Baby found dead in vehicle (left all day in a minivan)

Grand Forks Herald ^ | June 29, 2006 | Lisa Gibson

[omronnie]

Twenty years in the Navy. Never drunk on duty - never sober on liberty.

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Perfect !! LOL !!

SGT USMC 1964-1968 (Vet Vet) (Still wiping the spit off of my uniforn as we speak!!)!!

One of my best liberty memories was at Long Beach, CA when a friend and I were returning to the ship that was to take us to Vet Nam in 1966.

This dear friend mine and I were returning to the ship after a night of ichi-go-ichi (151 rum and coke) at Pallisades Park in Long Beach.

Yea, we musta been all of 21 at the time !!!

We were running along the fence at the Navy base trying to make curfew when I saw a VW Beetle parked next to the fence.

So I waltsed out to the middle of the road to make room for my friend, only he didn't get the clue!!

BANG !! He ran right into the rear of the VW and I had to help carry him and his bruised knees the rest of the way to the ship (the Happy Valley (Valley Forge?)), a converted flat top with a ships crew, a batallion of Marines, and a piece of the 3rd Marine air wing (Dual Rotor Helicopters).

So, as a result of HIS running into the VW, I spent the 3 days that we spent in Hawaii on guard duty before moving on to Vet Nam (DaNang) !!! LOL !!

BTW, My friend got a Purple Heart when we finally got 'In Country'.

He was whisked onto a hospital ship and I never heard from him again. And so it goes !!

[omronnie]

It was a tragic mistake for which she shouldn't be judged.

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Trust me !!

There is NOTHING that the G'ment can do that she has NOT already done to herself !!

[omronnie]

Lol, there's a small problem with that idea too. The interrupt that prevents key withdrawal on modern cars is entirely mechanical. Your function would require redesigning the key-ignition systems on every car to function electronically. The auto manufacturers would fight that vigorously.

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Seems to me that the 'Automotive Industry' vigorously opposed seat belts in the first place, but guess what !!

TRUST ME, I am NOT a NANNY STATE, POS !!

No Mandate, but if various car manufactures find out that it is in their (there, for you people in Rio Linda) best interest, then things will change in response to what the customer wants !!

Semper Fi !!

[GatorGirl]

I'm not excusing this mother, but she is likely punishing herself far more than the courts could ever punish her.

I would have recurring dreams that I forgot the baby some where when I had my first.

I even panicked one time thinking I had left him in the car when I went to the grocery store, to eventually remember I left had him home with Daddy.

[maica]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/14885467.htm


At least 36 Americans die this horrible heat death each year and hundreds, likely thousands, end up in emergency rooms. Those who attempt to collect the statistics suspect the death figures are higher but the government doesn't, at present, collect specific data on car hyperthermia deaths.

[EricT.]

I mean that mixing the double-full time job of motherhood with a job outside the home is going to make exhausted mothers.

[acad1228]

The switch is the carseat itself.

[Arthalion]

Heh, bad news. Reading this thread actually gave me a much simpler idea. You could build an extremely cheap radio transmitter into a carseat, and activate it with a very simple switch in the latch. When the carseat is buckled, it sends out a very weak short-range radio signal. This type of thing would be trivial to build. On your keychain, you can have a fob no larger than the ones used on car alarms. When the buckle is latched, it sends out an "activate" signal that turns the fob on, and sends out "reminder" pulses every minute or two. When the car seat is unbuckled, it sends out a "deactivate" signal. If an activated fob leaves the vicinity of the car and doesn't receive its "reminder" pulse, it starts chirping loudly to alert the parent that there is still something buckled into the carseat. It would be impossible to take your keys away from the vehicle after the system has activated WITHOUT setting off the alarm.

Sounds great, right? The perfect solution, right? It was patented in 2003 by someone else. When I started looking up the other references in the patent, I found that your contact switch idea has also been patented. So have other ideas that use everything from motion to infra-red heat detectors. We've been beat to the punch.

The real question is why, since some of these patents are over a decade old, are none of these options available for purchase?

