Baby left in parked car dies as mercury soars

By Fadi Eyadat

A 7-month-old baby girl from Ramat Yishai died yesterday after her father left her in a sweltering car for 90 minutes. The father had come to a motorbike repair shop in Kibbutz Sha'ar Ha'amakim, in the Jezreel Valley, to discuss repairs to his quad bike, and left his daughter in the locked car, where the temperature reached an estimated 70 degrees Celsius. He went to check on her only when the child's mother called him 90 minutes later. According to garage owner Gil Meyerson, the father took the baby out of the car, and Meyerson and another man placed her on a table in the office and tried to resuscitate her. A doctor from the kibbutz nursing home later arrived to help. The stunned father called his wife, who came with the baby's grandfather. The mother kept repeating: "She will live! I know she will live." An intensive care paramedic at the scene said the infant was not breathing, had no pulse, and was suffering from third-degree burns to her thigh and abdomen. She was pronounced dead en route to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The parents arrived at the hospital devastated and required the help of psychologists and social workers. Meyerson said he had spoken with the 39-year-old father for more than an hour in the office. "It was a tough scene. You see a man holding a lifeless baby girl with blue marks and shouting 'Get an ambulance! Where's MDA?'" Dozens of horrified kibbutz residents gathered during the rescue efforts. Zvulun Regional Council head Shlomo Hever, who came to the scene, said: "I cannot blame anyone right now but I don't understand how you leave a baby in a locked car in such heat. This is an awful tragedy. I send my condolences to the parents." Police opened an investigation into suspicions of negligence in the baby's death. Investigators used a thermometer to measure the temperature inside the car, and within seconds it reached the top of the scale. They estimated that while the car was closed, the temperature could have been as high as 70 degrees. "This is a tragedy. Parents need to realize that you do not leave children unattended," said Zvulun regional police chief Jamal Hakrush. He added that the father will be questioned but that in view of the tragedy, he probably will not be charged. The baby's body will be sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

South Africa: Mokopane Hospital the Best for Babies

Kulani Mavunda
Polokwane

Mokopane Hospital is considered to be the best hospital in Limpopo to have a baby.

The hospital received a platinum certificate last week for the quality of care it offers to newborn babies and their mothers.

It was one of eight hospitals accredited by the provincial department for health and social development in terms of its Newborn Care Programme.

The programme was introduced in the province in 2003 and the number of deaths amongst new born babies dropped from 40 percent in 2003 to 20 percent in 2005.

"Our guiding principal is "Children First"," said department spokesman Phuti Seloba.

Hospitals are given platinum, gold and silver certificates depending on the quality of care they offer.

Twelve hospitals have applied for accreditation, but only eight were deemed worthy.

Mokopane Hospital got the platinum certificate, while seven other hospitals qualified for silver certificates. They were Elim, Malamulele, Kgapane, CN Phatudi, Lebowakgomo, Salome and Donald Fraser hospitals.

The Newborn Care Programme is part of national government's Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), which is based on the global initiative to increase awareness of the critical role of health services in the holistic care of both mothers and newborn babies.

The BFHI was initiated by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund to promote exclusive breastfeeding for six months, thereby boosting a baby's chances of survival.

Exclusive breastfeeding is believed to reduce infant mortality rates by 13 percent.

By April this year, 203 baby friendly health facilities had been accredited in South Africa.

The Eastern Cape has an initiative underway which focuses on improving the health of mothers and the reduction of infant deaths.

This comes after a visit by the Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to Frere Hospital in East London at the weekend.

The Saving Babies Report, which covers 164 sites and considers 20 percent of the births in South Africa, found that the rate of infant deaths to be 27.9 per 1 000 live births.

Baby's illness puts parents on lonely road

Shane Benoit, a carpenter by trade, has no medical training. Yet, standing over his 7-month-old son Ethan's bed at UNC Children's Hospital, Benoit chatters away as he suctions the tracheotomy tube in the boy's neck or adjusts the rolls of gauze that hold open Ethan's stiff, balled hands.

When a doctor stops in, Benoit uses the moment to show how Ethan's feeding tube, which dumps directly into his intestines, is positioned incorrectly and is causing gas to build up in the boy's abdomen. The doctor nods and promises to discuss it with the nursing staff.

