I intended to start this post with a tribute to William F. Buckley, R.I.P., a giant inexorably tied to our own, T'wit. They are now reunited as chums in a better place, sharing puns and humor as before. Before I do that, we have an appropriate lead-in from Michelle Malkin on a topic very dear to T'wit, the fate of Haleigh Poutre. As I noticed recently, Haleigh is now communicating. T'wit would be thrilled.
Thanks to TheSarce for the tip.
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I’ve written thousands and thousands of blog posts over the year and 16 years’ worth of newspaper columns. Some of the stories enter your heart and never leave. Haleigh Poutre’s story was one of those stories.
Longtime readers will remember Haleigh from two years ago. She was the 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts who had been hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat. Haleigh, in a coma, was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was “virtually brain dead” — in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Massachusetts Department of Social Services wanted to remove Haleigh’s feeding and breathing tubes. They called her “hopeless.” They called her condition “irreversible.”
As they moved to pull the plug, a miracle happened: She started breathing on her own.
Her case revealed massive, dangerous bureaucratic incompetence and the fallibility of the medical establishment.
Now, the Boston Herald reports that Haleigh Poutre–who turned 14 on Sunday–is now speaking about the unimaginable abuse she suffered:
Defying all odds, the brain-damaged Westfield girl who was days away from a state order to remove her from life support in 2006 is now communicating information about the horrific abuse that nearly killed her, according to new court documents.
Although once thought to be brain-dead, Haleigh Poutre, who turned 14 on Sunday, is now ‘making statements alleging abuse” by her stepfather Jason Strickland, according to a motion filed in Hampden Superior Court last month by Strickland’s attorney, Alan Black of Springfield.
Haleigh is recovering at a Brighton rehabilitation hospital, where her condition has reportedly vastly improved since the legal battle over her life captured national headlines in 2006.
Haleigh was beaten into a coma Sept. 11, 2005, allegedly at the hands of Strickland and his wife, Holli Strickland, Haleigh’s adoptive mother and biological aunt.
Black’s motion indicates that a 51A concerning Haleigh has been forwarded to him by Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett. A 51A is a report of abuse or neglect that can be filed with the Department of Social Services.
“This creates issues concerning competency and (Haleigh’s) ability to testify and recall events in light of her severe head trauma,” Black wrote in the motion that requests a new trial schedule be set so he has time to review the information and hire experts.
Bennett is not commenting on the case against Strickland.
Eight days after Haleigh’s near-fatal beating, DSS sought a court order allowing Haleigh to be removed from life support. Jason Strickland objected, but in January 2007, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that DSS could remove Haleigh from life support. The next day, DSS announced that Haleigh was breathing on her own, and it had halted plans to remove her feeding tube.
News reports last year indicated that Haleigh could eat, write her name and flex muscles - all activities that doctors once said would never be possible.
As I’ve noted before, there is a powerful institutional motive for covering up Haleigh’s progress.
Don’t forget her.
Haleigh Poutre speaks
8mm
William F. Buckley and Timothy J. WheelerR.I.P.
The present times dim with the passing of an institution at our Conservative heart. But our mentors who passed would offer a different hope than the ersatz chump pretenders of today, so we may see a few rays of sunshine while the skies cloud over.
Sometimes we receive news with a little grace in the way we hear it. When Tim passed, I was blissfully unaware even as word leaked out, until his wife called to tell me. In the case of William F. Buckley, I knew nothing until I turned on the radio and heard it from Rush Limbaugh. Listeners to Rush over the years know along with his own father Rush revered William F. Buckley as the greatest force shaping his life.
Many on our Terri List and FreeRepublic heard his touching tribute to the man and to the role he played, but fewer would connect Rush's inadvertent tribute to Tim.
Rush compared Mr. Buckley to our Founding Fathers, to another half of the Conservative phalanx of Ronald Reagan, like a phoenix growing through the ashes of shame and destruction brought about by that little Jimmy Carter and his kind.(I take liberties here with my memory as I sure can't remember the words, only the image he stamped...)
Rush described how he was touched as a kid, reading the Buckley column, the early National Review magazines and how he nervously got finally to visit the giant, William F. Buckley , and the most brilliant people in the world, those editors and cronies close to Mr. Buckley. Bold unflappable Rush stood in awe, nervous in the presence of these people, and repeated his impressions again and again. I can readily imagine the scene as Tim fit that mold perfectly, looked the part, tall, imposing, dignified and smart.
William F. Buckley in that seminal time brought in to his small coterie a man with huge talent and like humor, to be editor of the early National Review. Soft spoken Tim shied from the limelight, but carried much influence and friendship. And he must have been one of those impressive fellows named by Rush as part of the most brilliant minds in the world! They both would see our present day valley of tears in that light of optimism and humor even as their own creation was to some extent usurped and morphed into a form less clear.
William F. Buckley and company left us all a legacy. They planted the seed for us to nurture.
"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."
Haleigh Poutre is communicating! Thank you, Governor Mitt Romney. He stepped in and prevented her from being recycled for parts.
The woman in a coma at The Largo Medical Center after the Pinellas Cty Jail neglected to treat her fever for five days is in the ONLY local hospital whose first question is "would you like a Living Will?" I'm afraid this woman Dorothy will be under-treated and they will convince her family that there's no hope.
Remember, the Sheriff's office (Mikey's very job in the women's jail) would like to do a coverup. If poor Dorothy is bumped off and cremated and the ME does a report vindicating Mikey's ward, it's just business as usual.
Pray for Dorothy. She's surrounded by death advocates.