[pax_et_bonum]

Trust me !!

There is NOTHING that the G'ment can do that she has NOT already done to herself !!

And that she will not continue to do to herself every day, every moment for the rest of her life.

[Gone GF]

"At least 36 Americans die this horrible heat death each year and hundreds, likely thousands, end up in emergency rooms. Those who attempt to collect the statistics suspect the death figures are higher but the government doesn't, at present, collect specific data on car hyperthermia deaths."

Yes, but not because the parent forgot the child. Because the parent left the child in the vehicle on purpose.

[Gone GF]

"Several years ago, I read about a study which suggested that people "compensate" for all the safety additions in their cars by driving more recklessly, usually not conscious that they are doing this."

Never heard of this. Evidence please?

[editor-surveyor]

"you mean, why hasn't the state made laws against this?"

No, I mean the stupid airbag laws are what caused all these deaths.

[RinaseaofDs]

They said that about airbags too. The government dragged them kicking and screaming into doing it, and now today, you feel hinky driving in cars without them now.

Nobody in their right mind would by a car that didn't have them.

There is almost no expense to what I'm talking about, and from a BD perspective, you only need Graco or one of the others to agree to do this. This is a simple contact switch interlock wired to the central alarm system (alarms are also now standard in autos).

The plug is connected once and its connected through the wire harness bundle in the same way that seat warmers and the electronic seat adjusters are. If a seat warmer is within the realm of expense in a minivan, alarm interlocks to prevent child deaths certainly would be.

[BykrBayb]

Yes, but not because the parent forgot the child. Because the parent left the child in the vehicle on purpose.

Can you back that up? Or did you make it up?

[linda_22003]

As I said, it was years ago, and I read an article ABOUT the study. Anecdotally, I think it's true, but then again, my husband refers to my driving style as "Mrs. Toad's Wild Ride".

[Gone GF]

I'm not talking about people leaving them in cars on purpose hoping they'll die, I'm talking about folks who think it's OK to leave them while they duck into the store or wherever, not realizing how fast the heat rises. I admit I'm guessing here, but I bet that happens a lot more often than the mom who forgets to drop her child off at day care.

[happyhomemaker]

I think a lot of posters are confusing the issue of neglect. There is criminal neglect and benign neglect. When I read this story what struck me first was the fact that this mother never called into the daycare all day. I found that bizarre that a mother of an infant never checked on her baby in 8hrs! The second issue was there was no plan in place for her to be contacted if the child did not show up for the day. I am not a perfect mother but if my children are in the care of someone else I still check in frequently.

I brought this up on a mothering discussion board and was scolded and told the parents who call in to check on their children are bothersome, worryworts or distrustful! I guess we are training mothers to concentrate on their day job and let the daycare take care of the kids.

[OldFriend]

I do not walk in that mother's shoes. When my children were born I was blessed to stay at home.

Women make other choices and sometimes they are good and other times they have a very bad outcome.

[Frapster]

it's because it's done every day, week, month and year that the human psyche can actually rely upon past events to validate the belief that you have already done the action. Especially if you're under pressure at work, have a bill you have to pay or are in the process of serious other issues. Is it an excuse? No - but it's a horrible tragedy. We can of course claim superior righteousness but what's the point in that? I know - we should add to their own self-imposed grief and pain. It's something to do, eh?

[happyhomemaker]

I would be interested to know how long the baby may have lived. I think the article stated the high of the day was 78 but I wonder if it was a cool morning and the baby had a chance if someone would have became aware earlier in the morning. It is unfortunate that the mother didn't call in all day.

I think the increase in these incidents is occurring because infants are in need of basically one on one care at all times and ideally with their own mother. In my state the ratio for infants is 4 to 1. Every day an infant becomes part of an unrelated quad family with an unrelated caregiver. We are all in awe of a mother who has 4 babies but every day infants in daycare are in the same position without the benefit of having mom take care of them!! To many mistakes/accidents can happen the more the child is passed around. Time after time in these cases there was a breakdown of care for the child.