Since Ethan's birth, Benoit has become a reluctant expert in a disorder most doctors in the United States have never seen.

Metatropic dysplasia, a severe deformity of the spine, arms and legs, has compromised all of little Ethan's internal organs, including his brain. The disease is so rare it has thrust the Benoit family into a medical no man's land. As of 2004, there were 80 cases documented worldwide, 25 in the United States.

There is no protocol for treatment. There are no local support groups for the families, no Web sites to consult.

Shane and Sherree Benoit ask the doctors the myriad questions one might expect. The answers are few.

"There are no yeses, there are no noes," said Shane Benoit. "There are only 'I don't knows.' "

Born at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, Ethan was diagnosed at Duke with the help of a visiting geneticist. Of the three forms of the disorder, Ethan has the rarest and the most severe. It will almost certainly be fatal.

"They told us to live every day as his last and take lots of pictures," said Sherree Benoit, 31.

The doctors at UNC Hospitals, where Ethan has been since late May, told the couple they have never had a case of metatropic dysplasia at the research hospital before. Ethan's team includes a neurologist, orthopedic surgeons, pediatric surgeons, nurses, cardiologists, physical therapists and others.

Dr. Terry Noah, a lung specialist working with Ethan, said the disorder is so unusual that the medical team attending Ethan is charting a new course.

"With rare disorders like this, there is not a lot of experience to go by," Noah said. "The care is very individualized. It is supportive care. There is no cure."

Ethan has spent time at every major hospital in the Triangle, his parents educating emergency room doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians along the way.

Beneath a cherubic face, Ethan's rib cage is extremely narrow before curving out like a bell, making it difficult for him to breathe and putting pressure on his internal organs. His spine is malformed. His arms are locked in a curved position, as are his tiny fingers.

His one knee is the size of a baseball. His legs, one long and one short, twist at odd angles and cannot be straightened.

Until May, he seemed at least to know his family members - to respond to the voices of his mother and father.

"His eyes followed us like hawks," said Shane Benoit, 36. "He giggled. He had million-dollar smiles."

Then, on the night of Memorial Day, Ethan apparently suffered a stroke in his sleep. The next day, he had three more strokes. The doctors placed a shunt in his brain. But the damage had been done.

His eyes no longer track, though they do respond somewhat to shadow and light. He reacts to some sharp sounds, though he no longer responds to the lilt of his mother's coos.

The million-dollar smiles have faded.

Even his cries have been silenced - by the tracheotomy tube that allows him to breathe.

The Benoits moved from Massachusetts to Franklin County, just outside Zebulon, in August. Shane Benoit was looking for more consistent year-round work in construction. Sherree Benoit wanted to be closer to her mother and siblings in Wake Forest. The couple wanted their children, Tia, 12; Taylor, 9; and Saige, 3, to get to know family. They were expecting Ethan when they moved.

They had no idea Ethan had any problems until they reached the delivery room.

"At first I didn't grasp how badly all of this was going to affect us," Shane Benoit said.

But reality quickly sank in. Self-employed, Benoit realized he didn't have the time or energy to build a new business on his own.

He tried taking jobs with other firms. But he missed too many days for doctor's appointments and medical emergencies. Medicaid pays for Ethan's care, but this spring Benoit sold his tools to pay other bills. He and his wife pawned their wedding rings.

The landlord on their mobile home has been understanding. But they've missed payments on their pickup truck, as well as the insurance on it. The registration has expired. But he continues to drive.

At night, he pulls the pickup around behind the trailer, chains it to a pole and takes the license tag inside, so it isn't repossessed.

"What else can I do?" he said. "I've got to get groceries. I've got to get over to Chapel Hill to see my baby boy."

When Ethan comes home from Chapel Hill, the Benoits' lives will become even more complicated. The two-bedroom trailer will have to be reordered and outfitted for round-the-clock nursing care.

The Benoits are looking for good homes for their three pets, a hound dog, a black-and-white cat and a ferret.

The older two children won't be able to return to school in the fall, because the family cannot afford to risk the germs that might come home.

