IN THE PAST 10 DAYS....

couple strap their kids to the hood of the car for a drive to the Liquor Store i( Ft. Wane IN)

2 kids left in cars die of heat stroke

Grand parent put kids in Kiddy Car & tie it to the rear bumper of their SUV & drag the kids around the block (FLA)

Customs busts a container full of capsules filled with the powdered remains of aborted human fetus's ...labeled Energy or Virility supplements

offhand, I'd say the shallow end of the gene pool has had a pretty eventful time of it recently...!

Hey leave him alone...I sew my a$$ up all the time. (sarcasm)

What the f@ck is wrong with people these days?

I don't remember these kinds of horrific cases of child abuse growing up.

Sure it went on but no where near the extent as it does today!

*shakes head*

Mister Fids

This creep is not a neighbor of mine! ☺

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL, sure it went on, and probably more than today. Now we take it more seriously, so when it does happen, instead of being handled by the family, or by the police without charges, it hits the paper when you get arrested.

This is not an example of abuse, but still serves as an example of how times change: My father was a severe alcoholic, and drank every night after work at the local Chinese restaurant. He drove drunk every day, and always drove strangely slow too. One time, he was pulled over in the early 1970's, and what did the police do? Right, they drove him home. Oh, by the way, he was an air traffic controller...no kidding.

Do you really think there was no pedophilia back then? I can't remember that getting reported on like it does today either.

Feisty redhead, you can bet it went on, it just wasn't reported on like it is today. With the internet & instant news. I would be wiling to bet it was probably worse back when children didn't have many rights over abusive parents now the schools teach the children to report them.

Whoa Kevin - I think you misinterpreted my comment!

No doubt thanks to the information highway we hear more about it today, but my thoughts are, the abuse appears to be becoming much more sadistic!

It makes me sick to think these bastards can still get away with a plea deal!

As a bleeding heart liberal - I still say sew daddy's ass up and throw away the key!

It happened percentage wise back then as much as it does today. The thing is that a lot of abuse wasn't reported as what occurred at home stayed in the home and nobody mentioned it. Plus from what I was told that kids and the wife was the property of the husband and he could do as wanted with almost no consequences. Also for years children were considered almost like property. Read the book called a "Child Called It" and the other books that follow and you will hear references of abuse that the boy received during his childhood. It wasn't until a school nurse finally had enough and reported the mother for the many years of abuse that she afflicted on the boy. Years later the guy went and visited his grandmother and found out that his grandmother was in the same mindset as his mother and she even told her grandson that what happened in the home is to stay in the home and that he should have never left home to foster care. Sad case to read about but it happened years ago and years before and still does.

Mister,

Grand parent put kids in Kiddy Car & tie it to the rear bumper of their SUV & drag the kids around the block (FLA)

I'm pretty sure those people where actually drunk as well, yet another point in their 'favor.' Yep the shallow end of the gene pool is active and loud this month.

I seriously can't believe this guy isn't going to jail for it, at least the kid is ok....well....as ok as he can be.

And after doing this to his son..he's NOT GOING TO PRISON!!!!???? wtF. Community service after taking a needle and thread to your own son's flesh? He should have his hands cut off!

Dean, you're right about; What happens at home stays at home. I had a drunken bum for a step-father who would come home from work, beat me and my mother. His big weekend was to knock me around and once threw my mother out of our second-story apartment window. Sure, I went to school many times with black eyes and split lips. He moved us around a lot after neighbors started calling the police. Back then, in the early 1950's there was no protection, a man's home was his castle and he ruled it. Police would come, look at me and my mother and say that a domestic problem is not a police problem. Their best advice was to simply leave. Sure, no job skills so, no employment opportunities. At times some of the neighbor men would catch the drunkem bum and beat the hell out of him. Lol, big deal, all it got my mother and I was more beatings. Well, one day I had my bat behind a door and when he came home from the tavern half-loaded yelling; "Where's that little so and so" I whacked him across the face with the bat. Mother divorced him finally and with the help of some neighbors moved us to another place. She found a job finally. When she died she told me that the reason she got us out was because she was afraid that someday I would kill him. Living here in TN now I see the same attitude; "By gawd, a man's got the right to control his wife and kids and if it takes a beating to do it then it's nobody's business."

Only in America..

