My Christmas Eve column today brings together several unforgettable stories over the past year that will be familiar to readers of this blog. It’s enriching, inspiring stories like these that keep me going when Washington politics wears me down — and remind me of how truly blessed we are.

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God’s Gifts
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

The Wal-Mart stampede in Long Island last month exposed the ugliest side of the Christmas season. But not all Americans live by “The Blitz Line Starts Here” credo. Not all of us rush to store shelves in search of the greatest gifts. Sometimes, they can be discovered in the hearts and souls of total strangers. If only you look.

What an extraordinary treasure America was given in Dong Yun Yoon. The naturalized American from Korea lost his entire family in a San Diego military jet crash three weeks ago. The tragedy claimed the lives of his infant daughter, toddler daughter, wife, and mother-in-law. It wrecked his house and upended his world.

But Mr. Yoon refused to blame the pilot or bash the military. At a press conference near the site of the crash, the grieving father and husband urged his fellow citizens to pray for the pilot: “He is one of our treasures for the country…I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could.”

In an age of shoe-tossing temper tantrums, anti-troop bigotry, and litigation gone wild, Mr. Yoon demonstrated both amazing grace and unbending patriotism in the face of unfathomable pain. His heart-wrenching plea for forgiveness resounded across the country — and around the world. Five hundred people from both the civilian and military communities came to lift Mr. Yoon up at his family’s memorial service. The assistant pastor of his church reported that they had received more than 1,000 phone calls and e-mail messages offering condolences and financial support.

Mr. Yoon’s suffering and sacrifice are powerful reminders of the preciousness of life — reminders that money can’t buy.

Haleigh Poutre is another of those priceless gifts. She’s the miracle child who was nearly beaten to death by her barbaric stepfather three years ago. Hooked to a ventilator in a comatose state, she was then nearly condemned to death by Massachusetts medical experts and the state’s criminally negligent child welfare bureaucracy, which hastily declared her to be in a hopeless vegetative state and wanted to pull the plug on her life.

God had a different plan. The government’s campaign to kill her was stopped after the then-11-year-old girl started breathing on her own and responding to commands. This little girl with an iron will to live has been nursed back to health by an amazing team of caring therapists. Her plight brought end-of-life issues again to the fore — issues that so many on both the left and right would prefer to ignore.

Haleigh the “vegetable” can now write her name, brush her own hair, and feed herself. Haleigh’s suffering and sacrifice carry powerful reminders against blind trust in the deadly duo of Big Nanny and Big Medicine — reminders that money can’t buy.

The life of Master Sgt. Anthony Davis gives us one more invaluable gift this year. On Thanksgiving weekend, his family learned that he had been killed while delivering humanitarian supplies in Biaj, Iraq. He had served in the Army for 26 years. He loved his job and he believed in his mission. The Baltimore native was married and had five children and one grandchild. His wife and daughter also served in the military.

Sergeant Davis was killed while distributing water and food in Biaj, about 250 miles north of Baghdad. He died, his family said, doing what he loved. “He was Army in every sense of the word,” Jorge Tardi, Sergeant Davis’ brother-in-law, told the Baltimore Sun. “He believed in our effort over there in Iraq. It wasn’t just a job. It wasn’t just a benefit. It wasn’t just hardship pay. He was a patriot.”

Sergeant Davis was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, but what his family will remember most is commitment to them. He was a peacemaker, they said, and a mentor to all. “‘A positive impact on somebody’s life can change their life for the better,’ That’s a quote from him,” his son Jerel said at his funeral. He “instilled in his children the importance of getting to know God.”

Sergeant Davis’s service sacrifice serves as powerful reminders never to take for granted the cherished gifts of family, faith, and freedom — reminders that money can’t buy.

Almost three years ago, I started blogging about beautiful Haleigh Poutre. She’s the miracle child who was nearly beaten to death by her barbaric stepfather. Hooked to a ventilator in a comatose state, she was then nearly condemned to death by Massachusetts medical experts and the state’s criminally negligent child welfare bureaucracy, which hastily declared her to be in a hopeless vegetative state and wanted to pull the plug on her life. Thank God, the campaign to kill her was stopped. This blessed angel has been nursed back to health by an amazing team of caring therapists. Her plight brought end-of-life issues again to the fore — issues that so many on both the left and right would prefer to ignore. The stepfather is standing trial now for child abuse. And that trial has produced video of Haleigh’s progress that will bring you to tears.

