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.
OTH, trying to compare flea treating a dog with the cost of cancer treatment is ridiculous and not worthy of FReepers. We should be concentrating on the fact they didn't try to seek help from the many foundations that do Pro Bono treatment of Children(not socialized medicine).
Prayers up for the brave young woman you mentioned.
God’s Will Be Done.
Look, I’m the only one that has mentioned millions, so you are talking to me.
You are right. It doesn’t. It costs many hundreds of thousands on a best case basis, but because it would be paid for via Medicaid and “pro bono” health care, the $$ written off would be in the millions, perhaps multiple millions. Nothing is free and cancer treatment is a business just as is dog grooming (only more money in it).
Sorry the kid had to die because of crappy parents and I would have thrown a few bucks in hat for him, but try to tell me that I have to and we will fight. I have raised and have helped to raise many, many, many thousands of $$ for kids. Its what Shriners do primarily. I have volunteered and do so continuously.
That said, I think the only Hospitals that should be available for ANYONE (kid or adult) that has no money should be completely free and paid for aka Shriners and St Jude’s. The taxpayers paying even one thin cent is total BS.
Healthcare is no damn right, and I hate paying for the care of anyone that can’t cough it up. I don’t mind volunteering my time for kids, but I don’t like to be told that I have to pay for these people.
Tough words but tough ****.
The flea treatment was just a cheap journalistic trick.
I just remembered a story that a person from our church who became a missionary in Honduras told. A woman brought a very ill child to a place where a temporary medical mission was set up, but the doctor quickly determined that the child was much too ill for him to treat. The woman was very poor and had 5 other small children, so the mission team all kicked in a few dollars to allow the woman to go to the hospital to get treatment for the child.
A couple of weeks later the missionary visited the family in their home and saw the child had not been treated and asked what the woman had done with the money. She said that she had five more children and they were all hungry. She had had to sacrifice the medical treatment of the one to feed the rest.
Just after the 2004 re-election of Bush, some liberal wrote that he had NOTHING to be thankful for on that Thanksgiving. I wrote him a letter and told him the story of the woman who had to choose between a dying child and 5 starving children. I told him if he had nothing to be thankful for, be thankful that he didn’t have to make a Sophie’s Choice.
I see some on here talking about Medicaid. Medicaid is a joke.Quality doctors do not accept Medicaid because it costs more to do the paperwork than they get in reimbursement. Medicaid is the government and they TELL doctors, radiologists and hospitals what they will accept for reimbursement. Medicaid is socialized medicine. Unless the parents could find a charity to help, this little angel was doomed.
I will add her to my prayers. My mother is a financial supporter of St Jude’s and prays daily for the children there. I will give her your friend’s child’s name.
And you honestly believe that? We have "Medicaid doctors and dentists" in my area. Nobody but the poor go there because they do substandard work. Medicaid tells them what they will accept for a fee. Remember, Medicaid is socialized medicine. It never works to a patients advantage.
Okay. It’s not always easy to understand a person’s point in a post (and we sometimes hastily post which doesn’t help either way). However, I disagree that this child was doomed. If the parents had cared and sought treatment as soon as the lump was found, I do not think there is one hospital in Cleveland that would have refused him even with the parents having NO insurance. And for the record, in spite of the many things Cleveland does not have, we do, fortunately, have the very BEST in health care right here in The Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Metro General.
Eva - you really think it was stupidity when the aunt begged the sister (mother of the dead child) to go to the doctor and the mom just blew her off. Come on.
I have no problem with a nice mix of both. And the reason I think people are making a point of the flea treatments is because they were using the money as an excuse for not taking the kid to the DOCTOR. A routine doc visit is right around the amount they paid the vet. These bumpkins never even thought out far enough to go behind that.
Now do you understand?
I have no problem with a nice mix of both. And the reason I think people are making a point of the flea treatments is because they were using the money as an excuse for not taking the kid to the DOCTOR. A routine doc visit is right around the amount they paid the vet. These bumpkins never even thought out far enough to go behind that.
