Teen's Navel Piercing Lands Mother In Jail

[matcom]

<snip>

Authorities have charged a Massachusetts woman whose daughter nearly died after trying to pierce her own navel.

Prosecutors say the mother failed to seek medical treatment after the 13-year-old developed a near-fatal infection.

Deborah Robinson faces a felony count of permitting bodily injury to a child under 14, and a misdemeanor count of child endangerment.

Authorities say the girl was likely in extreme pain within a day or two after the start of her infection, which caused organ damage. She was hospitalized last week after family members called paramedics to the home, where she was found emaciated and near death.

Prosecutors say she remains in critical but stable condition and is being given large doses of antibiotics.

A judge has also ordered the mother to undergo a mental evaluation.

http://www.wftv.com/family/4826464/detail.html

[murielm99]

1. When my girls were small, everyone was getting their ears

pierced.

My oldest was in third grade with a girl named Venus. The kids told me that Venus wore the same clothes to school every day. She never bathed, so she smelled. She flunked every subject. And she was seriously overweight.

Venus wanted to have her ears pierced, just like the other girls. So she pierced them herself, with two paper clips. She got a horrible infection.

The teacher took Venus to the school nurse, who got her to a doctor. When the infection cleared up, the teacher paid for Venus to have her ears pierced properly, and bought her a pair of earrings.

I don't know where Venus' parents were.

My oldest will be 26 in a little over a month. I bet no teacher today would be able to do that for Venus without being sued.

[phaseolus]

2. Woman I dated back in 1990

...was drunk one night & had to really force one of her pierced earrings in; next morning she discovered she gave herself another piercing.

Luckily for her there was no infection. Little while later I left her for a woman who didn't drink.... unfortunately the next one was batshit crazy. Oh well.

[mopinko]

3. phew

i have a kid with 25+ piercings. she is 18 now, and i am off the hook. she did a lot of stuff that could have gotten ME a "mental evaluation". i feel for that mom.

[eyesroll]

4. I think it was the lack of medical attention, not the piercing itself.

Otherwise a lot of parents would be in jail...

[mopinko]

6. no, i know

my kid could well have hidden a thing like that until she was near death, then i would be in trouble. it's not me, she has problems. but she has made me look pretty bad many times. on purpose.

[noonwitch]

5. I wonder if the kid was trying to hide the piercing from her parents

A child that age can be very secretive about that kind of thing.