Neglectful Parents
So, this morning I am not writing about knitting, or college, or anything else of the sort. This morning, I am writing about a morbid celebration I just witnessed on the Today Show. A boy named Bronson Staker recently was allowed to drown in his bathtub. The 16 month old’s mother placed him in his bath and went off to do some housework, leaving him unattended in his bath. She became distracted. When she finally got around to checking on her one year old, he had sunk into the bath and drowned. She called for emergency services, and Bronson was taken to a hospital, where he was considered dead on arrival.
Fortunately for Bronson and his parents, Bronson’s family appears to be wealthy (the tub he drowned in was large and had jets, and thus seems to be expensive) and certainly they are white. His family could afford to have him revived.
Bronson was dead for forty minutes before his doctors revived him. When his heart was beating again, some medical magic (in the form of keeping him super-cold) was used to prevent brain damage (as much as possible) until he regained consciousness after two weeks. When he was awake again, he was able to receive rehab to return to his previous motor abilities.
Bronson is now back with his parents. I am seriously offended.
First of all, were his parents unable to afford such care (for example, if they were uninsured minimum wage workers) Bronson would still be dead.
Second of all, HE IS BACK WITH HIS PARENTS! The people who KILLED HIM. Had a family in my neighborhood practiced this level of neglect, their child would not have gone home with them. All of the kids would be removed. In my opinion, that would be the only responsible thing to do. None of the Stakers’ kids should be at home with their parents.
Bronson’s parents (certainly his mother, who I know was present) should be getting charged with neglect, if not manslaughter, for what happened to their son. He was left unattended in a bath at sixteen months old AND DIED. Instead of ensuring the welfare of the child and charging his rashly irresponsible mother with neglect, Bronson and his brothers are at home.
I’m not saying Bronson’s parents don’t care. I’m just saying that they shouldn’t be the primary care givers of a kid they have already killed.
And while I see this somewhat as a socioeconomic issue because most families could not afford the sort of medical care Bronson received, and he would have died without (certainly leaving his mother responsible for manslaughter), I am not going on the four page rant about that I could (just the rant I have already had), because I am more concerned about the well being of this one kid right now. Perhaps another time.
So, I am just going to concluded my rant by saying again that Bronson’s parents neglected him by leaving him alone in a bathtub at sixteen months old. Bronson was dead for forty minutes as a result of this neglect. Why is the child still in the care of parents who have allowed him to drown, and why is this being celebrated as a miracle?
(I am also going to link you to the mom’s blog, because the Today Show website does not have the story up right now, and I want to give anyone reading this access to another side of the story.)
GAH!!