Now do you understand?
“behind that” = beyond that.
3 hours of sleep does have consequences.
I would love to see you say that to someone whose kid is dying of cancer someday. You have way more guts and less heart than I, that’s for sure. Me? I’m the compassionate sucker and this is what I WANT my taxes to go to; not the tennis shoe museum.
The hospitals here are not known for their charity. However I have seen a few funds started for needy children.
I used to be on the Pro-Life ping list. The comments against life were always about money.
That was no cheap journalistic trick. Just a few facts to set you straight:
Parents brought little doggie to vet for flea treatments costing about $87.00; they could have simply banished the dog outside or done a “do-it-yourself” flea treatment for a few bucks - yes; they exist.
A doctor’s visit for a routine check to see why the kid has a lump in his neck and doesn’t feel good runs about $75.00. This was the excuse the parents kept giving for not even bringing the kid to the doc for even the FIRST visit. I guarantee you these losers never looked past even the first visit.
The PROSECUTOR in this case is the one who presented the grand jury with the paid bill for the flea treatments, causing not a few jurors to cry, so the paper just printed that.
So much for CHEAP tricks. Time to open your eyes. Sometimes newspapers do a good job at pointing out things we need to know which is why I’m not thrilled so many are going down the tubes. In spite of their liberal bent, they do often do good investigative work - at least the Plain Dealer has and I say “kudos” to them for that. Of course, I still hate Connie Schultz.
This is the quote that should have been in my post to you. I shouldn't talk on the phone and post.
Interesting. I am still on the pro-life ping list. Did you remove yourself? I have not seen comments about money - but I can’t read everything.
I stopped posting for awhile after Terri Schiavo. I think I was removed because I disappeared. I post occasionally but not with consistency. Last time that I did, the debate was about money. Again.
Well, that’s good for you. Feel free to give away anything that you want to whomever you choose. But this bleeding heart crap is for the birds.
If the World needs me to tell them that people are born that should never have born and people will die because they cant afford the medicine, then I will be happy to be the scapegoat. It’s sad, but all people do not not deserve healthcare, food, cars, a roof over their head, etc etc. Somehow I don’t think the world wants me to speak for them, nor do we need people telling us how we need to give to sick kids or adults, for that matter.
The list goes on.
Do you really think that anyone that is sixty years old hasn’t had someone in their home or their life that hasn’t succumbed to cancer? Puhleez.
Regarding taxes, you nailed it. I dont want my tax dollars going anywhere but defense and infrastructure. Not tennis shoe museums, not social security (The world’s largest Ponzi scheme), and especially not healthcare or wellfare. Sorry, but God loves the children and he may need to take them earlier than would otherwise be considered normal.
The Terri Shiavo thing really upset me terribly. I still can’t get her out of my mind sometimes. Of course, she’s home now.
What are people saying about money? Is it that they don’t want to pay? We are pretty selfish, aren’t we? I have to confess that a lot - we have a lot here in the U.S. and we often forget our admonition to take care of the widow, the orphan and so on.
Of course, and here I go again beating my little drum, I think that our man-made institutions put into place by government are just terrible horrible crude imitations of what we could all really do if we put compassion into the hands of the people and took it out of the government’s control. Did you ever read Marvin Olasky’s book “Compassion in America?” It is excellent. The two best points he made (in my op) is that once we remove the human equation of “me giving to you” we take away two important components - the good feelings I receive because I am doing a good thing by helping another and the gratitude that should be coming from the receiver because he can directly see the sacrifice made. When government steps in, it’s like this giant anonymous corporation where nobody is accountable. If you give me food b/c I am hungry, and I see that you yourself don’t even have a lot of food, shouldn’t I feel thankful? And of course, if I think the government is going to “care” for people, I might not give of my own self through my church or other venues. Of course, this has all been taken away in our present system.
Sorry to go on about this but I do think this is part of our problem today.
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