Lack of daycare or neglect?

[P_RN]

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?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

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.

I actually was thinking sort of the same thing - my son was sick with N/V/D for over 24 hours last year and didn't eat or drink anything . . . HOWEVER, I think that because the baby was in an overheated space, a healthy child could die. It does happen all the time, unfortunately.

steph

[Jean Alice]

There's ALWAYS something that you can do. If she had to, she could have told her boss that she didn't have daycare. If the store wouldn't help at all, she would have been better off not working there. People get help from social services, friends, family, neighbors. There is NO excuse for leaving a child in the car.

[babynurselsa, RN]

Yes a perfectly healthy, preivously well hydrated child can die of dehydration quickly in a hot car.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7631

http://www.adoptagolden.com/k9stuff/activity/dogincar.htm

http://christianservices-sw.org/resources/parent_education/car_safety.shtml

[Jean Alice]

kind of off the subject. How do you stay professional and appear non-judgemental when a case like this is presented to you at your facility. I havn't had to deal with anything like it, yet, and I don't know how I would react.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

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.

Most definitely, Pinky2.

Children can and will dehydrate from a perfectly healthy individual to dead.... and rapidly in comparison to adults (about 3 times as fast).

They have higher metabolic rates, sweat less efficiently and have higher body water content which account for the faster dehydration. Heatstroke: this child's body temp started to rise within the first 15 minutes of his ordeal and contributed to the rapid increase of body fluids loss and in turn, approx. 12%-15% weight loss indicating severe dehydration.

[jillyk*rn]

First off - It is just plain and stupid neglect.

Second - A child can overheat and die in the car if perfectly healthy.

Unfortunately in South Florida we get a couple of these a year (left in there to go to the track a few months ago, forgot the baby was in the car).

It is sooo senseless. Imagine our summers here at 98 degrees...imagine the inside of the car sitting in the sun. It's horrible.

[smk1, LPN]

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

i have to agree with steph. The baby got no food, no movement, no interaction or supervision. I feel for people in the situation where they have to make tough choices, but this shouldn't be a tough choice. that poor baby! :angryfire

[smk1, LPN]

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.

in an over 80 degree enviornment, no air circulating, strapped into a corificeat, wearing god knows what sort of attire, screaming and crying for nine hours straight with no food or water.... i would say yes.

[S.N. Visit, BSN, RN]

Disgusting....... I'm outraged !

[leslie :-D]

kind of off the subject. How do you stay professional and appear non-judgemental when a case like this is presented to you at your facility. I havn't had to deal with anything like it, yet, and I don't know how I would react.

i asked the same question when i was in nsg school.

but when the actual situation(s) presented themselves to me, i was much more professional than i gave myself credit for. in my near 11 yrs of hospice, i've had a pedophile and murderer for pts. the pedophile case was particularly challenging. but i managed, through the grace of God.

leslie

[Katnip, RN]

It's amazing how these things can happen. Awful.

Yes a child can die very quickly in situations like this.

It happened in our neighborhood last fall. The father took his older kids to school, dropped them off, then went home and parked his van in the garage. Left the 4 month old baby in there all day. I guess he forgot and worked from home all day, didn't realize the baby was still in the car when he went to pick up his kids. The baby was dead.

This is a well educated man who had a very responsible job and was heavily involved in charitable work and politics in our county. If it could happen to him, it could happen to anybody.

[Pinky2]

thank you for not totally dogging me on this. I was just trying to make a point that if the weather had not been hot ..... I just was making the point that this was probably not the first time this poor child had been subjected to the stupidity of this kind of behavior from it's mother. I have a 2 yr and a 9 yr and just have no way of understanding the thought process of leaving a child in a car or alone for that matter.