So, whenever Ethan comes home, Sherree Benoit will be home-schooling two children, taking care of a preschooler and tending a critically ill baby.

She acknowledges how hard this will be.

She and her husband know that many parents, in their shoes, might put Ethan in a nursing facility - or perhaps send him to hospice for end-of-life care. But no one can really say how to face the situation, what should be done, and what should be expected.

All they know is that Ethan has beaten all the odds to survive this long, and they're guided by the only tool they've got in a journey that has no road maps - the parental instinct to nurture.

"There is the slightest chance that his brain could work around all this," Shane Benoit said, "that he could interact with us again. Is it likely? No."

"But," Sherree Benoit said, "we cannot give up hope."

Poor areas hit by baby deaths

by Barry Gibson, Hudd Main

BABY deaths are more common in poorer parts of Kirklees, new figures show. Top officials have discussed figures showing how the district’s deprived areas are faring. Kirklees Council is committed to raising standards in the 12 Neighbourhood Renewal areas. It has committed an extra £9m to 12 deprived areas to try and close the gap between rich and poor. The Neighbourhood Renewal service works in these areas to tackle problems including poor health, low educational attainment, high crime and unemployment. It works alongside other Kirklees departments, ward councillors, health services, the police, voluntary organisations and the communities themselves. Neighbourhood Renewal manager Anne Douglas revealed the various figures to the Kirklees Partnership Execu-tive. She said: “It’s a mixed bag. By and large we’re not doing too badly compared to other councils.” The NR areas continue to lag behind the rest of the district on infant deaths, with 12 per 1,000 live births, well above the Kirklees average of 7.6. Ms Douglas added: “We know the worst inequalities are in some NR areas in north Kirklees and we’re working with Kirklees Primary Care Trust to develop a strategy to address this.” The unemployment gap has also grown. In February, 2005, just under 3% of people in NR areas were claiming Jobseekers Allowance, as against the Kirklees average of about 1.5%. But by November last year the claim rate in the poorer parts of the district had risen to 3.5%, while the Kirklees average stayed around 1.5%. But the new figures show improvement on both fronts in education. In 2004 28% of GCSE pupils in NR areas got five A to C grades, rising to 34% two years later. The Kirklees average also rose 6% in this time, from 47% to 53%. And there was also good news in housing. Ms Douglas said: “One of the big successes is in achieving a decent standard in social housing. “We’re on target to reach our goal next year, two years ahead of schedule.”

Abandoned baby's op a huge success

By Troy Martens


Little "Rejoice" was born into a cruel world on Christmas Day in 2006 - she was abandoned by her mother and bore the features of a life-threatening birth defect.

Fortunately for this little girl, she was put into the loving care of Cheryl Pratley at the Shepherd's Keep home for abandoned babies.

"As soon as she came into my care I knew there was something odd with her from her appearance," said Pratley, a qualified nursing sister.

"Her little face had a very concave profile, making her eyes look very big and bulging out," she explained.

After taking Rejoice to a specialist, it was discovered she had a condition where her skull bones would crush her brain, and would have left her brain damaged: the condition is called craniosynastosis.

A group of specialist surgeons from Albert Luthuli Hospital performed a life-altering operation on Rejoice to rectify the problem on July 4.

"The surgeons and professors who performed the operation were incredible; they had to remodel the vault of her skull so it would no longer put pressure on her brain," said Pratley.

The seven-month-old now laughs joyfully and plays only days after her operation. "The results of the surgery are miraculous. She has a new, beautiful face, she now has a perfect profile," Pratley said.

Rejoice will stay in the Shepherd's Keep high-care facility until she has fully recovered.

Shepherd's Keep has been home to hundreds of abandoned babies over the past nine years and relies completely on donations.

"Women abandon their babies for many reasons, but we like to turn these tragedies around and believe there is a happy ending for every baby," said Pratley.

Her husband Collin Pratley, a well-known singer, recently released an album - Voice for the Voiceless - to raise funds. It can be purchased on email - info@shepherdskeep.org.za - for R100.

Talkers: Chihuahua defends 1-year-old from rattlesnake

MASONVILLE, Colo. | Zoey is a Chihuahua, but when a rattlesnake lunged at her owners’ 1-year-old grandson, she was a real bulldog.

