Five Suspended Over Asthma Death of British Schoolboy
The Guardian goes into more heartrending detail on the death of Sam Linton and the school’s neglect of his asthma that led to it. Fair warning: this will probably push some of your buttons. An example:
A teacher who had been alerted to Sam’s plight by other students told them to “go away” because she was in a meeting and he would “have to wait”.
Related:
U.S. States’ School Inhaler Laws
Remember: all 50 states permit schoolchildren to carry and administer their own inhalers.
American Idol Contestant Paige Miles Voted Off, Cites Asthma in Loss
I’m sorry for her health issues and she actually has a good voice, but there were other factors related to song choice, performance, and general interest level at play here.
Cracked.com on the Media, Non-News, and the Opinionated (like Jenny McCarthy)
Under list item #5, “Let’s Ask the Idiots About Science,” Cracked dissects the absurdity of allowing McCarthy to disseminate personal opinion in a scientific, fact-based story. An example:
Sure, they can talk about poisonous vaccines to Oprah or whoever is sitting next to them at the Lakers game all they want. They have freedom of speech. That freedom does not guarantee them a seat on a panel of experts.
Now, here’s the thing about Oprah. Yes, she hosts a daytime talk show, not the news, and talk shows are nothing if not platforms for all sorts of opinions and beliefs.
However.
Can anyone explain how we’re supposed to take campaigns like Oprah’s No Phone Zone seriously, when McCarthy not only goes on Oprah frequently to question vaccine safety – immunization, by the way, being one of the most important public health advances in the 20th century – but is also getting her very own talk show through Oprah’s production company? (ETA the following two sentences) I’m not questioning the danger of driving and texting here, nor the need to address it. It’s the inconsistency between this stance and the health-unfriendly vaccine talk that troubles me.
Oprah.com describes texting and driving as “America’s New Deadly Obsession.”
Is pertussis also not deadly?
Measles?
Influenza?
More Entertainment, Unrelated to Vaccines, Asthma, or Health
If you love me at all, please please please watch Treme, the new HBO series by David Simon on April 11 and every Sunday afterwards, so it doesn’t get canceled like Simon’s masterpiece, “The Wire” did.
This series is set in New Orleans, the best place ever and what I miss most about living in the Deep South. It looks like David Simon successfully captures the spirit of the city – no surprises there, considering the man’s formidable talent – without just resorting to tired stereotypes, too:
Another trailer:
Please?
I don’t have cable, so…
Yeah, I don’t get the whole Jenny thing, either. She’s an actress and a comedienne, not a “specialist.” I understand hoping for the ability to bring your child miraculously out of a life-long disabling condition, but it really seems like she’s just selling snake-oil. People actually deal with things better once they accept the situation for what it is; not to imply that they should give up all hope – i just think it’s detrimental to focus so much on the hopes of having what you dreamed – i.e., like you’ve said before- you should accept the child you have, not focus/obsess on the child you DON’T have. Anyway, if she’s right, i guess the numbers have already begun to drop, since, you know, there are such a large number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children (and have been for a number of years now). But, yeah, i can’t stand how she spews ignorance that she believes may possibly prevent one condition, which, in the process, puts considerably more people at risk of DEATH. Not just disability, but death. And there are way more asthmatics and others with immune diseases (my mom, for instance) who would become so severely ill from exposure to any of the diseases we have vaccines for. Too many people, i think, view the health threats of the return of deadly diseases in the abstract, and not as the real threat they pose. I view EVERY cold as a potential bout of pnuemonia, while those with healthy families, just figure either these things won’t spread to them, that it’s just not that big of a deal, or they’d be just fine anyway.
Ok, done with my rant!
Amy — I love you for covering three of my biggest obsessions in one post: asthma, the lunacy of anti-vaxxers, AND David Simon. That’s just one of many reasons why yours is one of my favorite blogs!
Kelley–I always wonder what parents in third world countries with no access to vaccinations for their kids would say about Jenny McCarthy and her acolytes.
Allison–Thanks! And…other David Simon fan? You’re giving me an excuse for Monday morning recaps!