Gimpy Mumpy

Leave No Pet or Service Animal Behind

Great news for the disabled community and pet owners!  The House and Senate have both taken recent steps to ensure that no pet or service animal is left behind in a time of emergency.  The House passed a bill in May and the Senate has just approved a substitute to the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) act before breaking for their August recess.  In the future people will not have to make the choice between leaving their pet or service animal behind and evacuating a dangerous area.  Hurray!

**Photo is of Austin an adorable survivor of Hurrican Katrina who is still waiting for someone to adopt him.  Mr. M and I went to visit him in a shelter in Maine where he has ended up after being shipped from shelter to crowded shelter over the past year.  He was a very sweet dog but a bit too muscular for Mumpy to handle.  If you know of someone who would like to adopt him please click here.**

Letter to the Editor

I've just finished reading about this over at the Disability Studies, Temple U blog and at Mauzy's Musings.  The mom in this photo was led to believe that this nice summer pool photo would be used on the cover of Indy's Child Magazine.  Well it was but not in a way that she could have fathomed.  Indy's Child, a parenting magazine, has used the photo on their "Maternity Issue" featuring a lengthy article about prenatal testing entitled "Understanding the Results is Key for Prenatal Screening Tests" with a woman quoted as saying, "We’re fortunate. Our child was born without Down syndrome".  The editors of Indy's Child should be ashamed of themselves and Jan has posted the address to contact the magazine over on her blog where she is feeling extremely betrayed at the moment.  So go ahead and write a letter to the editor.  It cannot undo what has been done, but perhaps it will insure that more responsible reporting is practiced at their magazine in the future.  Oh yah, and an apology to the beautiful people in this photo would be appreciated. 

33 Pound Abdominal Cyst Missed By Negligent Doc

This doc gets the Negligent Doctor of the Week Award. 
When his 44-year old female patient came to him with concerns over 16 months ago this doc told her she was "overweight".  I suppose that is one way to describe a 33 pound (14.7 kg) abdominal cyst but the diet pills he prescribed her caused her to become clinically malnurished.  The patient discovered her condition when rushed to hospital with severe abdominal pain.

School for Disabled Youths Use Restraints and "Skin Shocks"

A Shocking Story.

"Knock, Knock"

According to this article, a mentally disabled boy was shot in the buttocks for knocking on a pastor's door.  The pastor of Lighthouse Full Gospel Baptist Church was sleeping when the knocking began and so angered thought it was ok to threaten and then shoot the boy with a BB gun. 
Hmmm.....and this from someone who believes in Hell?  Seems a sure-fire way to win a one-way ticket....

Clinic Closes due to Sperm Shortage

Every sperm is sacred...
A Scottish IVF clinic was forced to shut down due to the recent shortage of sperm donors.  New legislation forces sperm donors to give their identity which has led to a dramatic decrease in donors. 
What I find particularly distressing about this article is that the clinic continued to have patients undergo the beginnings of the lengthy, and often painful, IVF treatments until they had completely run out of sperm! 

"The clinic sent out letters to patients - some of whom were halfway through a course - to tell them they have to go back on another city's waiting list."

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil...

Deaf-mute crime ring busted in Shanghai.  Members are reported to have passed messages to each other and instructions from their imprisoned leader using sign language which apparently police and prison guards did not know. 
Another reason for universal sign language education? 

Battle of Arnhem Veteran Attempts Rescue of Wife from Nursing Home

On a day when we honor our veterans this story is all the more poignant. 
Dennis Cramp, now 80, fought at the Battle of Arnhem but nothing could have prepared him for his current battle against Social Services.  When his wife, who was diagnosed with dementia, was not released back home after what was to be a short stay in a nursing home Mr. Cramp took matters into his own hands.  He staged a daring rescue attempt but was thwarted by Social Services. 
Mr. Cramp pleads that he cannot live without his wife and that she is happy when at home and in his care but Social Services contend that Mrs. Cramp should be in a nursing center.
I cannot help but ask the question, "If officials feel that Mr. Cramp cannot provide all of the care that his wife needs, then why do they not first try to provide the family with at home nursing care?"  Mrs. Cramp obviously has a loving husband who is willing to do what it takes to care for her and keep her at home.  Why is it that the system must be so disruptive to families rather than work with them?

Man On Mobility Scooter "Causes" Mr. Magoo Moment

"All the while the elderly man continued on his way, unaware of the bedlam in his wake."

Doctors Behaving Badly

In another installment of Doctors Behaving Badly we bring you the intoxicated doc operating a backhoe.  By "operating" a backhoe I mean driving through the neighbors fence and into the side of someone's home twice and into a tree.  When an officer responded to the call and asked doctor Veltman to come down off from the vehicle the doctor responded with this week's Quote of the Week:

"I am a (expletive) medical doctor and you are below me"