesn't really matter who was taking her - I never wanted to let her go.
'After I'd signed the adoption papers, I went to court to fight for twice-a-year contact. I'd even tried to make a deal that if I signed the papers I would get to see her once a year, but the adoptive parents didn't want that. They don't want me to see her. They want to get on with their lives. It makes me hate them.
'At the end of the day, she's my wee girl and I'm doing them a favour. I wasn't asking for much, asking to see her once a year, but they thought I was.'
Heartache: Tressa, now 16, wants to see her child
When she became pregnant in 2005, the case prompted dismay from church and family groups, amid criticisms that a Scottish Executive campaign to cut teenage pregnancies had failed.
Concern over 'broken Britain' rose further when details of Miss Middleton's chaotic home life in Armadale, West Lothian,emerged.
She was one of six children - by four different fathers - to her then 34-year-old mother, who said she was 'proud' of her daughter for keeping the baby.
On the bleak streets where Miss Middleton was raised, petty crime is rife and drink and drugs are ever present. Boarded-up windows abound and gardens are strewn with bed frames, discarded mattresses and other rubbish.
Children gather on street corners and it is far from unusual to see young girls pushing prams.
Despite barely being out of primary school, Miss Middleton smoked up to 20 cigarettes a day, used cannabis and downed cocktails of Buckfast tonic wine and vodka.
Speaking under the cover of anonymity at the time, she disclosed that she had discovered the pregnancy weeks after having drunken sex in August 2005.
Drawing on a roll-up cigarette while heavily pregnant, she said: 'I slept with him because I was drunk and I wanted to. I don't regret it because if I didn't have sex with him I wouldn't have my baby. I knew straight away that I couldn't have an abortion because that's something I don't believe in.'
The girl was scared to tell her mother who, ironically, had given birth to her youngest child days before her daughter found that she was pregnant.
Miss Middleton admitted that she had an argument with her mother after breaking the news of her pregnancy.
'It was hard but it has brought me and my mum closer together,' she said. 'It's good to know I'll have my mum there to help me if I need her.'
Now 16 and legally an adult, she is able to speak openly about her experiences for the first time and has also allowed the images of those early moments after the birth to be published.
Miss Middleton, who believes she has 'turned a corner' in her life, hopes to join the Army and prove that she deserves to see her child again.
She spoke yesterday of the time when she first felt that she would lose her daughter.
This came before the adoption was even official, when the baby went to live with her foster family and the teenager was allowed to see the child only every three months at a family centre.
A child herself: Tressa with her newly-born daughter
The young mother said: 'My daughter sometimes called me "Mummy" then one day she called me by my first name and called her foster carer "Mum". It really hurt and I burst into tears. Then she wouldn't come to me. She refused and would start screaming. It felt like every time I saw her I was losing her more and more.
'The adoptive parents gave her their surname. They've kept her first name the same, but hearing that her name had changed was heartbreaking. It's like they're turning my wee girl into someone different. She was dressed different and her hair was different. It was hard to see someone else bringing up my wee girl.'
Miss Middleton is not allowed to know where her daughter is living or see photographs, although the latest progress letter, from March, described the three-year-old as 'a very happy, chatty, self-confident and together little girl.'
Miss Middleton said: 'When I read it I just started crying. It says she can read numbers 0-9 and count to 20. That's all the things I wanted to teach her as her mum. It's wee simple things like that which affect me.
'I get upset when I see wee girls walking past with their mums. I miss my wee girl every day. I've kept all her clothes from when she was a baby. I keep under my pillow a wee pink Babygro and hat from when she was born.'
Miss Middleton, who now has only limited contact with her own family and lives in Dumfries, admitted, however, that adoption was in her daughter's 'best interests'.
But she added: 'It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I don't think I can give my daughter the life she needs just now.