2sxe4myshrt - It happens in a lot of other countries also. Some countries the parent can get away with killing their child and get away with it. You look at child protection laws in other countries and you will be amazed of how much better protected the children in the US are. Recently I don't know how many children in India I believe were killed because they didn't want to follow through with prearranged marriages even though this type of marriage now days is illegal. They still have them though and believe that the government doesn't have the right to tell them they can prearrange marriages for their children.

We do have some strange laws though as a few years ago I read that one state still has a law that if a husband catches his wife in bed with another man he can legally shoot both and walk clean free.

Why in the world was he even offered a plea deal to begin with?? He needs to go to jail and have time to sit and think about the torture of his own child. Heads should roll for not prosecuting the sob.

Until antiseptics and anesthetics were widely used in the medical profession, an in-hospital patient would have been treated much the same. The operation involved being strapped down, cut and stitched without anesthesia and painful recovery if the patient did not die from the infections that ran rampant in the establishments. Many people chose to live with the fistula because the chances of dying in the hospital were too great. However, children were at the mercy of their parents and did not have that choice. They were often put under the knife due to their parents embarrassment. If the procedure failed, they could be forced to endure it again and again. Of course, the damage was greater each time due to scar tissue. Today such behavior is socially, medically and legally unacceptable because we as a society have made it rightly so. Too many child abusers are allowed to plead to reduced charges or use an Alford Plea to stay out of jail, partially due to case loads in some courts.

Mellowfello, I lived through similar circumstances in the late 60's and early 70's. Plus on my 6th birthday my step father raped me for the first time and over the next 2 1/2 years he raped and/or sodomized me on an almost daily basis. Later in life as I was going through therapy and trying to deal with my severe chronic PTSD I learned that the stats on sexual child abiuse in this country are staggering. It is estimated that 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys is sexually abused by the time they are 12. Those numbers are probably low because the shame and fear involved tends to keep many victims from ever reporting the abuse. I know I didn't say anything about it to anyone until I was 23 and even then it was under anesthesia after surgery. I spent years self medicating with drugs and booze trying to numb the incredible pain and not being able to have a normal healthy relationship with anyone. At 46 I am still dealing with the repercussions. I used to think that I was alone. That it didn't happen to other people, but I've learned that it has happened to almost everyone I know to some degree. Perhaps not as extreme as in my family but still.

If we had real medical insurance where as doctors cared instead of just wanting to drug you up..If medical attention meant come in dont worry about the cost its not important..

I must be dreaming of another land or distant place i once remembered.

Interesting how many people on here would prefer to think this guy was some kind of sick bastard abuser than think of the possibility that he didn't have insurance or the money to have this treated in a hospital. I remember years ago of a friend I had who pulled out a bad tooth with pliers. He didn't do this because he was some sort of masochist who was getting a thrill. He did it because he was poor with no insurance or the funds to afford a several hundred dollar bill. Oh well. What ever you people have to delude yourselves with so you don't have to feel bad about the poor suffering.

If an adult had done this to another adult, jail time would almost certainly be involved. I don't care what your insurance covers, when it comes to children, you spend the money. Besides, aren't low income children covered by medicaid? There is absolutely no excuse for this.

I don't care what your insurance covers, when it comes to children, you spend the money. Besides, aren't low income children covered by medicaid?

It says nothing about the family's income & even if it had, *low income children* are not blanket-covered by Medicaid b/c the family income has to be below poverty level to qualify for it.

The article says nothing about the reason for doing the *procedure* at home, tho I think it likely was to save $; either the family had no ins at all, or since Crohn's is a chronic disease w/ frequent complications & hospitalizations, it's possible the kid's coverage had *maxed out* for the yr already or was not covered at all as a *pre-existing condition*.

Those calling for Dad to do time are rather missing the pt. This was a 16 yo, not a 6 yo. The *kid* in ques is less than 2 yrs from being a legal adult & the article doesn't state he was in any way mentally impaired. He allowed his father to do it, very likely knowing what a stupid proposal it was & having an idea of the risks involved.

A 6 yo cannot go to the ER on his own steam. A 16 yo can. In fact, I think it more likely that a 6 yo suffering from this condition would not only have strenuously objected & screamed his head off throughout, but simply gone to schl, asked to see the nurse, & gotten trundled off in an ambulance.

A 16 yo has more options than a 6 yo when it comes to seeking medical treatment b/c at that age, besides the schl option, they know where the hospital/dr's office is, how to get to it, probably have friends who drive & could take them, & are not 100% reliant on parents if a medical emergency arises.

