Doctors describe vain bid to save boy, His foster mother is facingcharges

Doctors describe vain bid to save boy
His foster mother is facing charges

http://www.boston.com/news/local/art...d_to_save_boy/

Globe Staff / November 8, 2007

For 45 minutes, a trauma team from Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester
attempted to resuscitate Dontel Jeffers, pushing a breathing tube down
his throat, injecting him with adrenaline, and performing CPR, according
to testimony given yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court by the doctor and
nurses who worked on the 4-year-old boy.

After calling an end to the frantic attempt on March 6, 2005, emergency
physician Glen Sickorez stepped out of the trauma room, walked over to
the boy's foster mother, Corinne Stephen, and told her that Jeffers was
dead. "I believe she was quite distraught," said Sickorez, sitting in
the witness stand. "Her first statement was, 'Why does something like
this happen to me?' "

Stephen, who had custody of Jeffers for only 10 days, is facing
second-degree murder charges in connection with the toddler's death.
Yesterday, on the second day of the trial, she sat stoically next to her
lawyer, John Palmer, while members of the trauma team that worked on
Jeffers recounted what happened after she walked through the emergency
entrance with the lifeless boy.

Nurse David Lincoln said Jeffers's arms and legs were cold, his heart
wasn't beating, and his abdomen was "grossly distended, large,
rock-hard." Lincoln said he spoke with Stephen twice outside the trauma
room.

In one of those conversations, he said, Stephen recounted the moments
before she came to the hospital. "She said she had plans to go shopping
for food, and that he [Jeffers] didn't seem right in a way, but he was
communicative. She gave him a bath, clothed him, and placed him in a car
seat. She said she looked in her rearview mirror and he was unresponsive."

Lincoln, Sickorez, and several other members of the trauma team said
they also noticed bruises on Jeffers's arms and legs, that he had a
black, swollen left eye, and that his hands were swollen. "His right
pupil was fixed, no reaction, and I could not check the left because
that eye was swollen shut," Lincoln said.

Sickorez said, "I asked her about the bruises on his arms and legs, and
she said that he was hyperactive." Stephen had previously told
authorities that the night before Jeffers was taken to the hospital, he
had been jumping on his bed and had fallen, hitting his head on a radiator.

An autopsy revealed that Jeffers died of severe internal injuries and
that it is likely he endured much pain. The autopsy also said Jeffers's
wrists had marks from cord or rope, and that swelling in the boy's hands
may have resulted from "tight and painful ligatures" left in place for
at least 45 minutes. It also showed that the boy's forehead had
fingernail gouges.

Prosecutor David Deakin said in his opening statements on Tuesday that
the prosecution's case would be based on circumstantial evidence, and
that there would be no eyewitness to tell what happened to Jeffers. He
added that Stephen, as the sole caregiver, could have saved the boy's
life but chose not to.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle told jurors that
prosecutors do not have to prove Stephen actually delivered the blows
that harmed Jeffers.

Instead, she told them they must be convinced that Stephen knew her
actions would have caused the boy's death.

Palmer described Stephen as a career foster mother who had safely cared
for other children and had a good reputation with Mentor Network Inc.,
the private child welfare agency where she worked.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.






CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...