'When I'm older I want to build a relationship with my daughter. I'm concentrating on sorting myself out so that one day I'll hopefully see my wee girl again. I love her to bits.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282994/Britains-youngest-mum-Tressa-Middleton-pregnant-11-says-fight-daughter.html#ixzz0pecjSdyt
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282994/Britains-youngest-mum-Tressa-Middleton-pregnant-11-says-fight-daughter.html#ixzz0pbEvAZnd
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Australia Abortion Practitioner Has Infected 40 Women With Hepatitis C Virus
Australia Abortion Practitioner Has Infected 40 Women With Hepatitis C Virus
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2010
Melbourne, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- An Australia abortion facility worker is facing more accusations that he infected dozens of women with hepatitis C during abortions. The heath chief of the Australian state of Victoria released the accusations against the abortion practitioner in April.
Since then, the number of potential victims has jumped form 12 to 44 as the outbreak at the Croydon Day Surgery abortion business appears worse than earlier reports as the probe continues.
The Herald Sun newspaper indicates the health department investigation into the abortion operation where James Latham Peters was the anesthesiologist will expand -- potentially to as many as 3,600 women who had abortions at his center since 2006.
The newspaper indicates the Victorian Police and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria has revealed the patients' infections are an identical genetic match to his own hepatitis C strain in 22 of the confirmed 44 cases.
"It is difficult to know exactly what went on in that clinic, but we are diligently providing full support to Victoria Police, to the Medical Practitioners Board, but most importantly to those women," Health Minister Daniel Andrews said, according to the Herald. "This is not about system failure, this is about the appalling, totally inappropriate behavior of one particular person."
Chief health officer John Carnie indicated investigations showed the women were deliberately infected and that a probe into the abortion center may reveal more, but it will takes weeks to contact them.
Peters could face criminal charges for infecting the women.
The Medical Board of Victoria has investigated the allegations and suspended Peters on February 15 two months after the health department became aware of the allegations when three women contacted the agency after infection.
The newspaper indicates Peters has past drug convictions and was sentenced this year for having pornographic pictures of children. In 1996, he was convicted of forging more than 100 prescriptions for pethidine.
The Age newspaper reported that the Croydon Day Surgery abortion business knew of the convictions but hired Peters anyway.
http://www.lifenews.com/int1560.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2010
Melbourne, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- An Australia abortion facility worker is facing more accusations that he infected dozens of women with hepatitis C during abortions. The heath chief of the Australian state of Victoria released the accusations against the abortion practitioner in April.
Since then, the number of potential victims has jumped form 12 to 44 as the outbreak at the Croydon Day Surgery abortion business appears worse than earlier reports as the probe continues.
The Herald Sun newspaper indicates the health department investigation into the abortion operation where James Latham Peters was the anesthesiologist will expand -- potentially to as many as 3,600 women who had abortions at his center since 2006.
The newspaper indicates the Victorian Police and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria has revealed the patients' infections are an identical genetic match to his own hepatitis C strain in 22 of the confirmed 44 cases.
"It is difficult to know exactly what went on in that clinic, but we are diligently providing full support to Victoria Police, to the Medical Practitioners Board, but most importantly to those women," Health Minister Daniel Andrews said, according to the Herald. "This is not about system failure, this is about the appalling, totally inappropriate behavior of one particular person."
Chief health officer John Carnie indicated investigations showed the women were deliberately infected and that a probe into the abortion center may reveal more, but it will takes weeks to contact them.
Peters could face criminal charges for infecting the women.
The Medical Board of Victoria has investigated the allegations and suspended Peters on February 15 two months after the health department became aware of the allegations when three women contacted the agency after infection.
The newspaper indicates Peters has past drug convictions and was sentenced this year for having pornographic pictures of children. In 1996, he was convicted of forging more than 100 prescriptions for pethidine.
