Cocaine

[FC]

I got called in for a surgery. A young woman on cocaine, who denied taking anything was a passenger in a car wreck. She was restrained, but impacted so hard it cut her fetus in half. It was about eight inches long. I had to pick it up after surgery and put the parts in a bucket of formalin. That was one of the worst things I've ever had to do. That's an object lesson on drugs if ever there was one.

[TLynn]

That is sad FC. However, maybe it was god's way of taking his child home sooner than most. After all it probably wouldn't of been much of a life for a kid with the mom already hooked on cocaine.

[FC]

I was thinking about that. The kid will never have a chance to prove him or herself. I think it was about 22 wks. old.

[Doble Troble]

Both prenatal and postnatal exposure to psychoactive drugs alters CNS development in ways that persistently changes behavior at adulthood (this is something that I really know about). One of the PC guidelines that I'm very much in favor of is no drinking or smoking while pregnant. I also think that drinking, smoking and drug use (even coffee) should be avoided until adulthood (the time of which varies, but I'd venture an estimate of early- to mid-twenties). Psychoactive drugs at adulthood seem to have fewer persistent effects - so us geezers can go for it (but the problem is us geezers don't seem to like it as much - isn't that interesting)?

 

Thanks for sharing your experience, FC. I'm sorry that you have to deal with situations like that, but as TL points out, maybe there was a reason.

[TLynn]

I was thinking about that. The kid will never have a chance to prove him or herself. I think it was about 22 wks. old.

2956[/snapback]

 

While that is true that the child will never have the ability to prove themselves, there are so many variables to factor in because of the mother having been a drug user. You have just as much a chance of the child not coming to term because of that alone as the accident itself.

 

You can't save everyone Tony, no matter how hard you try...sometimes you just have to sigh, say a small prayer and move on.

[Emul8]

FC --

 

I know how you feel...sort of.

 

When I was first undergoing training in my crime lab job, I had to go obtain some fingerprints from a difficult case. That same morning there were autopsies of three murder victims that I had to view and I also had to print one of the victims. The very first autopsy that I would ever see in my life was performed on a 3 year old murder victim, killed by her own father.

 

Autopsies in general aren't very pleasant to observe in real life...the sights are bad enough for some people, but it's usually the smells that can really make the whole experience downright nasty. Couple all of that with the startling reality of seeing a tiny child's body on the table, the victim of a heinous act perpetrated on her by her own father, and it's no wonder that I struggled not to cry.

 

But that wasn't the worst part...if you can imagine. The victim that I had to obtain fingerprints on, was a 27 year old woman who was 7 months pregnant with a boy. When the woman was autopsied, the fetus was removed, and as a matter of study, my trainer and I were required to observe the fingerprints of the fetus. I remember every detail of that whole experience, though it occurred just over 9 years ago, but what I remember most was how my trainer's hands were shaking as we leaned over that tiny little boy and looked at his hands, gently unfolding his fingers to check the friction ridge detail. By that time, both my trainer and I were on the verge of tears, and it was all we could do to note our observations and get the hell out of the morgue.

 

All the rest of that day I kept feeling like I could still smell the woman's autopsy, it was creepy and even though I would blow my nose repeatedly to rid myself of the scents from the morgue, it stayed with me. When I got home that evening, I found out why...apparently, when I was printing the woman, there was some blood seepage from one of her defense wounds, I didn't notice it at the time, but as I was maneuvering to fingerprint her, some of her blood got under my watchband, so I was in fact smelling her blood all day.

 

Well, of course, I could scrub the blood away, and be rid of the scent forever, but the images from that time are still vivid, and they have stayed with me, and what I saw that day changed my view on capital punishment irrevocably. So, sort of like you, I saw a lesson in what I had to do...the thing is, we don't need those lessons...I am not a murderer or a drug user, and I am venturing a guess that most of here aren't...lol. It is a terrible thing to be left with the fallout from the horrendous acts of soulless people.

 

 

[Jimro]

Bad things happen in this life, and I am thankful that there are good people who work at the unpleasant jobs that make us safer, healthier, and just generally better off.

 

The hardest thing in life is that feeling of powerlessness to make right some terribly evil act, or to heal some terrible hurt someone else is having. Some folks deserve the misery they make for themselves, but watching them inflict that misery on a child is heart and gut wrenching.

 

So when things get tough, post how your day went, we'll keep listening and praying. You may not feel appreciated, but you are appreciated.

 

Jimro

[FC]

Morgue- that would be too much. I remember going to see where med students went to work on cadavers; I felt like throwing up. Seeing a little kid dead would be the worst of the worst.

 

I told the docs that I'd seen situations like this before, and that it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Demanding family, drugs, low income. Well, things with this case are getting worse. I got called yesterday and got quizzed about it.

[karlunity]

FC.

 

You did what you had to do, help keep the woman alive.

Perhaps she will see the light but that is between her and God.

You at the least helped to give her the chance to reform.

 

You did good.

 

Take care

Karl