The girl the state of Massachusetts wanted to remove from life support is now writing her name, brushing her own hair, and feeding herself. Watch this, pass it on, and let it be a permanent warning against blind trust in the deadly duo of Big Nanny and Big Medicine:

Flashback: Kathyrn Lopez on the duty to always err on the side of life.

Longtime readers will remember Haleigh from two years ago. She was the 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts who had been hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat. Haleigh, in a coma, was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was “virtually brain dead” — in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Massachusetts Department of Social Services wanted to remove Haleigh’s feeding and breathing tubes. They called her “hopeless.” They called her condition “irreversible.”

As they moved to pull the plug, a miracle happened: She started breathing on her own.

Her case revealed massive, dangerous bureaucratic incompetence and the fallibility of the medical establishment.

Now, the Boston Herald reports that Haleigh Poutre–who turned 14 on Sunday–is now speaking about the unimaginable abuse she suffered:

Defying all odds, the brain-damaged Westfield girl who was days away from a state order to remove her from life support in 2006 is now communicating information about the horrific abuse that nearly killed her, according to new court documents.

Although once thought to be brain-dead, Haleigh Poutre, who turned 14 on Sunday, is now ‘making statements alleging abuse” by her stepfather Jason Strickland, according to a motion filed in Hampden Superior Court last month by Strickland’s attorney, Alan Black of Springfield.

Haleigh is recovering at a Brighton rehabilitation hospital, where her condition has reportedly vastly improved since the legal battle over her life captured national headlines in 2006.

Haleigh was beaten into a coma Sept. 11, 2005, allegedly at the hands of Strickland and his wife, Holli Strickland, Haleigh’s adoptive mother and biological aunt.

Black’s motion indicates that a 51A concerning Haleigh has been forwarded to him by Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett. A 51A is a report of abuse or neglect that can be filed with the Department of Social Services.

“This creates issues concerning competency and (Haleigh’s) ability to testify and recall events in light of her severe head trauma,” Black wrote in the motion that requests a new trial schedule be set so he has time to review the information and hire experts.

Bennett is not commenting on the case against Strickland.

Eight days after Haleigh’s near-fatal beating, DSS sought a court order allowing Haleigh to be removed from life support. Jason Strickland objected, but in January 2007, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that DSS could remove Haleigh from life support. The next day, DSS announced that Haleigh was breathing on her own, and it had halted plans to remove her feeding tube.

News reports last year indicated that Haleigh could eat, write her name and flex muscles – all activities that doctors once said would never be possible.

As I’ve noted before, there is a powerful institutional motive for covering up Haleigh’s progress.

Don’t forget her.

What ever happened to Haleigh Poutre?

The state of Massachusetts almost murdered her. They deemed her “virtually brain-dead,” in a “vegetative state,” and not worth saving. Now, she is “bright-eyed and smiling,” responsive, and speaking a few words. This beautiful girl was nearly beaten to death by her father and stepmother–who were aided by an incompetent social services bureaucracy and a medical establishment convinced her life was a waste. Her mother and grandmother announced last week that they will battle to hold the bureaucracy accountable:

Child abuse victim Haleigh Poutre has regained the ability to speak, but outraged relatives said her tiny voice has been silenced by the state’s refusal to seek justice against social workers who failed to protect her.

During a press conference yesterday, Haleigh’s biological mother and grandmother announced a campaign to hold the Department of Social Services accountable for failing to stop the horrific beatings that left the girl brain damaged.

“Each step of the way I thought there would be such an uproar . . . and there would be all kinds of strong responses and actions from state (legislators), but the silence has been deafening,” said Susan Molina, a child protection advocate who spoke for the family. “The message in Massachusetts is that anything goes.”

She said she will continue to seek meetings with legislators until action is taken. DSS was found to have failed to intervene on Haleigh’s behalf despite several reports of abuse but was cleared of blame for her injuries by a state panel.

Haleigh’s grandmother, Sandra Sudyka, said the girl was able to say hello during a hospital visit in July, but the state revoked her visitation rights soon afterward. “I think they’re afraid of what she might say,” Sudyka said. DSS spokeswoman Mia Alvarado said, “We have a request from the courts not to speak on any matter related to Haleigh, and we feel we need to honor that request.” DSS had sought to remove Haleigh’s life support after she slipped into a coma but reversed course when her condition improved.