Booker West was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents’ northern Colorado back yard when the snake slithered up to the toddler, rattled and struck. Five-pound Zoey jumped in the way and took the bites.

The dog required treatment and she survived the bites.

Lawn cutting exposed

MEMPHIS, Tenn. | A lawn-care company is showing a little skin to boost business.

The women of Tiger Time Lawn Care offer to mow customers’ lawns dressed in bikinis — a service that attracts more attention to the ladies than the lawns.

“Oh yeah, they honk and yell. They can do everything you can imagine,” said employee Blair Beckman, 21.

Hemingway look-alike

KEY WEST, Fla. | A white-bearded insurance agent from Florida won the Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, a highlight of the annual festival honoring the famed writer, a Kansas City Star alum.

Larry Austin defeated 122 other contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, Hemingway’s favorite watering hole when he lived in the Keys in the 1930s. The final round was held late Saturday, which would have been Hemingway’s 108th birthday.

Austin of Palm Harbor said he shares Hemingway’s fondness for Key West, cats and having a good time, though he has never attempted writing anything except insurance policies.

Irwin to be honored

BRISBANE, Australia | The late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, killed in a stingray attack last year, will be honored with a new wildlife reserve in Outback Australia, the government announced Sunday.

The 333,585-acre chunk of land near Weipa in the far north of Irwin’s home state of Queensland will be named after the popular television host and managed by his family, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said.

The area includes habitats for the endangered northern quoll, a carnivorous marsupial, and the speartooth shark, as well as an important gallery of dry vine forests, Turnbull said.

Del. court: Baby of missing mom to remain in foster care

Saturday, July 21, 2007

By PETER N. SPENCER

ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

As the mystery of a missing mother from Staten Island continues to baffle investigators, a Delaware court ruled her 1-year-old baby will remain with a foster family indefinitely.

Michael DiGirolamo, who celebrates his 1st birthday next week, is doing fine in foster care, an official for the Delaware Attorney General's Family Services said during a court hearing Thursday. None of Michael's relatives were at the hearing, in which a judge formally ruled that he had been abandoned.

His mother, 27-year-old Amy Giordano, a Willowbrook native who moved to New Jersey less than two years ago, has been missing since June 7. That was a day before the child was found in the parking lot of a Newark, Del., hospital, a strange, hand-scribbled note put in his diaper. He was left there by the boy's married father, 32-year-old Rosario DiGirolamo, police said.

DiGirolamo then fled to Milan, Italy, on June 14. He was not on his scheduled return flight two weeks later, and authorities believe he may now be in Sicily.

DiGirolamo -- who lives in a large Monmouth County house with his wife and young son -- had a lengthy affair with Ms. Giordano. The two met about four years ago, while she was married and lived in Brooklyn, then continued their affair when Ms. Giordano left her husband and moved to an apartment in Annadale. Most recently, she was living with their son in an apartment in Hightstown, N.J., while DiGirolamo paid the rent.

Ms. Giordano was last seen six weeks ago, shopping for groceries with DiGirolamo and their child in East Windsor, N.J.

In hopes of learning her whereabouts, investigators have been sifting through what little clues were left behind, including DiGirolamo's car, found ditched on a Midland Beach street June 27. The car, a 1998 Lexus registered in his wife's name, yielded no evidence.

The Mercer County prosecutor's office in New Jersey has been reviewing some of the results of a second forensic examination of Ms. Giordano's apartment -- where investigators found small traces of blood and took several pieces of the plumbing. They don't expect to have a full report until at least the middle of next week, spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said yesterday.

They have also sought help from the FBI and the international police organization, Interpol, to find DiGirolamo in Italy, where he has relatives. It is highly unlikely Italian authorities will cooperate with an extradition process, however, unless the charges escalate. Police in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, knew nothing about the case when contacted earlier in the week. The same was true at police headquarters in Rome.

"He's somebody that the law enforcement agencies in this case would like to talk to. But he's not charged with a federal crime," said Agent Sean Quinn, a spokesman at the FBI's Newark, N.J., office.

