Ohio parents admit denying ailing son medical care

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CANCER_DEATH_PLEA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-01-11-09-06-32

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The parents of an 8-year-old Ohio boy who died from Hodgkin's lymphoma have pleaded guilty to denying him medical treatment.

Thirty-seven-year-old Monica Hussing and 40-year-old William Robinson Sr., both of Cleveland, pleaded guilty Monday to attempted involuntary manslaughter.

Willie Robinson collapsed at his home on March 22, 2008. Prosecutors say he had begged his parents to take him to see a doctor but was rejected.

Hodgkin's lymphoma is a highly treatable cancer.

Prosecutors say that while the boy was suffering, the parents claimed financial hardship but paid $87 to have a pit bull treated for fleas.

According to The Plain Dealer, each parent faces up to eight years in prison at sentencing next month.

[rfranklin]

1. It's the Republican health plan...'Let 'em die!'

We all heard it during their "debates."

[Brickbat]

2. Because yeah, that $87 would have cleared the cancer right up.

[whathehell]

3. Hardly the point.

These people obviously don't give a rat's ass about their son.

[xchrom]

4. that was my thought as well.

doesn't mean they didn't behave horribly -- but not sure why that was stuck in there.

[izquierdista]

5. Charged with a crime?!?

If they were incorporated and had "Health" in their name, they would have been upgraded by S&P.

[MineralMan]

6. Financial hardship does not excuse this. Not in any way.

There is assistance available, especially for children. Decent parents would fight to have their child treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma, and the child would get the treatment, one way or another. Every hospital has social workers who know what assistance is available. They will work with parents, especially, to ensure that treatment is done for such an illness.

[liberalhistorian]

9. Absolutely correct. As a mother myself,

I could not imagine anything making me not get whatever treatment I could for my son however I could, even if it meant I lived under a bridge for twenty years and wouldn't be able to have health care myself. And, indeed, there are plenty of programs for children in these situations, even more so than for adults. The only conclusions I can draw regarding these parents are that they either didn't believe in modern medicine or medical treatment or they just didn't give a shit. How any parent could watch their child suffering like that poor child must have done and do nothing is simply beyond my comprehension.

[Old Codger]

7. wow

A whole eight years for killing their child....they are calling it "attempted" manslaughter, but he died, I would call it murder pure and simple.

[cags]

8. But but, healthcare is not a right... right?

Isn't that what repubs say? Santorum says people die in america cause people die.

Is there a law that says parents legally have to provide healthcare for their children?
Don't some people get away with doing this by citing religious reasons?
Is it ok to let your children die if you are religious but not ok to let them die if you are not?


Don't get me wrong, if I had my way those parents would not go to jail but be injected with a terminal disease that was very painful, and then denied healthcare. I am just a bit confused as to what they are being charged with legally speaking.

People die everyday because they can't afford healthcare in this country so how can people go to jail because they didn't get healthcare for their child.

Someone educate me as to what I'm missing here, not morally speaking but legally speaking.

[liberalhistorian]

10. There are plenty of laws in Ohio that require you to

provide what is necessary for the care and life of your child. And the religious reasons defense is very difficult to use successfully, there are many legal hurdles regarding its use and many parents who do use it are not successful. Nor should they be, in cases such as this.

[hedgehog]

11. Ohio needs to upgrade its child welfare system -

"The couple moved to Cleveland three weeks before Willie died to avoid the scrutiny of Trumbull County Children's Services, which began investigating after Hussing's sister reported that Willie needed medical attention."

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/parents_who_failed_to_get_medi.html

Although I suspect most(all?) the states suffer from fractured county by county child welfare programs!

Too many people are all for cutting taxes and want to believe that it costs money to protect children!

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. HORRIBLE!