***

What ever happened to Abdul Rahman?

He was the ex-Muslim whose conversion to Christianity nearly cost him his life. Adbul Rahman. In March, after a global outcry, Rahman fled Afghanistan and found safety in Italy after Muslim mobs demanded he be killed for abandoning Islam. Seven months after his escape, jihadis in Afghanistan still wanted him murdered for turning to Christ. They kidnapped Italian photojournalist Gabriele Torsello and threatened to kill him unless Italy returned Rahman to Afghanistan. Torsello was later released. He is a Muslim convert. As far as we know, Rahman remains safe in Italy. But apostates who leave Islam around the world remain in danger.

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What ever happened to Baby Charlotte?

Then

Now

Charlotte Wyatt was the brain-damaged toddler from whom doctors in England won the power to withhold life support–against the wishes of her parents. Pro-life groups and bloggers joined the Wyatt family earlier this year in fighting for her life and battling the “do not resuscitate” order mandated by the courts. Charlotte has defied medical expectations and survived for three years during the legal battles. Unfortunately, the strain took a toll on her parents’ marriage. Charlotte’s mother left the family; the father was admitted to the hospital for a drug overdose.

The good news: Just this week, Charlotte was discharged from hospital yesterday in time to spend Christmas with foster parents.

***

What ever happened to the the Haditha Marines and Pendleton 8?

Here’s what I wrote back on May 30 about the Haditha Marines:

On May 18th, I was one of many bloggers on the Right to condemn Democrat Rep. John Murtha for blabbing about the still-not-complete investigation of alleged war atrocities by Marines at Haditha. (Formal findings are not expected for several weeks.) Since Murtha’s widely broadcast accusations of Marines killing civilians “in cold blood,” at least one other congressional rep–GOP Rep. John Kline of Minnesota–has jumped the gun and gone on record issuing conclusions about what happened at Haditha before reports are finalized and hearings are convened. Bad. There are also anonymous military sources leaking like crazy. And now the families of two Marines in the unit at issue have come forward with details.

I have been as outspoken as anyone about the anti-war, cut-and-run agenda, and the MSM’s abetting of it. But as military officials acknowledge the existence of not one, but two, investigations into the incident at Haditha–one into the happenings on that fateful Nov. 19 day and the other into an alleged cover-up–it’s time to move past the easy bashing of the motives of Rep. Murtha and his ilk. (Matt at Blackfive has good advice for Murtha about what to say about Haditha that should be used by every pol in Washington.)

The investigations are still ongoing. That’s not an excuse to ignore or dismiss the extensive reporting on the story. Yes, it’s mostly one-sided at this point. But if, if, even a fraction of it is true, it deserves the most vehement condemnation and most severe punishment. Toddlers are dead.

Our Marines do not deserve to be hung in the court of public opinion before an investigation is complete, before hearings are convened, or before any military court proceedings are launched. But there are knees jerking on both sides. I just can’t agree with sentiments like this one:

Jerry Alexander, the owner of G.I. Joe’s and a Navy man who served with the Marines for a dozen years, had much the same perspective, saying, “If I saw my buddy laying there dead, there is no such thing as too much retaliation.”

What? That is not the way to “win the hearts and minds” of Iraq. Or anywhere else.

Yesterday, 8 Marines were charged in the case. Kit JarrellHeidi defends the Marines here and flashes back to this CNN embed’s account via S&L. As I have said from the start, they deserve their day in military court. I pray they are innocent. But if they are guilty, they deserve the harshest penalties possible. Same for those involved in the Hamdania incident. Here is the USMC page tracking both investigations. Our Hot Air interview with 2LT Ilario Pantano, who was accused of premeditated murder in the killing of two Iraqi civilians two years ago and exonerated by a military tribunal, is worth re-watching for perspective.

