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Ohio Mom Charged in Death of 28-Pound Teen Daughter

MaggieD

MaggieD

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CINCINNATI – A mother and a nurse were charged Thursday in the death of the woman's 14-year-old daughter, who had cerebral palsy and weighed only 28 pounds, a prosecutor said. A Montgomery County grand jury in Dayton indicted the mother and the nurse on involuntary manslaughter charges. Two other nurses were indicted on lesser charges of failing to report child abuse or neglect. All were being held in the county jail, prosecutors said.

"This is a tragic and sad case wherein four adults were responsible for the care of this 14-year-old special-needs girl, and they all utterly ignored and failed to do so," county prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said in a statement. "The conduct of these four defendants transcends all bounds of human decency.

"She was the worst malnourished child this office has ever seen," Ken Betz, director of the coroner's office, said Thursday. Authorities have said that the teen died minutes after paramedics rushed her to a hospital. She had numerous bed sores and showed other signs of neglect, and the prosecutor described the home as vile and filthy.

The girl's mother, Angela Norman, also was indicted on a felony count and a misdemeanor count of endangering children. Mollie E. Parsons, 41, of Dayton, was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and tampering with records. Kathryn Williams, 42, of Englewood, and Mary K. Kilby, 63, of Miamisburg, were each charged with failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and failing to report child abuse or neglect.

The teen was confined to her home and was supposed to be cared for by her mother and Parsons, a licensed practical nurse whose job was to administer care for the girl six days a week, according to the prosecutor. Williams and Kilby are registered nurses. Williams was paid to supervise Parsons and visit and inspect the living conditions and do a physical assessment of the girl every 30 to 60 days. Kilby was scheduled to visit every six months to also check on conditions of the home and assess the girl's health, needs and care, the statement said.

Children's services had a referral on the family in September 2009, but it was unable to substantiate any allegations.
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Read more: Ohio Mom Charged In Death Of 28-Pound Teen Daughter | Fox News
(I've snipped this a bit.)

Tell me there is a special place in hell reserved for these four women. Please.
 
Absolutely disgusting. Women such as these are scum.
 
I bet there's no debate in this thread except about exactly how awful these people are and exactly how harsh their punishment should be.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
I bet there's no debate in this thread except about exactly how awful these people are and exactly how harsh their punishment should be.
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Personally, I think "involuntary manslaughter" is too light. The nurse, if not the mother, knew exactly what was happening to this girl and the likely result of such continued care (or lack there of). That kind of knowledge would, to me, make such deterioration and eventual death entirely intentional.
 
That made me sick to my stomach. 28 lbs - my 5 year old weighs more than that. I'm nauseated. Wow. And people claim our government sticks its nose in our business too damn much but yet tragedies like this still happen.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
I bet there's no debate in this thread except about exactly how awful these people are and exactly how harsh their punishment should be.
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The only possible debate could be a discussion about how 3 employees of the state of Ohio, specifically charged with protecting the welfare of this child, could have failed so negligently. It probably cost taxpayers $100,000 a year (WAG) to starve this poor girl to death.

Proves to me that Ohio's entire child welfare system is broken. Three employees of the state.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
I bet there's no debate in this thread except about exactly how awful these people are and exactly how harsh their punishment should be.
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I accept your challenge.

How did the free market fail to prevent this from happening? :2razz:

This is very tragic.
 
MaggieD said:
Tell me there is a special place in hell reserved for these four women. Please.
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There's no such thing as hell, so no. But we do have prisons.
 
tessaesque said:
Personally, I think "involuntary manslaughter" is too light. The nurse, if not the mother, knew exactly what was happening to this girl and the likely result of such continued care (or lack there of). That kind of knowledge would, to me, make such deterioration and eventual death entirely intentional.
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If DUI can result in actual murder charges, then so can this (though I think we misuse our murder definitions greatly these days). If they purposefully starved that child, then they should have been charged with a higher crime as it is no longer involuntary. But it's all up to what the State can prove.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
That made me sick to my stomach. 28 lbs - my 5 year old weighs more than that. I'm nauseated. Wow. And people claim our government sticks its nose in our business too damn much but yet tragedies like this still happen.
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Government does stick it's nose into our business too damn much. Government sticking its nose where it don't belong will not prevent tragedies. Don't equate the two.
 
Thorgasm said:
I accept your challenge.

How did the free market fail to prevent this from happening? :2razz:

This is very tragic.
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Considering this was the responsibility of the state of Ohio, I will be interested in how you will twist this around to make it the free markets fault.
 
Grim17 said:
Considering this was the responsibility of the state of Ohio, I will be interested in how you will twist this around to make it the free markets fault.
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why would anyone feel the neeed to do that? you people are loony. the mother and the nurses killed this kid, and it deosn't mean the entire state of ohio's system is broken, anymore than a cop shooting an unarmed person means our law enforcement system is broken.
 
liblady said:
why would anyone feel the neeed to do that? you people are loony. the mother and the nurses killed this kid, and it deosn't mean the entire state of ohio's system is broken, anymore than a cop shooting an unarmed person means our law enforcement system is broken.
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I'm not the one who tried to blame the free market, so I think your "looney" comment is misdirected.
 
