Lack of daycare or neglect?

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

A baby died of dehydration as his mother left him in the car while she worked her shift at a store near here.

http://wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4732090

(The temp here was in the 80s for the past few days.)

Every time I read soething like this I wonder if all people are equal or are some just more equal than others. If she'd had childcare (affordable child care) what would the outcome have been?

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A baby died of dehydration as his mother left him in the car while she worked her shift at a store near here.

http://wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4732090

(The temp here was in the 80s for the past few days.)

Every time I read soething like this I wonder if all people are equal or are some just more equal than others. If she'd had childcare (affordable child care) what would the outcome have been?

I don't think this is about childcare issues but about either lack of information (trying to be charitable here) or STUPIDITY.

Not only is there risk of overheating but what about the child being stolen? A 15 month old alone for nine hours? How scared must that child have been - they don't sleep for nine hours straight.

And then the mom drove to a fast food restaurant 8-10 miles away instead of calling for an ambulance.

There are so many ways this is just wrong.

steph

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

the way i view these things, p_rn, is even if she had had affordable daycare.......what if it had been closed and she had to work? would the outcome had been the same?

probably so.

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Ok seriously that's just crazy. You have to wonder about some people and judging by the picture in the article you posted I don't have to wonder to hard...lol. A friend and I went to the local library when I was still in nursing school in the middle of summer (in Fl mind you) and pulled in beside a car with 3 kids in it. They were all under 5, one couldn't have been more than a couple of months old. None of the windows were even cracked, so were talking outside temp in the 90's. God knows how long they had been in there and how hot the inside of that car was. :madface: I went and told a women at the front desk and they called the police saying it's there policy to call police then they page the parent. I was standing there wandering 'My God they have a policy for this, how many people do this?' World is freaking crazy; they really should make parents take classes and get a lisence to have babies. :idea: I mean heck you have to have a lisence to fish and hunt for goodness sake.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Not a daycare issue at all. Clear-cut neglect. She could have brought the baby into work with her, for crying out loud. They may have sent her home, but at least the baby would still be alive.

And why drive 8-10 miles when she could have simply gone back into work to call for help? Makes me think she didn't even look at the poor child until she got the the fast food place. Her meal was more important than taking a second to check on the baby that she had just neglected for 9 hours.

There's got to be a special place in he** for people with this little regard for human life, especially their own children. If this woman is sent to prison, can you imagine the outcry if she were forced to go 9 hours in an overheated cell without food, water or access to a restroom?

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Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

So it sounds like she never even went out to check on this baby. I am almost sure that at some point during her 9 hour shift she must have had a break?!?!?! Was this baby buckled in a car seat for 9 hours or loose in the car and why in the HE?@ did no one notice a baby in the car???

I am just nauseated.

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Specializes in ICU.

Cases like this are disgusting. I too think it's a matter of neglect. I realize some people do not have the means for daycare and have to work, but how the hell do they think that locking them up in a car in the heat for 9 hours strapped in a car seat is even a plausible alternative?

:angryfire

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And no food for nine hours or change of diapers? What was this mother thinking? She could have brought the infant in and left him his car seat in the office, if she really needed to be there.

But she doesn't have to worry anymore.

Looks like her housing and meals will be taken care of by the state for some time to come.

:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

The news updated this somewhat. The store she worked at is across the street from a waffle house, a chilis, an outback, a chinese restaurant, a chick-fil-a, etc a real franchise row. I see now that probably she didn't recognise his condition until on the way home......awful.

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Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Absolutely NOT a daycare issue. As siri pointed out, if it wasn't this that killed the baby, it would have been something else.

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Ok just a question I'm sure you guys can answer. Could the baby dehydrate and die in 9 hours if it was perfectly heathy and taken care of otherwise? What I'm getting at is other then the hard core proof of stupidity on this mother's part, could this child have still been alive if it had been in perfect health condition. Please don't think for one second I'm condoning this I'm NOT. I just seem to think this child was not ever properly taken care of the poor little soul.

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Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
I wonder if all people are equal or are some just more equal than others.

Equal in/of what...smarts?

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