And the more time passes without a word from Ms. Giordano -- and without any indication she has begun life anew somewhere else -- the less likely she will be found alive, authorities fear.

Meanwhile, the courts in Delaware are moving to terminate parental rights for her and DiGirolamo, authorities there said. That petition could come later this summer.

From SiCKO to SALUD: The Truth About the Cuban Health Care System

At this rate, SiCKO director Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta will make themselves sick over whose facts are right regarding health and health care in the United States versus Cuba, where Moore took three 9/11 workers for treatment.

Lost in the uproar is a fundamental and irrefutable observation: Despite its poverty, Cuba makes health care available to all its citizens, scoring comparably with the U.S. on many health indicators at a fraction of the cost. On average, Cubans live about as long as we do, and their infant mortality rates are actually lower. They have the lowest AIDS rate in all the Americas, with ambulatory care in their communities for HIV-positive people.

They have more doctors serving them, too: about one doctor for every 220 citizens, even with nearly 25,000 posted abroad in 60 countries. About half of these physicians are working in community-based health care, concentrating on the basics of prevention and early diagnosis. And they and the nurses who work with them actually make house calls. This I know from the personal experience of being based in Cuba for about two decades now. The nurse will knock at the door if you've missed an immunization for your baby, forgot to get your mammogram or Pap smear, or if there's an elderly person who needs their blood pressure checked regularly. They know the community because they live there. And it helps to have clinics in the neighborhoods, accessible and free.

Despite all the problems in Cuba -- and there are problems with outdated equipment, hospitals in need of repair, etc. -- a Gallup poll conducted last December revealed that 96% of Cuban citizens said they had regular access to health care, no matter who they were or what their income. That's a pretty high score for any poll.

There must be some lessons we can take home from this Cuban experience as we look for serious reform to reshape our own health care. Number One seems to be: No matter how poor a society or community, it's possible to guarantee people access to health care and improve their health if you make it a real priority.It's time we got over the political barriers and had the wisdom and courage to look to good examples wherever we can find them.

N.J. Mom Disappears; Baby Found in Del.

New Jersey Mom Disappears; Her 11-Month-Old Baby Found in Delaware; Boyfriend Flies to Italy

Amy Giordano didn't act like a woman preparing to abandon her life. Three days before she disappeared, the 27-year-old woman filled out and dated a voter registration card. On June 7, the day before she was last heard from, a surveillance videotape shows her picking up groceries and baby diapers as boyfriend Rosario DiGirolamo pushes their 11-month-old son in a shopping cart.

But she was last heard from June 8, when she talked by phone to her 6-year-old son who lives with her ex-husband in New York City. Her 11-month-old, Michael DiGirolamo, was discovered the next day in a hospital parking lot in Newark, Del., a handwritten note pinned to his diaper calling him "John Vincent" and saying his caregiver had no job or health insurance. "God have mercy on me," the anguished note read.

On June 18, her purse was found in the back of her bedroom closet in her third-floor walk-up, still containing her wallet and ID. It also contained a full pack of cigarettes; Giordano was a chain smoker.

"I can't connect all these dots and come up with a happy ending," said her landlord, Mike Vanderbeck. "The only way to connect the dots is to presuppose something bad happened to Amy."

Now the FBI and authorities in two states and Italy are involved in the case.
Vanderbeck identified the baby after an employee recognized a photo of the toddler on TV. The boy remains in foster care, according to Delaware police.

Giordano's boyfriend, who paid her $850 monthly rent though he was married to and living with another woman, hasn't been seen since June 11, the last day he reported for work at Conair Inc. in East Windsor.

Authorities say he flew alone to Italy on June 14, and did not use his June 28 return ticket. His car was found on New York's Staten Island but yielded no clues, said Casey DiBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

Officially, Giordano is a missing person and DiGirolamo is a "person of interest" someone the authorities want to question in her disappearance. He also faces felony child endangerment charges in Delaware because authorities picked up signals from his cell phone near the time and place the baby was abandoned.