MaggieD said:
The only possible debate could be a discussion about how 3 employees of the state of Ohio, specifically charged with protecting the welfare of this child, could have failed so negligently. It probably cost taxpayers $100,000 a year (WAG) to starve this poor girl to death.

Proves to me that Ohio's entire child welfare system is broken. Three employees of the state.
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I am not excusing their actions, but you could probably look towards their salary and work conditions. Try being a social worker for a few months and you'll see what I mean.

Grim17 said:
I'm not the one who tried to blame the free market, so I think your "looney" comment is misdirected.
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You can't even take partisanship out of this thread? They were joking about the free market. Cmon, Grim. I feel like I have to explain the thread to you every time.
 
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whysoserious said:
I am not excusing their actions, but you could probably look towards their salary and work conditions. Try being a social worker for a few months and you'll see what I mean.
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sorry, they chose to be social workers (unless, of course, they were too dumb to do anything else ;) ) they knew the pay was low and the hours were long before they started. That is no excuse for not doing their job.
 
OscarB63 said:
sorry, they chose to be social workers (unless, of course, they were too dumb to do anything else ;) ) they knew the pay was low and the hours were long before they started. That is no excuse for not doing their job.
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i agree with you, except the part about being too dumb to do anything else. my niece was an honors student who chose social work.
 
OscarB63 said:
sorry, they chose to be social workers (unless, of course, they were too dumb to do anything else ;) ) they knew the pay was low and the hours were long before they started. That is no excuse for not doing their job.
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You people never cease to amaze me. By your logic, there should be no social workers because everyone should aspire to make more money and have less stressful jobs (you know, unless they are dumb). And again, I never said it is a valid excuse to not do your job, but it is only logical (and proven) that unhappy, under-appreciated, and underpaid workers do not perform as well as those who are compensated appropriately in those areas.

Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less, or their work quality suffers.
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1

Job satisfaction and work performance correlate overall at about +.15, though more strongly than
this for white collar workers. However, little is known about causality.
Absenteeism has a similar relationship with job satisfaction, though more for voluntary
absenteeism and for certain groups of workers.
Labour turnover is more strongly correlated with satisfaction, and quite strongly when there
is high unemployment. And there is clear evidence that low satisfaction causes turnover.
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2

The Warwick economists noted: "Happier workers, our research found, were 12% more productive. Unhappier workers were 10% less productive." Significantly, subjects who watched the comedy film but did not report higher levels of happiness were unable to demonstrate higher levels of productivity.

The findings led the economists to claim: "The increase in productivity seems to be linked to the increase in happiness, not merely to the watching of the comedy movie per se." The team also found that those who had experienced a death or illness in their families within the past two years performed 10% worse than others.
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3

They must all be idiots though.
 
liblady said:
who did? and it's loony, not looney!
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Ahhh... The spelling police... How comforting to know you're on the anal-retentive patrol.

And p.s. you might try looking at the post I quoted when I made that comment... I know, I know.. I'm the common sense police. Guilty as charged.
 
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liblady said:
i agree with you, except the part about being too dumb to do anything else.
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running joke at the business school of my college. the smart people went into economics. those who couldn't hack economics changed their majors to accounting. those who couldn't hack accounting changed their majors to marketing. those who couldn't hack marketing changed their majors to fashion merchandising or social work.

my niece was an honors student who chose social work.
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yeah but would she have been an honors student if she had chosen something other than social work? ;) (for the record j/k. I am sure your niece is a very bright young lady )
 
whysoserious said:
, but it is only logical (and proven) that unhappy, under-appreciated, and underpaid workers do not perform as well as those who are compensated appropriately in those areas.
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then maybe, instead of neglecting their duties and allowing this girl to be starved to death, they should've found another job
 
whysoserious said:
You people never cease to amaze me. By your logic, there should be no social workers because everyone should aspire to make more money and have less stressful jobs (you know, unless they are dumb). And again, I never said it is a valid excuse to not do your job, but it is only logical (and proven) that unhappy, under-appreciated, and underpaid workers do not perform as well as those who are compensated appropriately in those areas.

1

2

3

They must all be idiots though.
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You don't let other people fade away and die because you aren't paid enough.

I don't think adequate compensation is the issue, here - look at Jackson's DR getting paid in the 100'000's every year . . . that didn't stop him from being vain and incompetent.

If you paid incompetent people more money they'll just be incompetent people who earn more - it won't change who they are and their failures in life.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
You don't let other people fade away and die because you aren't paid enough.

I don't think adequate compensation is the issue, here - look at Jackson's DR getting paid in the 100'000's every year . . . that didn't stop him from being vain and incompetent.

If you paid incompetent people more money they'll just be incompetent people who earn more - it won't change who they are and their failures in life.
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maybe I am jaded and cynical from my experience as a foster parent dealing with social services but I got the distinct impression that the field of social work does NOT attract the best and the brightest.
 
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