***
What ever happened to Naveed Avzal Haq?

He was the Pakistani-American gunman who burst into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in late July, shooting six women, one fatally, as he declared that he was a “Muslim-American” who was “angry at Israel.” This week, citing Haq’s history of mental illness, King County prosecutor Norm Maleng announced he woudn’t seek the death penalty–despite calling the shooting “one of the most serious crimes that has ever occurred in this city.” Readers at leading Northwest blog Sound Politics react:

Makes you wonder what kind of heinous crime will get the death penalty in this state from now on. Seems it’s all but eliminated here. Posted by: Palouse on December 20, 2006 11:02 AM

So the lesson to the Jihadist or wanna-be jihadist is prior to performing a terrorist act make sure you have received mental health care within the past few years or more recently if possible and then after you get caught claim insanity get life in prison and while in prison “get better” and have your lawyer work with the states DOC and to get you out under “DOC Supervison” for “good behavior”. Rinse and repeat and there you go you no longer have to worry about being a martyr. Posted by: TrueSoldier on December 20, 2006 11:45 AM

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What ever happened to Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

She’s the fearless critic of Islam who moved to America earlier this year and now serves as a scholar for the American Enterprise Institute. Her latest commentary challenged the Holocaust deniers. In February, she’s coming out with a new book. Can’t wait:

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What ever happened to Omeed Aziz Popal and his victims?

He was the San Francisco SUV hit-and-run rampager, accused of killing one person and injuring 18 in August. Earlier this month, he pleaded not guilty.

A reader sent this stomach-turning development in which Popal’s parents are blaming one of the victims for her debilitating injuries:

The family of a man accused of deliberately running down pedestrians with his SUV don’t think they should have to pay for one of the victim’s medical bills.

Susan Rajic remains a quadriplegic three months after she was hit while walking in San Francisco. Omeed Popal is in jail charged with hitting Rajic and 17 other people in the City. He’s also accused of murdering a pedestrian in the East Bay the same day.

KRON 4 obtained a copy of the Popal family’s response to Rajic’s lawsuit asking for medical bills. The defendants blame Rajic saying she was “careless and negligent.” The response also says it was “within her power to act with due diligence to prevent her injuries.”

“It is heartless,” Rajic’s attorney Debra Bogaards told KRON 4′s Will Tran. “It is unfair. It is unjust. It is unbelievable.”

My reader writes:

Susan is still paralyzed from the neck down, and has only recently regained the ability to breathe on her own without a ventilator. Her reward for being a “careless and negligent” victim, and failing to “act with due diligence” to prevent Mr. Popal from running over her in his parent’s SUV (along with 17 other individuals, allegedly), is the loss of her livelihood, not to mention mounting medical bills covering her treatment and rehabilitation.

More:

Once Susan has completed her rehabilitation, Joseph would like to transfer her to his home in Georgia, so he can care for her and provide for her ongoing medical care. Unfortunately, Susan has no health insurance, and Joseph does not have the means to cover the costs for her relocation and ongoing treatment.

There is a website to help Susan and her family at www.SupportSusan.com.

Please help.

The state of Massachusetts almost murdered her. They deemed her “virtually brain-dead,” in a “vegetative state,” and not worth saving. Now, she is “bright-eyed and smiling,” responsive, and speaking a few words. Update from MassLive.com/Republican:

Child abuse victim Haleigh Poutre, once deemed to be “virtually brain dead” by medical experts, continues to improve and is even speaking a few words, her biological grandmother said this week.

Sandra Sudyka, of the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, angered over the state Department of Social Services apparent termination of her and her daughter’s bimonthly visits to Haleigh at her Boston hospital, said she has decided to speak publicly of her granddaughter’s condition.

“She was doing well,” Sudyka said of the last time she saw Haleigh on July 18. “She was bright-eyed and smiling. She is always responsive to us.”

DSS had asked Sudyka and Haleigh’s biological mother, Allison Avrett, not to disclose the 12-year-old girl’s condition to the media.

“I decided since they broke the deal, I am going to talk. People should know how well she is doing,” Sudyka said. Avrett declined comment this week.

DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro declined comment yesterday. DSS officials have said, however, that Sudyka’s and Avrett’s visiting privileges have been suspended and not terminated.

DSS took custody of Haleigh nearly a year ago after her adoptive mother and stepfather, Holli A. and Jason D. Strickland, of Westfield, were charged with beating her.

Doctors initially reported that the battered and emaciated Haleigh was in a vegetative state due to a sheared brain stem. Social services sought to end life support systems, a plan approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court on Jan. 17, before improvements in Haleigh’s condition were known.

“They don’t want people to know how she is doing after they wanted to pull the plug,” Sudyka said.

Now you know.

More on her progress. Though still not walking, her verbal skills have improved vastly and she is able to communicate:

“I was saying to her ‘I love you,’ and she was trying to say ‘love’ and it came out as a vibration…’ove,’” Sudyka said.

The following month, during their last visit with Haleigh, Avrett asked if they could bring anything for her next time around.

