Roselynn's Story: family upset with Riley Hospital over child's baptism

[romantico]

THIS IS SO WRONG!!! This makes me very angry!!!

http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-roselynns-story-unwanted-baptism-030310,0,1946787.story

Freepers are already attacking the girl's parents!

[rurallib]

1. I am not bent toward litigation, but in this case I believe I would seek out legal advice

[TheMadMonk]

7. Litigate, and litigate hard. This is wrong in so many ways.

Whether the parents are believers or not.

[tavalon]

11. Mistakes were made but as one who takes care of families

who lose infants, I think there are far worse things to do, none of which were done. And yes, the nurses were not thinking well at all in that situation. Still, no, this isn't litigation material. It's misguided people doing selfish things.

The mistake that was made was in not keeping the parents in the loop. I can't understand why that wasn't done but it was all done out of misguided kindness.

[shireen]

12. after thinking about it ... i think you're right

Losing the child was devastating enough. I guess the hospital meant well, but photographing the child after death in that way, and doing the baptism without the consent of the parents was pretty insensitive. At the very least, the parents should have a lawyer send a stern letter of warning to the hospital, and that may be enough to put a stop to it.

[tavalon]

14. We always tell the parents what we're going to do and I personally

try to help them be involved. That said, I've had so many times where the parents didn't want to see their baby but came back for the pictures a year later. I always take the pictures with reverential care. I'm not a Christian but at parents request, I have baptized babies before. The only time I haven't taken the pictures is when the parents were adament - it only happened once and thank goodness, they didn't have a change of heart later.

[MineralMan]

2. It was very wrong of that chaplain to do this without the

parents' permission or request.

That said, for a non-believer, what harm did it do? If you are an atheist, like I am, such things have no effect on anything. The only reason I'd take legal action would be to protect others from similar things.

Now, if the parents had some non-Christian religious beliefs, then it's another matter. If they believe that baptism is against their own religion, then I'd sue the crap out of this hospital, since I would believe that real harm was done.

[Lyric]

4. They weren't non-believers.

They just don't believe in baptizing infants. On the video, the mother said that they felt the baptism of an infant is akin to saying that the infant was "sinful," and that was extremely upsetting to them. Apparently, the nurses on the floor had become "attached" to the baby and called for the baptism themselves. They took the baby's body away from her mother, telling the mother that they would only be handling her long enough to undress her and send her to the morgue--but they actually baptized her body, dressed her up, and posed her for pictures, all without informing the parents or asking for consent.

Yes, their religious beliefs and parental rights were violated and they should definitely sue.

[rurallib]

15. As another non-believer, this would be an ultimate insult

[Fleshdancer]

3. As if emotionally dealing with the death of their premature baby wasn't enough

They were Roselynn's parents for a such a brief amount of time and to take away even one of their parenting choices - to not even TELL these parents that they wanted to have her baptized and then to do it without consent or even inform them before they do it? So very wrong.

[blm]

5. oh geez....the aggression of these people is starting to look like The Crusade.

They and their 'Army of God' mentality can K*** M* A**!

[progressoid]

6. Wonder if the freepers thought it was OK for Mormons to baptize dead Jews too?

[monmouth]

8. My youngest was born prematurely and it didn't look good for a while.

The pediatrician told me he was "iffy" so I asked that he be baptised. Doctor said he didn't think it was necessary but if that was what I wanted he would see to it I spoke with a priest I did not know but was assured that yes, he would be happy to do it. Shortly thereafter the baby really started to come around and improved greatly. Just another perspective. I feel for the parents as they were not participants in this decision.

[tavalon]

9. For every parent who doesn't want those things.

there are a dozen who consider the pictures (and baptism) to be special and so important to them. Mistakes were made in not asking the parents. That said, I can't count the number of times parents didn't want the pictures and then came back a year later, begging for them (we save them in a file just in case). Grief is a devastating emotion and people don't think straight in the midst of it.

[Celebration]

10. oh, man

I would have thought most Freepers would be against this-- the fundamentalists generally don't believe in baptism at infancy. It's crazy that this happened. I think the parents are handling it well. It isn't something to be litigated, IMHO, but they need to raise a big ruckus.

[Mari333]

13. sue sue sue. let me tell you a story about my son and his wife in Grand Rapids

My daughter in law was bleeding profusely, 5 months into her first pregnancy. she was in the bathroom screaming...my son went in, and they went to the ER ...

she was put in ER and started labour...she went to the bathroom and the baby came out, and fell into my sons hands..


the nurse ran in, and the baby was taken away..

my son and his wife sat there, crying, in shock, and were told they baby had passed away

his wife is lying there in a pool of blood, my son cleaned her up


the staff PUT THE BABY IN A BUCKET OUTSIDE THE DOOR

my son started screaming when he saw that

the baby was in a bucket, his little son, named Andrew

the supervisor came, and made the staff take the baby out of the bucket and clean it and dress it

they did, and let my daughter in law hold him and say goodbye


I cannot believe the idiocy of people

this really happened. I wrote a scathing letter to the administrator of the hospital and they apologized profusely

how dare the staff baptize this baby and take away the parents rights, how dare a staff put a child in a bucket and treat a family with so much disdain

what a world we live in.

[Initech]

16. Wow, that is fucking wrong beyond words.

:argh:

[lightningandsnow]

17. What the hell?

Fuckers.