[8mmMauser]

Haleigh Poutre update...

In this season as we wish hope and joy, a little light shines.

............................

Haleigh Poutre of Westfield was 11 years old when her photograph appeared almost daily in this newspaper accompanying stories about her abuse and the failure of the state to protect her.

She is smiling.

That smile was in stark contrast to the details of the alleged abuse contained within the news stories reporting on her case.

A commission appointed to investigate her case concluded that she was a victim of "systemic failure on all levels, public and private."

"What happened to Haleigh Poutre ... should not have happened and did not have to happen," the report said.

Poutre was admitted to a hospital on Sept. 11, 2005, and the report investigating her case was released on March 21, 2006.

Today, as the calendar nears 2008, there still have been no significant reforms or changes in child-care protective services in Massachusetts in the wake of the Haleigh Poutre case.

For that reason, the decision by Gov. Deval L. Patrick to create the state's first Office of the Child Advocate is welcome news.

Children such as Poutre will now have an advocate, an independent and unbiased voice to keep track of their cases and advise the governor whenever there is a tear in the safety net so that it can be fixed.

These children need an adult who will not fail them, as so many have in their young lives.

The office will have none of the authority given child advocates in other states, such as the power to issue subpoenas and hold public hearings.

Girl with big smile should spark change

8mm

[8mmMauser]

A new case...

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Sixteen-year-old Javona Peters sat up in bed at Montefiore Medical Center the morning of Oct. 17, smiling and chatting, ready for her operation.

"I want to come out of there the same way I'm going in," the bubbly high school junior teased her doctor.

"Don't worry, you will," the surgeon replied.

A few hours later, Javona was without most of her brain function - forever blind, deaf, unable to move, talk, think or eat on her own.

Her heart still beats and she can breathe with assistance, but she is in a persistent vegetative state, much like Terri Schiavo or, a generation ago, Karen Ann Quinlan.

And now - like them - she is the subject of an impending court battle, one that will pit father against mother over whether to let their daughter die................

Kin battle over daughter's life support

8mm

[floriduh voter]

Haleigh Poutre is smiling. Healing takes time but don't tell that to the intl harvesters. Bless her.

FYI: As mentioned here before, coma and pvs patients are RECOVERING after Ambien. What a shame Terri had no chance to try a new drug like Ambien but she was already alert and aware. She just needed competent care instead of the bad guys always working to kill her.

www.judgegeorgegreer.com and www.michaelschiavo.org

[floriduh voter]

TASING CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS IN WISCONSIN. (I am anti-tase). People are getting scared, hurt and killed.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59382