Haleigh Moved to Rehab Facility (Haleigh Poutre, ruled "vegetative" responding to stimuli)

WPRI 12 ^ | 1-26-06 | AP

[cgk]

Haleigh Poutre moved to rehab facility

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. A new development today in the case of Haleigh Poutre (HAY'-lee POOT'-Rah), the eleven-year-old Westfield girl who was close to being removed from life support after she was allegedly beaten into a coma.Officials from the state Department of Social Services say Haleigh has been moved from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield to a rehabilitation facility at an undisclosed location in Massachusetts.

The move comes after D-S-S received a second opinion on the girl's medical condition from outside doctors. She was hospitalized in September with a seriously injured brain stem, and her doctors at the time said she would never recover from her vegetative state.

But just after D-S-S won a court order to remove Haleigh from life support, she started showing signs of improvement and had been weaned off her ventilator. Officials say she is now able to move her eyes in the direction where a sound is being made.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[cgk]

Previous threads and history of Haleigh Poutre:

Threads by Keyword "haleighpoutre" on FR.

Michelle Malkin has been all over this as well: Blogging for Haleigh, helping to bring attention to a little girl who has been given up on by everyone involved but herself. Here is but one fact uncovered by Ms. Malkin that should have everyone asking WHY?

"Unbelievably, the state had weaned Haleigh off her breathing tube before the state Supreme Court had made its ruling -- but the government failed to inform the court of the development. Haleigh's medical records and the social service agency's brief remain sealed."

[Pio]

D-S-S = Death Sentence Society.

The DSS case workers have won praise from their boss in this matter.

[mtbopfuyn]

Just make sure they don't move her to Florida.

[cgk]

And the caseworker who handled Haleigh's case (and said that many of reasons for the 17 reports of abuse were "self-inflicted" injuries) is still working, still out "taking care" of children.

[nmh]

"But just after D-S-S won a court order to remove Haleigh from life support, she started showing signs of improvement and had been weaned off her ventilator. Officials say she is now able to move her eyes in the direction where a sound is being made."

Yes, yes, yes they know it all better, don't they?

LOL!

Still the culture of death will conjure up some reason to kill her. Just wait. Remember Terri in Florida? They will see her the same way IF she doesn't PROVE to them that she is still in there.

[cgk]

Michael Graham: Talk Host from Boston's WTKK

THE SCHIAVO SYNDROME:

An hour after Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced an independent panel will review Haleigh Poutre's case, here's CBS's headline on the AP story: "Mass. To Review Right-To-Die Case."

Right to die? Where did that come from? Nobody has even suggested that Haleigh wants DSS to pull her feeding tube. And because Haley's condition has improved, DSS has for the moment announced they aren't going to. And even if someone testified Haleigh had expressed an opinion on life-saving medical care, what difference would that make? She's ELEVEN.

This is why the political system has, thus far, largely failed Haleigh. Politicians are afraid of a backlash from the Schiavo case. They don't want to look like some sort of "pro-life weirdo," even though Haleigh's case has almost nothing in common with Terri Schaivo.

And who can blame the politicians for this concern, when the press misreports the story so badly? Leaders have a duty to lead, but the incompetence of the mainstream media doesn't make it any easier.

[cgk]

Actually, Haleigh had already been weaned off her ventilator BEFORE the court rules DSS could remove it. The court wasn't notified Haleigh didn't die yet... and was in fact, breathing on her own. Sounds to me like they were trying to cover their tracks.

[nmh]

I am not familiar with this situation ... .

So sad. I have concern about the outcome. Obviously they want her dead. Prayers are need for her.

[cgk]

Oh I wasn't coming down on you at all :). The press is going to try to have their way with this with the "right to die" arguments... and they'll spin this however they can until it's a "sad, hopeless situation". It's all moot. She's 11, her (adoptive) parents failed her, DSS failed her, the courts failed her, even doctors failed her. Yes - prayers are needed for her.

[prion]

Well, they want her dead in part for the laudible reason that they want to charge her foster father with murder. But she's not dead, she wasn't dead when they made the ruling, she's holding her own and, on the whole, I rather think she'd prefer to live than be avenged.

[Brad’s Gramma]

More prayers for Haleigh ...

[nmh]

I didn't think you were. You're one of the good guys.

I suspect history will repeat itself again ... .

[cgk]

Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping!

(Yes, this is a much-used cartoon, but its message is central to Haleigh's plight, as reader feedback has told me)

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping list...

[cgk]

Malkin UPDATE ping!

(as many of you know, Michelle is covering Haleigh's story when there are updates...)

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list...

[Salvation]

Prayers for this young girl and her family.

[ThanhPhero]

Uh-oh. somebody is going to get disciplined for this lapse.

[speekinout]

Prayers for this young girl and a pox on her family.

There, that's better. Her so-called family abused her all of her life, and her adopted mother/aunt and grandmother are dead now (no big loss).

[TheStraightDope]

"Officials say she is now able to move her eyes in the direction where a sound is being made."

Hurray, now she can look at where noise is coming from for the rest of her life.

I see there are plenty of you who think that God's will is thwarted when a person is removed from artificial means of sustenance; aren't there any Christians out there who think that maybe it's actually thwarting God's will to keep people alive indefinately by keeping them hooked to a machine? The latter seems a bit more logical than the former.

That said, I sure as hell hope nobody hooks me up to something so I can look back and forth in the same room until I croak. I'd rather die a slow and painful death... wait, that WOULD be dying a slow and painful death.

[Terriergal]

Just wait. Remember Terri in Florida? They will see her the same way IF she doesn't PROVE to them that she is still in there.

Except the guy who is known to have beaten her and put her in this state will actually fight to keep her alive because of that (but in a vegetative state so that she cannot testify).

What a tangled web we weave...

[luvbach1]

...any Christians out there who think that maybe it's actually thwarting God's will to keep people alive indefinitely by keeping them hooked to a machine?

Couldn't administering life-saving antibiotics, when medics see fit, be also considered a thwarting of God's will? And isn't that close to what Christian Scientists believe?