Haleigh Poutre Goes to Rehab
Haleigh Poutre, whom Lisa Blumberg wrote about last week, was moved to a "special unit of a Brighton rehabilitation hospital " late last week.
The Boston Globe's Patricia Wen, who's covered the Poutre story since last fall, wrote that the girl was now "living with nearly 40 other patients like her who have neurological and other injuries that require round-the-clock care and extensive physical and speech therapy."
Aren't tubes really attached to people, rather than the other way around? That's a bugaboo I always notice in these stories. And note: ALL children, with or without a disability, require round-the-clock care (at least sometimes).
Posted by: Penny | January 30, 2006 02:53 PM
Penny writes,
>
Yes, that's exactly right! And that's a given; a normal part of ife. Yet in stories when "round the clock care" is used in connection with a disability, it always comes across as this huge burden ... to society, to the economy, to the "caregiver" [sic] ....
Posted by: Mary Johnson | January 30, 2006 03:25 PM
Wow, somehow I missed this post way back in January. But anyway, I toldja. I toldja this was gonna happen. Didn't I tellya? It's never a question of consciousness or responsiveness; it's a question of walking and talking and eating with a spoon. You're certainly correct, MJ: "round-the-clock" is used to make it seem like Haleigh is now a real pain in the ass.
Posted by: Evonne | May 26, 2006 05:17 PM