“She put her arms up (as if) to say, ‘I don’t know,’” Sudyka said.

When asked if they could bring books, Haleigh distinctly said “no,” Sudyka said.

Sudyka said that during that visit she told Haleigh, “Before I know it, I am going to walk in here and you are going to say ‘hello.’”

Haleigh responded to Sudyka by saying ‘ello,’” Sudyka said, adding that hello was Haleigh’s first word when she was 10 months old.

Sudyka said Haleigh has been communicating nonverbally for some time. Once, when asked ‘Who loves you?’ she put her hand over her heart and pointed to Sudyka and Avrett, Sudyka said. Another time Haleigh wrote out her name on a “Magna Doodle” toy.

Keep Haleigh in your thoughts and prayers. There is a powerful institutional motive for covering up Haleigh’s progress. Don’t forget her.

***

Related: A tipster sends a link to the PDF doc of the Mass. DSS report on Haleigh’s case (using the pseudonym “Sharlene).

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Previous:

3/22/06 Who failed Haleigh Poutre?
3/5/06 Haleigh Poutre: Making progress
2/24/06 Happy Birthday, Haleigh
2/1/06 Haleigh’s story continued: hope lives
1/25/06 Haleigh vs. Tookie
1/21/06 Blogging for Haleigh
1/19/06 Haleigh wants to live

Typical bureaucratic answer: Everyone and no one.

Report: State let Haleigh Poutre down

Agencies’ failure cited in girl’s case

Probe has no justice for Haleigh: Gov panel clears DSS in tragic beating case

ProLife Blogs rounds up the finger-pointers and blame-avoiders.

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Previous:

Haleigh Poutre: Making progress
Happy Birthday, Haleigh
Haleigh’s story continued: hope lives
Haleigh vs. Tookie
Blogging for Haleigh
Haleigh wants to live

The latest on little Haleigh from the Boston Globe (hat tip: Pundit Review):

A nurse told the mother of Haleigh Poutre during a hospital visit on Tuesday that the severely beaten Westfield girl, whom officials once wanted to let die, has been able to eat scrambled eggs and cream of wheat, and has tapped out drum rhythms during physical therapy, according to the mother’s lawyer.

But it is unclear when Poutre began eating solid food, and how often she does so. A Department of Social Services worker, who was monitoring the 15-minute visit, has told the nurse to stop talking to the mother about the girl’s condition, said Wendy Murphy, a Boston lawyer who represents Allison Avrett, who is Poutre’s biological mother.

”Silence and secrecy has been the most frustrating component of this case,” Murphy said yesterday. ”It just seems inhumane that information about this child can be forbidden on the theory that it’s somehow protecting her privacy, when you consider that this child almost died under the state’s care.”

The Department of Social Services gave Poutre’s mother and grandmother permission to visit the hospital every two weeks starting last fall, after they signed a confidentiality agreement that bars them from asking about the girl’s condition and making public statements on the subject.

Murphy said she plans to file a motion on Tuesday asking the Hampden Juvenile Court to allow Avrett to participate in the judicial proceedings about the girl’s future, including getting access to the girl’s medical information and having a voice in future decisions, and to lengthen and expand her visits.

DSS and hospital officials said they are not allowed to release public updates on the girl’s progress.

Poutre, who remains on a feeding tube, has been receiving physical, speech, and occupational therapy since Jan. 26 at the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, where she turned 12 on Feb. 24. State officials had sought to remove the girl’s life support about a week after she was admitted to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield after allegedly being beaten by her adoptive mother and stepfather.

Murphy and Susan Molina, who is the executive director of The Yellow Ribbon Kids Club, a nonprofit group based in Whitman that advocates for foster children, said the girl has been able to use her hands to signal her wishes.

Earlier in February, Poutre held up two fingers to signal that she wanted to see her younger sister, her grandmother’s second grandchild.

Poutre cannot talk, but she rubs the faces of her mother and grandmother and plays with their hair when they visit. The girl clings to their hands when the 15 minutes are up, and they have to pry her fingers off to leave, Molina said.

A piece of paper with the girl’s name scrawled in pink and other markings hung near her hospital bed. Murphy said Avrett wants to know the significance of the work, and whether the girl can hold a pen, draw, or spell.

Meanwhile, Michael Graham has news on the continuing investigation into the government’s failures to protect Haleigh from her abusers.

