Quote of the year: “…admitted to police that he had no real parenting skills.” Ya think?
Man on trial for putting baby in freezer
A Canadian man who could not figure out how to deal with his girlfriend’s feverish 10-month-old daughter put the baby into a freezer to cool her down, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
A Canadian man who could not figure out how to deal with his girlfriend’s feverish 10-month-old daughter put the baby into a freezer to cool her down, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
He told a court in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island on Thursday the child had only been in the freezer for about 40 seconds.
Hardy, 21, who admitted to police that he had no real parenting skills to deal with a sick child, said he had noticed the girl was very hot and put a cool cloth on her face, but this had no effect.
He then carried the girl outside into the night air but, frustrated that this also did not work and worried she might drown if placed in a cold bath, he put the baby into the kitchen freezer. She was wearing only an undershirt.
A local doctor said the mother had described her baby as “crying, sobbing and terrified.” The child spent several days in hospital to recover from first- and second-degree freezer burns on her head and torso.
Hardy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The baby’s grandmother now has custody of the girl.
This is what happens when two idiots breed.
wait… so are we or are we not supposed to put babies in freezers?
Just so sad!
Dumbass!! Babies go in the microwave, not the freezer – rofl
Its hard to argue with logic like that..
If you leave the baby in the freezer its temperature will go down.. one way or another..
Not guilty?!?!
The man admitted to doing it…it’s not even alleged…
at least this kid is still alive and well….unlike this one
[edited: pls use tinyurl]
not quite so funny now tallwookie, or perhaps you’re related?
I think the mother that left the child with the bozo shows less sense. They did put children in ice baths to prevent fever seizures, but now I believe they use those circulating chill water mats or cold packs. Fever can spike fast and scare the hell out of you.
Well, no one seemed to ask why they wanted to drop the baby’s temp? Was the baby sick? Why didn’t he take her to the hospital? Was lack of health care an issue?
Some ignorance stems from one’s upbringing, but some of it comes from society’s lack of attention to the needy via education.
Accept for lotto winners, one’s “smartness” is proportional to one’s wealth of resources..
#9 – Accept for lotto winners, one’s “smartness” is proportional to one’s wealth of resources..
Comment by sirfelix — 11/28/2006 @ 10:30 am
Generally… But that doesn’t explain my lack of wealth.
But this guy was dumb. Not mean. Not neglectful. Not a scumbag. This guy realized that the baby’s rising temperature was a very bad thing, freaked out, and tried with all the right intent to help. He had genuine concern.
Obviously, the baby is out of his care… But let’s show some compassion here. We bitch all day about the poor parenting choices made by people we don’t know. All this guy wanted to do was make the right choice and in the richest nation on Earth, with the most resources to allocate for health care and education, he ended being an idiot who couldn’t deal with a fever. Ironic… and evidence of a system that has failed miserably.
We should be looking for new solutions to help people like this, because the old ones aren’t working.
People this stupid should not be allowed to breed!
Come On… Put the kid in the freezer? What does he think, the kid’s a popsickle?
Yeah, this guy is dumb. Dumber than Homer Simpson.
This just tells me once again that there is no such thing as common sense. They require you to get a license to drive, carry a gun, pilot a plane, and such, but you don’t have to have ANY training to have children. If we care so much about children, why the heck don’t we REQUIRE some rudimentary training for taking care of kids.
The guy is lying his ass off and won’t get away with it. “The child spent several days in hospital to recover from first- and second-degree freezer burns on her head and torso.” 40 seconds in an open fridge freezer won’t do that kind of damage.
I think he wanted to kill it.
Just saw this other sad news
.
One baby in the freezer, one into the microwave.
When a child has a very high fever over 106 you rub them down in rubbing alcohol or a cool bath to bring down the body temp.
You can’t give children aspirin because of reye syndrome.
Frozen kidsickles is a bit extreme. LOL
The freezer manual should say to wait till items cool down, before inserting into the freezer. Otherwise it melts the ice cream I suppose. RTFM!
Don’t know why he didn’t just take it to hospital…..it is Canada afterall…free health care…..oh wait…he would have had to wait 8 months for treatment ….maybe thats why he did it…made it an emergancy and they would treat the kid in the same month he brought it in.
Thanks for your insightful comment on the Canadian medical system #17. We don’t have ‘free’ health care here: we pay taxes and medical insurance premiums. And we don’t exclude millions of people …
Your comment is darn near as stupid as putting a baby in a freezer. I guess there is no national monopoly on ignorance …
Obviously this is a family that needs a lifeguard at the gene pool.