Obviously the kid either came up w/ this idea himself or let himself be talked into it. If not an ins issue, could be a hosp or surgery phobia. Crohn's is extremely painful & can be embarassing, esp at that age, so maybe it was a half-baked assisted suicide attempt by the teen. Whatever. The reason why is not in the article.

The pt being, a 16 yo was not a passive participant w/ almost no options open & that was likely taken into consideration by the court. His assent to home surgery meant Dad was not 100% culpable. Also, Dad did not do this out of some twisted sense of *fun*. He was trying to help w/ a medical problem. It's not *child abuse*, just poor judgment on the part of both Dad & son.

If an adult had done this to another adult, jail time would almost certainly be involved.

And even less likely there would be *jail time involved if an adult had done this to another adult*, b/c that is without a doubt granting consent if you let someone take a needle & thread to you when you know you should be in the hosp for the procedure.

Stupid? Yes. Lacking common sense? Yes. Jailable *offense*? No. (There probably isn't even a law against it.)

WTF kind of in-bred country fuc*s would actually sew his kid's butt shut. What's really worse is the fact that some morons out there are making excuses for this "human" Waukegan, Ill., ????? Land of Lincoln?? Is this even the United States? I'm really speechless this guy belongs in jail. How about "practicing medicine without a license" "raising children without a brain". Community service ?? really ??Sounds way too lenient to me....

I'm in no way condoning this but, what teenage kid would let their 52 year old father do this to them? I dont care who you are, you come at me with needle and thread wanting to stitch me up you better have a medical license. I wonder if this guy actually got the prison time he deserved if he would stitch up his own butt.

I agree scar tissue. When you first read the story you think "...what a sick bastard". But if you really think about it further and recognize how an illness like this will cost the family everything they own over time, you start to see why the father got frustrated and took matters into his own hands. Its hard to imagine how families deal with the incredible financial burden of long term illnesses on top of the stress of the illness itself.

My son had a friend who was raised by his dad who didn't have insurance, so it was routine to use toilet paper and duct tape to treat pretty much any injury.

The one thing I have to say--I wish it had never somehow become ok to use the word "butt" in the media. Honestly, I think it started with the OJ trial, I remember being stunned to see these rich and famous celebs talking about their surprisingly trashy lives--Nicole's sister describing Nicole landing on her "butt". I'd much rather, if we must read about rear ends, see the word "buttocks". Boob is another one (oddly, "tit" is not acceptable, go figure). And how is it that these slang terms proliferate at exactly the same time that penis and vagina (the technical terms) are repeated everywhere? Can anyone explain?

I'm assuming the parent did this because he didn't have health insurance to go to a hospital.

Honestly, do you blame him? He can't afford thousands of dollars so he tried what he thought would be a remedy.

This is our awful healthcare system today.

I can stitch up bad cuts on my dogs if it were ever needed (taught by a vet) but I would not do it unless it wwas absulutely necessary and a could not reach either my vet or any emergency vet. But, the chances of that are slim to none since for after-hours emergencies I have the numbers to his home and his and his wife's cell phones.

I could even stitch my own wounds if necessary, but I would never do it to someone else. But I am wondering about the hospitals in this kid's area. We have a charity/teaching hospital about an hour from here (I'm in Louisiana), and they can't turn people away regardless of finances. I have no insurance and I don't qualify for Medicaid, but they have to treat me. At one point they had turned my account over to a collection agency, but if I had needed care, even surgery, they would have still had to do it. Are there states that don't have that?

@mellow - I hope I misunderstood your post, but was your mother more concerned about you killing your father than the possibility that he might kill you (or her)?

For those of you sharing your stories, I admire your strength. My maternal grandmother died of a drug overdose when my mom was 10 and she was sent to live with her father and stepmother. Her father's job kept him away from home half the time and her stepmother was abusive. There was no sexual abuse in the home (there was from an uncle), but they (she has a twin sister) were starved, beaten, and basically treated like slaves. They never had warm clothes in winter, or even a decent blanket on their bed. Neither of them can remember ever NOT being hungry once they moved there. It was not an issue of money; their dad's job paid very well. He was a 'home' alcoholic, meaning he did not drink the two weeks he was at work, and he never did anything about their stepmother. She was not as bad when he was at home, but if they said anything about her when he was home it would just be worse when he left. I never knew any of this until I was grown and married, but once I found out it shed light on some of my mother's ways. She was never, ever abusive; I grew up in a very loving home, but the two things I always remember (and she still does them) is her always cooking a lot more food than needed for the number of people eating, and having more blankets than we know what to do with. When I found out about her childhood, those things made sense. My mother is the strongest person I know, and she used her upbringing as an example of the wrong things to do. I think it takes a lot of strength to overcome childhood abuse. I went through mental, emotional, and verbal abuse in my marriages, but it isn't the same. I always had a safe place to go if I wanted to leave, I just had to work up the nerve. Children don't have that.