The Age newspaper reported that the Croydon Day Surgery abortion business knew of the convictions but hired Peters anyway.
http://www.lifenews.com/int1560.html
Practitioner Faces Revised Lawsuit For Forcing Michigan Woman to Have Abortion
Practitioner Faces Revised Lawsuit For Forcing Michigan Woman to Have Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2010
Flint, MI (LifeNews.com) -- A Michigan abortion practitioner faces a revised civil lawsuit from a patient who says she was forced to have an abortion even after she changed her mind on the operating table immediately before the abortion was about to begin. Caitlin Bruce, 20, had the abortion at the Feminine Health Care Clinic run by Albert Hodari.
Bruce filed a lawsuit previously, but her attorney submitted new paperwork last week at the Genesee County Circuit Court, according to ConnectMidMichigan.
She said, “He was inserting the speculum, and I told him I'm nervous. I just told him stop please. I'm really nervous and I don't want to do this anymore.”
Hodari reportedly had a nurse hold Bruce down so he could finish the abortion of her child.
Hodari responded to the news service, saying “When she said stop, it was too late… I told her I would stop, but when I take my instrument there was blood and tissue on it from pregnancy, so I couldn't stop.”
However, obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Mona Hardas told the Michigan news outlet that Hodari handled the situation poorly. She said Hodari could have taken Bruce to a local hospital for a second opinion rather than forcing her to have the abortion.
“Even if someone has signed a consent form, if someone wants you to stop you have to stop. I am shocked. I can't believe this is still happening in this day and age," she said.
Hodari responded to those comments, defending his record as an abortion practitioner.
“I am there because I want to help woman have safe abortions. Look at my records. I have done more abortions and longer than any doctor in Michigan," he said.
However, Hodari has also killed women in failed abortions and, last June, he was fined $10,000 by a state board in connection with a woman's botched abortion death.
One of Hodari's staff did an abortion on Regina Johnson who, afterwards, suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest.
Staff at Hodari's abortion center allegedly failed to help her or call for an ambulance and she was deprived of oxygen for an extended time. She died a short time later at Hodari's Womancare clinic in Lathrup Village.
Johnson's death is one of several women to have died over the years under Hodari's care.
The September 17, 2003 abortion saw Milton Nathanson, then employed by Hodari, do an abortion on Johnson. She died the next day from "anoxic encephalopahy due to cardiac arrest" resulting from the abortion, according to official reports.
In addition to Hodari and Nathanson, anesthesiologist Barry Thompson and the abortion clinic's nurse, Cathy Litchig were also implicated in Johnson's death.
The Michigan Attorney General imposed the fine on Hodari on March 4, 2009.
Hodari also faces another lawsuit related to a woman who suffered a botched abortion at one of his Detroit-area abortion centers. The suit says he subjected a woman to an unnecessary abortion procedure after failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy.
According to information Operation Rescue provided to LifeNews.com, Marcia Lanqua, 33, went to Hodari’s Womancare of Southfield abortion clinic on May 6, 2009, for an abortion.
She had been refused an abortion by another clinic in Deerfield because an ultrasound performed on her did not reveal an intrauterine pregnancy, which is an indication of the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy.
The pro-life group says Lanqua’s lawsuit indicates that Hodari lacked the skill to diagnose the ectopic pregnancy and instead he negligently did an unnecessary uterine abortion on her.
"Lanqua was admitted to a hospital nine days later where her fallopian tube was removed. Lanqua asserts that she may not have lost her fallopian tube if Hodari had properly identified and treated her ectopic pregnancy," the group said about the lawsuit.
“Operation Rescue is working publicly and behind the scenes to make sure that Hodari is properly brought to justice. We will make sure that the appropriate authorities overseeing Hodari’s license are notified of Mrs. Lanqua’s suit and that it is added to his file,” said OR president Troy Newman.
Also, members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society discovered the remains of aborted babies in Womencare clinic trash dumpsters as well as bio-hazard waste and hundreds of patient records.
Hodari was investigated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and received a warning from that office.
