Posted on 03/12/2009 12:09:05 PM PDT by Paved Paradise
CLEVELAND Willie Robinson's parents claimed they couldn't afford medical treatment for the dying 8-year-old boy's cancer, prosecutors said, but they had enough money to pay a veterinarian to treat their pet pit bull for fleas. A Cuyahoga County grand jury on Wednesday indicted William Robinson Sr. and Monica Hussing for involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and felonious assault.
Willie died nearly a year ago, on March 22, shortly after he was admitted to MetroHealth Medical Center suffering from the final stages of Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of the most common and curable of cancers to strike children. The county coroner found that the child died of the cancer and pneumonia, but ruled his death a homicide.
Prosecutors said parental neglect was as responsible for Willie's death as the diseases.
"They never once took him to a doctor," said County Prosecutor Bill Mason. "It just is not right. This kid should be alive today."
Investigators said while Willie suffered without care, his parents paid $87 to have the pit bull, Petey, treated for fleas.
Assistant County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia worked on the case for the past year with police and family members. She said she is outraged by how the parents ignored a child who begged them to take him to see a doctor, but was rejected.
"There were some horrific symptoms," she said. "What weren't they seeing? Even a blind person would have known there was something wrong with him."
The parents were not arrested Wednesday, and have remained free since Willie's death. They will appear in court for an arraignment hearing in about two weeks, Faraglia said.
I work in LE and 95 percent of the time if a criminal has a dog it’s a pit bull.
That is not the issue laid out by this obviously slanted piece.
Our medical establishment does NOT provide excellent, free, complete and comprehensive healthcare to those that cannot afford it. They provide minimum care and are HEAVILY incentivized to push them out the door. Happens everyday, day in, day out.
The reason my 3 hour stay cost $12K is because I could afford it. I’m paying for them.
Not quite the truth about Shriners. The “free” hospitals have to be gotten to. And the Shriners (of which I am glad and proud to be one of and have been for 5 years) ROUTINELY turn away children when there is simply NO ROOM.
I - personally - have seen Medicaid blow through millions of dollars worth of care in months and for one person! This young boy would have been taken care of. Beyond the parents, somebody failed this poor boy. In the year that he was deathly sick NO ONE saw him? No one knew anything about his pain and condition? No one?
This is COMPLETELY outrageous!!!
No problem. Search feature rarely works for me. It’s disturbing to know we live among such creatures that would treat a little boy like this...and the audacity of the “authorities” to allow 5 additional children to stay with these animals is beyond disgusting.
No I agree with you there, but to condemn these uneducated savages? Who knows what they knew. They obviously knew he had cancer. Hey, maybe they even saw a fantastic oncologyst that specialized in this particular type of cancer..Perhaps he told them, “Hey, this is terminal” Perhaps they made the decision that was best for all concerned, that’s all I’m saying.
RE: Medicaid. Tis sometimes true, tis sometimes not true. It goes by case loading and alot of factors. Rarely is it a decision based patient need. More often is the decision based upon the care providers need. That’s why we have the rampant Medicaid fraud that we do.
It didn’t exist 70 yrs ago, perhaps it should be done away with. Then we’ll see how nice our care providers are..
Meant to say, NOW I agree with you there.
I’m with you.
Or St. Judes. They do wonders with childhood cancer and will help those who can’t pay for treatment.
Of course. They need the dog for “protection.” And there is also a certain element of people that is just plain mean and like to have dogs that they know can do a lot of damage.
Anyone that would make a comparison in the cost to treat a dog, feed a dog, or do anything with or for a dog to that of a human being is warped. And as for paying - this is not the case of a lazy slob who ate double whoppers every day, drank fifths of Jim Beam, and smoked three packs a day complaining because they don’t have money to pay for their new liver or heart, this is a child; an innocent child with a very treatable illness and it DOES not cost the millions some of you clowns on here have implied. If that family was that poor, they would qualify for government paid health care and there are numerous orgs that would have helped that boy.
And, incidentally, there are many folks out there who are poor and have no job and they would not have treated their child this way.
Finally, I would GLADLY help to pay for treatment of people like that little boy who obviously was given monsters for parents.
Oh, and one more thing - I’d like to know how they even afforded buying food for the dog if they were not working.
A friend from church has a 13 year old daughter who has been battling brain cancer at St. Judes for 3 years now. She is weak but she is a fighter. Pray for Mary Jo Deitch if you are a believer.
If you havent gotten it yet, Im playing devil’s advocate. Regardless of the truth, I’m sure it is something other than what is reported here.
This is a smear piece put out by the prosecution.
These “parents” should never be allowed to have children. Not natural ones, not adopted ones, not foster ones.
Thanks Lizavetta. He was a beautiful little boy and now maybe some of these idiots on here will “get” that children are not some kind of “pet” that we can just decide we want to treat or not; discard or not.
Okay, cool.
Okay, cool.
Well, let’s lift her up in prayer right now, BOT.
Dear Heavenly Father, today, we come to you and ask for restoration for Mary Jo. We heard she’s a fighter so we ask that you not only give her the strength to continue her fight but heal her completely. We thank YOU, Lord, for those who will be working with her on her treatment and for all those caring for Mary Jo. We ask for wisdom and skill for all those involved in her treatments and finally, we ask for your comfort for all who love Mary Jo, but mostly, we just ask that you continue to be there for this precious little girl. We ask these blessings in the name of your precious Son, Jesus.
Amen!
Prayer bump for Mary Jo, folks.
What is wrong with these people is stupidity and probably distrust of authority. I bet that the kid didn’t have inoculations, either.
The parents were too stupid to consider the possibility that a young child might be suffering from a serious disease. It probably wasn’t the lack of money, just the lack of initiative to deal with the paper work.
This is what those long term birth control medications were designed for, stopping stupid people from reproducing.
I’m not saying that the high cost is an excuse for not treating. I just think it’s silly to compare the cost of flea treatment (oh sure, they’ll shell out $xx for the dog, but not $XXX,XXX for the kid) to cost of cancer treatment.
I think we, as a society, need to decide whether our taxes are taken to cover everyone’s medical bills or we rely on donations and charity.
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