Baby in incubator suffers burns

MUMBAI: In a shocking incident that reflects the sorry state of the city's healthcare infrastructure, a premature baby girl who was admitted to the BMC-run Oshiwara maternity home suffered burn injuries after a short circuit at the hospital on Saturday. She was rushed to Nair Hospital at Mumbai Central but is still battling for life. The yet-to-be-named baby who was kept in an electronically connected incubator (warmer) because she was underweight at birth suffered 10 to 15% burns to her head and shoulder.

"The baby is very small and it is too early to talk about her condition. We are giving her high antibiotics and doing all we can to help her," said paediatric surgeon and Nair Hospital dean Sanjay Oak who is treating her. While the parents were not available for comment, health activists say safety should be the first priority in BMC's monsoon preparedness for hospitals.

"The incident is absolutely shocking. Agreed that the short circuit may have been an accident, but authorities must have safety devices in place especially in sensitive areas such as the intensive care unit and ensure that they are working," said Arokya Mary, a child rights activist with voluntary organisation Yuva adding that civic authorities are answerable since the incident took place in their premises. Citizen's corporator Adolf D'Souza felt the incident underlined that BMC hospitals were "not in the condition that they should be in".

Authorities maintained that they were investigating the incident. "We are trying to find out how the child got injured," said Cooper Hospital's medical superintendent Dr S S Gawde who is in charge of the ICU. "We immediately shifted the other five children to another unit," he said.

On the rounds

PEOPLE

PETER Bates, the chairman of the NHS Tayside Board, is to retire this summer after seven years in office. The post will be advertised this month by the Office for Public Appointments.
• THE General Medical Council's fitness to practice panel is due to meet in Manchester this week to consider the case of Dr Michael John Munro, whose area of practice is listed as Aberdeenshire.

It is alleged that Munro, a consultant neonatologist, "failed to provide adequate treatment" in respect of Baby X and Baby Y. It is also alleged that, contrary to guidelines issued by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Munro gave pancuronium to Baby X and Baby Y and that his administration of the drug hastened the deaths of Baby X and Baby Y.

NEWS

NHS Fife and NHS Tayside have handed out free sun hats to children from primary one to primary three. The hats are part of a summer resource pack provided to schools and after-school clubs to help children stay safe in the sun. Funded by the Big Lottery, the project is based on "Keep Yer Shirt On", the nursery sun-awareness project run by the health boards.

• NHS Grampian is looking for members of the public to share their views about health and healthcare services. The health board is looking for people to serve on its patient focus and public involvement committee, its community forum and for other groups and for individual pieces of work. Call 01224-554400 or e-mail grampian@nhs.net

• THE computer tomography (CT) suite at Perth Royal Infirmary has been refurbished using money from the Tayside NHS Board Endowment Fund. The refit took place after a larger CT scanner was installed in the suite in March. The fund consists of donations and legacies from patients, their relatives, the public and other organisations.

• PROFESSOR Steven Heys, a consultant surgeon and head of studies into cancer medicine at Aberdeen University, accepted two cheques last week.

The first, for £79,064, came from the organisers of the Moonlight Prowl, a fundraising walk in Fraserburgh. The second cheque, for £10,000, was donated by those who took part in a day-long jazzercise event in Aberdeen. The money will help fund research into breast cancer.

• MORE than 170 partygoers from NHS Tayside's department of ophthalmology attended the Midsummer Eye Ball at the Invercarse Hotel, Dundee, on Friday.

Stuart Roxburgh, a consultant who helped to organise the ball, says: "All funds raised will go directly towards ophthalmic research, including detection of cancer and retinal disease."

• BURN House, near Edzell, in Angus, raised £400 for the special care baby unit at Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee. The country house opened its grounds to the public as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme.

• GEORGE Donald, one of the stars of a fundraising concert for diabetes research staged at Perth Concert Hall in April, presented a cheque for £7,355 to Michael Archibald, chairman of Dundee University's diabetes research campaign at Perth Royal Infirmary.

EVENT

SCIENTISTS from Aberdeen University's bone group have organised this year's annual meeting of the Bone Research Society, which begins today at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Professor David Reid, chair in rheumatology at Aberdeen University, will chair the annual meeting. Around 100 presentations will be made over the three days, with lectures from experts as well as talks and poster presentations from younger researchers.