Russian Orphan Babies Gagged By Staff To Prevent Crying

my faith in humanity just plummeted... that's so sad.

I saw it on the local news. I felt terribly sorry for those babies. How could they do such a thing to those innocent little ones???

The conditions of most orphanages in the world are abysmal, especially in countries without ready access to birth control. They're full, crowded, have inadequate supplies, and are staffed by people who may or may not have training. I've read about kids being tied in their cribs as well. Unfortunately, like nursing homes, it's a numbers game. As long as they're all alive and receiving SOME care, it's considered ok.

Still opposed to abortion? I could never subject a child to a life full of that kind of stuff.

Although I support a woman's right to choose, I really don't see this as an abortion rights issue.

It is true that conditions in orphanages in many countries are abysmal due to funding and staffing issues. This story, however, reflects pure evil. It is heartbreaking enough to realize that their are children who aren't provided with their most needs because there's not enough money or people to care for them. The passive neglect is heartbreaking enough. This abuse is far worse.

How sad this story brings tears to my eyes. I can't even imagine how this can happen in a hospital.

These staff who were doing this to those poor babies deserve to rot in prison. Those innocent babies are in pain and suffering and because this hospital was short staffed they decided to gag them to muffle their cries. Those people who did that deserve to sit in prison and have their mouths sealed with plaster and see how they like it. It really does make me sick to see what some people are capable of doing to other human beings...

!Chris

It is horrific what happens around the world. Remember the orphanages of Romania, the dying rooms in China?

Health care had deteriorated in Russia since the end of the Soviet era. Abortion used to be one of the main forms of birth control in the USSR.

It is all well and good for us to call the nurses in these facilities inhumane, evil, whatever but until we have walked in their shoes, endured their working conditions let us not be too fast in hurling abuse at them.

My husband (not even a medic) wound up working in a psych hospital in Bosnia during the Balkan conflicts. All but a few nurses and a doctor had abandoned their patients. What he saw was terrible but as he said, the staff that stayed did their best but were overwhelmed, limited meds, limited supplies and hundreds of patients. But at least they stayed.

I'm not supporting gagging a child but how short staffed and under supplied are these facilities? How many medical staff have been poached away to the west with higher wage offers? How would we function in a room full of crying newborns if we were the only nurse and there were more than a dozen children?

It's times like this that I wonder how many posters on this topic actively support UNICEF and other international relief organizations that attempt to supply and support orphanages in the former East bloc?

just breaks my heart- and the difficult and lengthy adoption situation makes it even sadder-

Gadzooks and Angelina Jolie and Madonna come under fire because they have adopted children from third world countries where they probably would not have had a fighting chance at life. Their private lives are their business but they do deserve credit for rescuing some of these children by adopting them and contribuing heavily to the charities who try to take care of these precious little ones.