He was also prosecuted by the Oakland County District Attorney's Office for violating Michigan statutes regarding the improper disposition of patient records. Hodari pled “no contest “ to the first of 12 counts and is currently on probation in that case.
A complaint filed by Miller's group with the Michigan Bureau of Health Professions regarding the patient records issue is currently under review by the Attorney General.
At least two other women have also died from failed abortions at Hodari's abortion centers and many more have been injured.
Tamia Russell was only 15 years old in January of 2004 when her 26-year-old boyfriend paid Hodari $2,000 in cash to abort her baby at over 26 weeks gestation. She died less than 24 hours after obtaining an abortion at Womancare of Southfield/Lathrup Village.
Her guardian was unaware she was pregnant, and had no knowledge of the abortion - until it was too late.
Chivon Williams received a suction abortion by Hodari at an unknown clinic. An hour and forty minutes later, she was discharged even though she was complaining of pain in her stomach and chest. Soon after she arrived at her home, she "became unresponsive." At 5:17, on the same day as the abortion, she was pronounced dead.
http://www.lifenews.com/state5143.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2010
Flint, MI (LifeNews.com) -- A Michigan abortion practitioner faces a revised civil lawsuit from a patient who says she was forced to have an abortion even after she changed her mind on the operating table immediately before the abortion was about to begin. Caitlin Bruce, 20, had the abortion at the Feminine Health Care Clinic run by Albert Hodari.
Bruce filed a lawsuit previously, but her attorney submitted new paperwork last week at the Genesee County Circuit Court, according to ConnectMidMichigan.
She said, “He was inserting the speculum, and I told him I'm nervous. I just told him stop please. I'm really nervous and I don't want to do this anymore.”
Hodari reportedly had a nurse hold Bruce down so he could finish the abortion of her child.
Hodari responded to the news service, saying “When she said stop, it was too late… I told her I would stop, but when I take my instrument there was blood and tissue on it from pregnancy, so I couldn't stop.”
However, obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Mona Hardas told the Michigan news outlet that Hodari handled the situation poorly. She said Hodari could have taken Bruce to a local hospital for a second opinion rather than forcing her to have the abortion.
“Even if someone has signed a consent form, if someone wants you to stop you have to stop. I am shocked. I can't believe this is still happening in this day and age," she said.
Hodari responded to those comments, defending his record as an abortion practitioner.
“I am there because I want to help woman have safe abortions. Look at my records. I have done more abortions and longer than any doctor in Michigan," he said.
However, Hodari has also killed women in failed abortions and, last June, he was fined $10,000 by a state board in connection with a woman's botched abortion death.
One of Hodari's staff did an abortion on Regina Johnson who, afterwards, suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest.
Staff at Hodari's abortion center allegedly failed to help her or call for an ambulance and she was deprived of oxygen for an extended time. She died a short time later at Hodari's Womancare clinic in Lathrup Village.
Johnson's death is one of several women to have died over the years under Hodari's care.
The September 17, 2003 abortion saw Milton Nathanson, then employed by Hodari, do an abortion on Johnson. She died the next day from "anoxic encephalopahy due to cardiac arrest" resulting from the abortion, according to official reports.
In addition to Hodari and Nathanson, anesthesiologist Barry Thompson and the abortion clinic's nurse, Cathy Litchig were also implicated in Johnson's death.
The Michigan Attorney General imposed the fine on Hodari on March 4, 2009.
Hodari also faces another lawsuit related to a woman who suffered a botched abortion at one of his Detroit-area abortion centers. The suit says he subjected a woman to an unnecessary abortion procedure after failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy.
According to information Operation Rescue provided to LifeNews.com, Marcia Lanqua, 33, went to Hodari’s Womancare of Southfield abortion clinic on May 6, 2009, for an abortion.
She had been refused an abortion by another clinic in Deerfield because an ultrasound performed on her did not reveal an intrauterine pregnancy, which is an indication of the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy.
