Haleigh Poutre, the girl beaten nearly to death by her step-parents, has been moved out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation center. This is obviously good news. She has healed enough, apparently, to respond to certain commands. She can recognize certain elements of her surroundings.
But this is good also because it will help preserve her privacy and allow her, and the people who will make decisions about her health care, a bit more distance from those who want to make a cause out of her. Before the move, we all knew where she was: the pediatric intensive care unit of Bay State Medical Center (a place I know well). Now, we do not. I am sure that we will continue to hear about her condition, since there are three separate inquiries into her case by various state bodies. But more privacy will be good for her.
It is also obvious that the state is not trying to "kill" her. DSS has behaved responsibly since her beating; whatever problems the agency has have more to do with the break down in monitoring her before the terrible beating.
Personally, I believe that Haleigh's care is being managed ethically and humanely. The state acted to remove the likely-guilty step-father from any decision-making role, which he was seeking. The state adapted its approach as Haleigh showed signs of improvement. The first big question was always how she would respond to weaning her off the respirator. She could have died from that; she didn't. Now, moving her to a rehab center strikes me as precisely the right thing. This is fairly close to what I was arguing last December: remove the respirator, see how she does, then, if she does well, wait for a longer period of time to see how she heals with the feeding tube in place. That is what is happening now.
UPDATE: Well, so much for privacy. We do know where Haleigh is.
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