I agree with OFTLO in post #10.
The guy might not have been the brightest light around, but his intentions were in the right direction. Sure you can suggest using rubbing alcohol to reduce the babies temperature. But what if they didn’t have any? Cooling baths? What is the difference between a cooling bath and cooling temperatures found in a refrigerator?
I have seen cases where physicians have bathed someone in an ice bath in order to reduce the temperature. Maybe this wasn’t warranted in this case, but he very well might have been trying the same approach. According to the article, he tried a cold cloth and taking the baby outside in the cool evening air, both with no appreciable effect.
So, for all those intellectually superior people here, what would you do if faced with a medical situation such as this. No thermometer, very hot, lethargic kid, no children’s Tylenol, no car, no experience with very young children, and no telephone. C’mon, quick, what are you going to do? The baby is sick !!! Are you going to let the bay die?
Why didn’t he just put her outside…he was in CANADA!!
And, Mr. Fusion, the issue was that he let the FREEZER door close..and wasnt’ attending to her…Momma came home, and found her kid close to frostbite.
….Might have been an okay idea…..in an extreme emergency, but a wash down with cool rags usually does the trick…even without tylenol, and failing that, he should have had her rushed to a hospital if he couldn’t deal with it.
No, the guy is an idiot. Don’t defend idiots, Mr. Fusion.
#18….Robert…..they have this little thing called GOOGLE….you should try it sometime….you might even find a site like this one……
http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page5.html
even though your head is in your ass.
#21, meetsy
….Might have been an okay idea…..in an extreme emergency, but a wash down with cool rags usually does the trick…even without tylenol, and failing that, he should have had her rushed to a hospital if he couldn’t deal with it.
No, the guy is an idiot. Don’t defend idiots, Mr. Fusion.
Comment by meetsy — 11/28/2006 @ 8:26 pm
You lose the test in #20. You admit in the very first six words that it might have been OK in an emergency. Then you went on to suggest he try something else HE ALREADY TRIED. He used a cool cloth and there didn’t seem to be any effect. His gf had the car and apparently was expected home shortly. There was no indication of how far the nearest hospital is. Also, there is no indication that there was any hypothermia so the child could not have been left in the freezer for very long.
For a 10 month old to compliantly stay in the freezer should be the tip off that there is a problem with the child. Around that stage the child is just starting to walk. They should be able to roll over, sit up, and crawl with out effort. They are starting to talk and would be quite capable of screaming.
No, I would not recommend putting anyone in a freezer. At any age. The point is he tried several options and none of them seemed to work. The quality of his decision is debatable, but truth be, he made a decision that reflected the severity of the situation IN HIS MIND and acted accordingly. There was no malice or lack of thought.
#17 & 22,
Apparently you didn’t “google” very much about this story. It happened in Prince Edward Island. This the second poorest province in Canada. Very small in size, it is almost totally rural with only two sizable towns. I don’t know off hand where this happened or how far he was from the nearest hospital, but don’t assume they were just a quick cab ride away from one. The chances are that they weren’t.
The point Robert made is to correct you on the often said, but wrong, “Canadian health care is free” mantra. As Robert said, it isn’t. It is paid for through taxes, much the same as Americans pay for their health care, through premiums. Only, everyone is covered, not just those who can afford it.
Well I got me a fine wife I got me a fiddle
When the suns comin up I got babies on the griddle
Life aint nothin but a funy funny riddle
Thank God Im a country boy
Well I got me a fine wife I got me a fiddle
When the suns comin up I got babies on the griddle
Life aint nothin but a funny funny riddle
Thank God Im a country boy
#24….Mr. Fusion…..I read the entire Canadian health care law. I can’t do any better than that. It is quite clear, that Health care is to be provided by the provencie’s and shall cover ALL citizens. Some provencie’s may charge a premium or fund it out of general taxes, but no matter how it’s done, NO ONE can be denied health care due to inability to pay, in the premium provence’s or otherwise.
Taxes are taxes…..of course there is no **free** when getting anything from goverment, since goverment dosen’t produce a sellable product to raise revenues. The revenue comes from taxes. If your poor and don’t pay any taxes, then your getting something free, sort of.
The provence he is in has little to do with his having health care coverage.
I never said he was an idiot(as some did), I just posed the question about why he didn’t take the child to the hospital or clinic. I actually think that he was pretty ingenious, since he did all the normal things first and they didn’t work. But, it would have been better if he had laid the baby on a protective blanket to avoid the frostbite burns.