The pro-life group says Lanqua’s lawsuit indicates that Hodari lacked the skill to diagnose the ectopic pregnancy and instead he negligently did an unnecessary uterine abortion on her.
"Lanqua was admitted to a hospital nine days later where her fallopian tube was removed. Lanqua asserts that she may not have lost her fallopian tube if Hodari had properly identified and treated her ectopic pregnancy," the group said about the lawsuit.
“Operation Rescue is working publicly and behind the scenes to make sure that Hodari is properly brought to justice. We will make sure that the appropriate authorities overseeing Hodari’s license are notified of Mrs. Lanqua’s suit and that it is added to his file,” said OR president Troy Newman.
Also, members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society discovered the remains of aborted babies in Womencare clinic trash dumpsters as well as bio-hazard waste and hundreds of patient records.
Hodari was investigated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and received a warning from that office.
He was also prosecuted by the Oakland County District Attorney's Office for violating Michigan statutes regarding the improper disposition of patient records. Hodari pled “no contest “ to the first of 12 counts and is currently on probation in that case.
A complaint filed by Miller's group with the Michigan Bureau of Health Professions regarding the patient records issue is currently under review by the Attorney General.
At least two other women have also died from failed abortions at Hodari's abortion centers and many more have been injured.
Tamia Russell was only 15 years old in January of 2004 when her 26-year-old boyfriend paid Hodari $2,000 in cash to abort her baby at over 26 weeks gestation. She died less than 24 hours after obtaining an abortion at Womancare of Southfield/Lathrup Village.
Her guardian was unaware she was pregnant, and had no knowledge of the abortion - until it was too late.
Chivon Williams received a suction abortion by Hodari at an unknown clinic. An hour and forty minutes later, she was discharged even though she was complaining of pain in her stomach and chest. Soon after she arrived at her home, she "became unresponsive." At 5:17, on the same day as the abortion, she was pronounced dead.
http://www.lifenews.com/state5143.html
Medication Mistake Kills Toddler at Hospital-Ran Care Facility
Medication Mistake Kills Toddler at Hospital-Ran Care Facility
Posted: May 30, 2010 08:59 PM
Updated: May 30, 2010 11:38 PM
Video Gallery <1>
Medication Mistake Kills Toddler at Hospital-Ran Care Facility
2:57
Meghan Youker
OMAHA (KPTM) -- Children's Hospital & Medical Center believes human error led to the accidental death of a 19-month-old girl. Alicia Coleman had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest Saturday morning after medication was improperly routed into her system.
It happened at a respite care facility for children with complex medical needs that is run by the hospital.
"She was like the pure example of perseverance and attitude," said Alicia's mom, Dominique Coleman.
A toddler's room now sits quiet and empty. "I'm upset, but I'm so happy that I got 19 months with her, because through all the struggle, it was so worth it," Dominique said.
Born twelve weeks premature, Alicia battled a gastrointestinal disorder known as NEC, but had been improving. "I knew I had a fragile child, but she fought through 15 surgeries, and almost a year in the hospital, and infections and sickness and pneumonia and liver disease and everything and she's come back from it all," Dominique said.
Saturday morning on her way to work, Dominique dropped her daughter off at Children's Home Healthcare's World, near 78th and Farnam.
Though Alicia was primarily cared for by nurses in her home, she had been there a few times before. "She had a medical profile, she had a chart there," Dominique said.
An hour later, Dominique got a call from a staff member. "I think its complacency. I think its neglect," she said.
Dominique says a nurse mistakenly gave Alicia a drug, designed to slow the absorption of food, via a central line to her heart rather than through Alicia's feeding tube. "For something so stupid and so menial to take her when I put her in what were said to be the best hands, I feel like I let her down," Dominique said.
Dominique says she knows her daughter's death wasn't intentional, but for the sake of other kids and their families, she says she can't move on until she knows that protocol at the facility will always be followed. "I do know that someone has to take responsibility for this, and that something will change there so that this doesn't happen again," she said.
