Posted on 04/21/2005 12:32:09 PM PDT by Woodstock
Oh no. Poor, poor children. Poor wife.
The kids were old enough to know their mother was slowly dying in her bedroom...they didn't help her.
That's exactly why I can't believe they're letting the kids go back to him... This man has obviously corrupted their morals, and the state is basically sanctioning his actions by giving the kids back (IMHO).
Giving them back to him is what stuns me as well. They could have helped...and didn't. Something is wrong in their heads.
Early reports say the children were the ones trying to feed her and keep her quiet....
I guess he could not find a Judge Greer.
Maybe he has. He has his kiddos back. What's next?
I just feel really sorry for these kids. They are going to need help dealing with this for sure... Not only were they trying to be responsible for her (trying to be the adult caretaker), but they had to deal with their father basically ignoring their mother, and on top of this disrespecting her by bringing in another woman. It's shocking, but I'm sure it happens more than we know of...
And they had to tell Dad that she was no longer alive. So very sad. This was a bit of a shocker to our town.
The children were 10, 13 and 16, how were they supposed to help her? Get real
Please...even a 10 year old knows you have to have food to live. Stop making excuses for them. Their mother starved to death and they watched.
In fact that is a good pojnt/question. The fact that were aiding the Dad and the girlfriend justifies why they should not be placed back with them. I have worked some social services as a volunteer around the Elkton area and there is no reason why he could not have found the necessary resources. We are a small town and the resources far exceed the cities like Baltimore and Philly.
see my post above
So, are we going to next hear that she really wanted to die, and that starvation and dehydration were her absolute favorites as ways to go? Will that be her "loving husband's" claim? Will it be certain turkey-ish Freepers claims?
Did you read this part in the article?
Dougherty kept his wife locked in the bedroom after she suffered a brain aneurysm in 1999 and began berating their three daughters,
Do you know that being berated means to be abused mentally, which can and is worse then being abused physically. I am speaking from personal experience as I was being mentally abused as a child by my mother and I still feel the effects and I am almost 64 years old.
Also according to the article his younges daughter had been trying to give her a glass of water to drink
Oh, for crying out loud--whatever the effects, you didn't help murder your mother, slowly and painfully. If the woman was deranged, it can be explained to the children. The woman could have been cared for in a nursing home. There are any number of options that would have been better than the one he chose.
I agree the woman should have been cared for in a nursing home, but the only one to blame is the creep of a husband. Why didn't he put her in a nursing home?
Good grief. They lived in the house. They knew she was there. Take your weak excuses for their behavior somewhere else.
They had access to a phone, the police, the schools, the hospitals...
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