Words completely escape me.

Did some of you people even read the story? The dad did not sew the son's butt closed. The son had a fistula, which is a small tube that connects the rectum to the outside of the body, usually very close to the anus itself. Since the fistula does not have the muscles required to do the job of the anus, it can cause leakage, which can be embarrassing to a teenager. (In girls, the fistula can connect the rectum to the vagina instead of the outside of the body.) The dad sewed the fistula closed, not the anus. Stupid, yes. Child abuse, no. Practicing medicine without a license, probably.

1.21 and others are right. This was a home medical procedure that dad should not have undertaken. Personally, I think even the community service sentence is out of line. My wife has Crohn's, it is a terrible disease. We have no insurance, and when she was diagnosed, it was because I knew that if I didn't get her to the hospital, she was going to die, and I had no idea what was wrong with her. Over the counter medicines were doing nothing for her, we could not stop the diarrhea and other stuff, and I am certain that she would have died within a day or two if I had not finally taken her to the hospital. Since then, I have declared bankruptcy, and may do it again when I am again eligible, because of her medical costs.

Siestasis, hey, how about this for dumber? I have a book, Darwin Awards, and one of the stories has to do with Yellowstone National Park. One of the guys who writes up stories to be considered Darwin Awards was there, talking to a Park Ranger, doing some research. They saw a group of people and a couple of bear not far away. People looked agitated so they went over. Some mother was smearing honey on her little boy's face. Lol, she wanted to take a picture of a bear licking the honey off.

That's right, and, a point is reached when they are one and the same.

Tom, how sick can a person be? How about as sick as a society can be that allows it, that says family affairs are private and not to be interfered with? People today say that government is too intrusive, taking freedoms away, etc. Lol, freedom to do what, abuse family members? There are folks today, men and women, who take great delight or comfort in inflicting pain and suffering. Have a bad day at work, boss tell you to do something? Hit the bars on the way home and then beat the dog. No dog? Beat the kid(s) or wife. Anything to regain some pride lost at work. Wives beat the kids and cheat on husbands to get even. Lol, get even? Get even with the daily insults at work and in everyday interaction. Man, get flipped off in traffic? Poor kids, they're going to catch hell now.

While I agree with you that%

Well the posts here are an example of how people are easily led to believe sinister acts occurred! Before I would think about jumping on the “Hang the S.O.B” bandwagon. One might ask themselves this: The article was pretty vague! Did the father maybe have some sort of medical training that he felt confident enough to carry out this procedure? Did the boy also feel confident? Because the boy is under 18 the ER staff is required by law to report anything and everything to the authorities. Furthermore, It seems that since he was plea bargained that the case was not abuse but bad judgment and the DA has to keep the grand jury happy with a conviction to add to there “per/capital quota”. Until the real details are presented then it’s probably without merit to fry this guy. Who knows he and the teen might have a normal healthy Father/Son relationship. So for all you gladiators out there willing to pass judgment based on “Media Factious Fiction” consider this: “The First Lie Always Wins” and you too could one day be judged by the “ill-informed community” based on the media’s presentation to the masses. It is all to easy to become a “Funnel Head” of the media

...uh, ask Biden ? ;)

Hey, Gloria---How the hell are you!

Keep up the good work.

Hey JM long time no hear how are you? I'm doing great and Thanks!

Coping with two herniated cervical disks at the moment. Besides my health, I'm great!

As I always say: As long as you are healthy, it's O.K. to be ill.

My kind of logic, Mr. Rasputin. ;)

Gloria,

THANK YOU!!! You said just what I wanted to say.

Just one more thing though, why can't the story be what it is??

Why always bring up politics??? Politics has nothing to do with this!!

kudos to you Gloria!

Well said, Okeeboy! You won't get any argument from me, this was STOOOPID!

I might have tried Krazy glue, it's faster, easier and if anyone wants to say anything, you can glue their mouth shut too.

Matt I can't resist the thought that your comment makes more sense than a lot of them!

He didn't torture himself, he tortured a child. I truly hope someone does this to you. And soon.