Recently, Alicia was doing so well, her mom says she was starting to try to walk and talk and a doctor decided just Tuesday her medications could be cut in half.
Attempts to resuscitate Alicia went on for more than an hour Saturday at both the child care facility and Children's Hospital. Dominique says doctors even called both poison control and the drug's manufacturer to try to help her daughter.
Children's Hospital isn't saying if the employee involved could face disciplinary action. Instead, the hospital released a statement. It reads:
A multidisciplinary team met Sunday morning at Children's Hospital & Medical Center and believes human error led to Saturday's accidental death of a 19-month-old child at Children's Home Healthcare's World, a respite care facility for children with complex medical needs operated by the hospital. Medication was improperly routed into the child's system causing a seizure. Attempts to resuscitate the child at Children's Home Healthcare's World and in the Children's Emergency Department were not successful.
Children's Hospital & Medical Center and Children's Home Healthcare's World share deepest condolences with the child's family. Words fail us at a time like this. Nothing can adequately express the sadness surrounding the loss of a child.
-- Children's Hospital & Medical Center
http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=12568500
Posted: May 30, 2010 08:59 PM
Updated: May 30, 2010 11:38 PM
Video Gallery <1>
Medication Mistake Kills Toddler at Hospital-Ran Care Facility
2:57
Meghan Youker
OMAHA (KPTM) -- Children's Hospital & Medical Center believes human error led to the accidental death of a 19-month-old girl. Alicia Coleman had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest Saturday morning after medication was improperly routed into her system.
It happened at a respite care facility for children with complex medical needs that is run by the hospital.
"She was like the pure example of perseverance and attitude," said Alicia's mom, Dominique Coleman.
A toddler's room now sits quiet and empty. "I'm upset, but I'm so happy that I got 19 months with her, because through all the struggle, it was so worth it," Dominique said.
Born twelve weeks premature, Alicia battled a gastrointestinal disorder known as NEC, but had been improving. "I knew I had a fragile child, but she fought through 15 surgeries, and almost a year in the hospital, and infections and sickness and pneumonia and liver disease and everything and she's come back from it all," Dominique said.
Saturday morning on her way to work, Dominique dropped her daughter off at Children's Home Healthcare's World, near 78th and Farnam.
Though Alicia was primarily cared for by nurses in her home, she had been there a few times before. "She had a medical profile, she had a chart there," Dominique said.
An hour later, Dominique got a call from a staff member. "I think its complacency. I think its neglect," she said.
Dominique says a nurse mistakenly gave Alicia a drug, designed to slow the absorption of food, via a central line to her heart rather than through Alicia's feeding tube. "For something so stupid and so menial to take her when I put her in what were said to be the best hands, I feel like I let her down," Dominique said.
Dominique says she knows her daughter's death wasn't intentional, but for the sake of other kids and their families, she says she can't move on until she knows that protocol at the facility will always be followed. "I do know that someone has to take responsibility for this, and that something will change there so that this doesn't happen again," she said.
Recently, Alicia was doing so well, her mom says she was starting to try to walk and talk and a doctor decided just Tuesday her medications could be cut in half.
Attempts to resuscitate Alicia went on for more than an hour Saturday at both the child care facility and Children's Hospital. Dominique says doctors even called both poison control and the drug's manufacturer to try to help her daughter.
Children's Hospital isn't saying if the employee involved could face disciplinary action. Instead, the hospital released a statement. It reads:
A multidisciplinary team met Sunday morning at Children's Hospital & Medical Center and believes human error led to Saturday's accidental death of a 19-month-old child at Children's Home Healthcare's World, a respite care facility for children with complex medical needs operated by the hospital. Medication was improperly routed into the child's system causing a seizure. Attempts to resuscitate the child at Children's Home Healthcare's World and in the Children's Emergency Department were not successful.
Children's Hospital & Medical Center and Children's Home Healthcare's World share deepest condolences with the child's family. Words fail us at a time like this. Nothing can adequately express the sadness surrounding the loss of a child.
-- Children's Hospital & Medical Center
http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=12568500
Morinville foster mother charged with second-degree murder 21-month-old girl died after two days in coma
Morinville foster mother charged with second-degree murder
21-month-old girl died after two days in coma
BY BEN GELINAS AND PAULA SIMONS, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM MAY 31, 2010 4:06 PM
Pallbearers bring out the casket after the funeral mass at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples of a 21 month old girl, who died in foster care.
Photograph by: John Lucas, edmontonjournal.com
EDMONTON — A Morinville foster mother has been charged with the murder of a toddler in her care.
Christine Laverdiere, 34, appeared briefly in an Edmonton courtroom Monday, charged by RCMP with one count of second-degree murder in the killing of a 21-month-old girl who cannot be named under the province’s Child, Youth, and Family Enhancement Act.
The little girl’s biological family told The Journal she was taken from her mentally-ill mother and placed in foster care toward the end of January. Laverdiere was her primary foster parent when the girl was admitted to the Stollery on March 1 with unknown injuries. She died two days later.
Trevor Coulombe, who speaks Alberta’s department of children and youth services, says the woman, who appeared briefly in an Edmonton docket court Monday morning, was the girl’s primary foster mother.
But Coulombe declined to say how long the child had been living with the foster family, how long the family had been fostering, or whether there were other children living in the home.
“I can’t speak to case specifics,” Coulombe said.
Under the terms of the province’s Child, Youth, and Family Enhancement Act, the media is prevented from releasing details that could serve to identify a child in the care of Children and Youth Services.
Sources said at the time that the girl had been shuttled between her regular foster home and a second “respite” home in the days before she was hospitalized, meaning she was in the care of three different sets of adults right before she died.
Laverdiere, who is currently being held in custody without bail, will have her next court appearance in Morinville.
bgelinas@thejournal.canwest.com
psimons@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alberta+foster+mother+charged+with+second+degree+murder/3092489/story.html#ixzz0pYJojmn3
21-month-old girl died after two days in coma
BY BEN GELINAS AND PAULA SIMONS, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM MAY 31, 2010 4:06 PM
Pallbearers bring out the casket after the funeral mass at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples of a 21 month old girl, who died in foster care.
Photograph by: John Lucas, edmontonjournal.com
EDMONTON — A Morinville foster mother has been charged with the murder of a toddler in her care.
Christine Laverdiere, 34, appeared briefly in an Edmonton courtroom Monday, charged by RCMP with one count of second-degree murder in the killing of a 21-month-old girl who cannot be named under the province’s Child, Youth, and Family Enhancement Act.
The little girl’s biological family told The Journal she was taken from her mentally-ill mother and placed in foster care toward the end of January. Laverdiere was her primary foster parent when the girl was admitted to the Stollery on March 1 with unknown injuries. She died two days later.
Trevor Coulombe, who speaks Alberta’s department of children and youth services, says the woman, who appeared briefly in an Edmonton docket court Monday morning, was the girl’s primary foster mother.
But Coulombe declined to say how long the child had been living with the foster family, how long the family had been fostering, or whether there were other children living in the home.
“I can’t speak to case specifics,” Coulombe said.
Under the terms of the province’s Child, Youth, and Family Enhancement Act, the media is prevented from releasing details that could serve to identify a child in the care of Children and Youth Services.
Sources said at the time that the girl had been shuttled between her regular foster home and a second “respite” home in the days before she was hospitalized, meaning she was in the care of three different sets of adults right before she died.
Laverdiere, who is currently being held in custody without bail, will have her next court appearance in Morinville.
bgelinas@thejournal.canwest.com
psimons@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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Nancy Schaefer "The Unlimited Power of Child Protective Services" (Part 2 of 2).flv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y73nFp0Y19c
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