Keep her in your prayers.

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Previous:

Happy Birthday, Haleigh
Haleigh’s story continued: hope lives
Haleigh vs. Tookie
Blogging for Haleigh
Haleigh wants to live

Haleigh Poutre turns 12 years old today.

Keep her in your prayers.

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Previous:

Haleigh’s story continued: hope lives
Haleigh vs. Tookie
Blogging for Haleigh
Haleigh wants to live

Not Dead Yet, the national disabilities rights group, “is calling for an investigation into what they characterize as the “shoddy medicine” that led to a court order for the removal of life-support from 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre just days after her admission to Massachusetts’ Baystate Medical Center with a severe brain injury. She is now responsive and interactive four months after being declared “virtually brain dead” and in an “irreversible coma.”

If the court order had not been appealed, Haleigh Poutre would now be dead, said Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet’s founder and president.”

More on the newly released documents here.

Mexican military border incursions: A US Senate committee will hold hearings March 1st on the escalating crisis.

Winds of Change looks at the latest Hamas video and Islamofascism.

The Boston Herald stays on top of Haleigh Poutre’s fight for survival, and reports on the dedicated staff at Boston’s Franciscan Hospital for Children, where Haleigh is beginning rehabilitation:

Doctors at Franciscan Hospital for Children say hope is never lost.

As evidence, they point to kids like Nick Prefontaine, a Shrewsbury teen who was in a coma for two weeks after a snowboarding accident in 2003, and learned to walk and talk again at Franciscan.

“It’s more often than not, we see progress we don’t expect,” said Jane O’Brien, medical director of the rehabilitation hospital.

Doctors hope Haleigh Poutre, an 11-year-old brain-damaged ward of the state, will recover now that she is at Franciscan, the largest pediatric rehab center in New England.

The Department of Social Services won permission from the Supreme Judicial Court to remove her from life support two weeks ago, but in a transcendent turn of events, she started grabbing toys with her hands and showing life in her eyes, DDS officials now say.

All doctors will say about Haleigh is she’s “medically stable” and is one of about five kids at the center with a traumatic brain injury. Of the 20 kids in rehab at Franciscan, half arrived at the Brighton center on a ventilator.

Patients spend their days around other children and work at least three hours daily with speech, occupational and physical therapists to relearn even the basics, like swallowing and talking…

Meanwhile, Wesley J. Smith reviews the “sad state of medical ethics and the law in the United States of America” and warns that Haleigh is not safe yet from the plug-pullers.

Please keep Haleigh in your prayers.

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Previous:

Haleigh vs. Tookie
Blogging for Haleigh
Haleigh wants to live

Dianne Feinstein reneges. Here’s her announcement on her plans to vote no on cloture for the SCOTUS nomination of Sam Alito.

Gateway Pundit has a massive round-up on rioting in Gaza and violence between Hamas and Fatah.

Glenn Reynolds recommends Shadegg for GOP majority leader.

Haleigh Poutre has been moved to a rehab facility. Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney has appointed an outside panel to probe Haleigh’s case:

Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday appointed the president of a national children’s advocacy group and two doctors to investigate how the state handled the case of an 11-year-old Westfield girl allegedly beaten into a coma by her adoptive mother and stepfather.

Christine Ferguson, president of FirstFocus, will head the panel, which is expected to report to the governor in a month.

Ferguson is the former commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Health and a one-time chief of Rhode Island’s Department of Human Services.

Harry Spence, commissioner for the state’s Department of Social Services, has said his agency was aware that Haleigh Poutre had been suffering serious injuries during the past few years. But he said social workers and Haleigh’s doctors believed the girl was hurting herself.

She was hospitalized in a coma in September, but has shown signs of improvement since DSS won a court order earlier this month to remove her from life support. Haleigh is now at the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston, where her doctor says she’s “medically stable” and being evaluated.

Romney said he wants the panel to provide recommendations that will help DSS avoid failures that occurred with Haleigh’s care.

Also on the panel are Mary Anne Badaracco, chief of the psychiatry department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Jeffrey Burns, who heads the division of critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Burns is also co-chair of the hospital’s ethics committee.

Pundit Review Radio will interview Andrew Goldberg, managing editor of The Smoking Gun, which exposed James Frey’s million little lies, this weekend. Tune in.

Oh, my: Re-re-re-spect. (Hat tip: Drudge)

Meanwhile, some sneering pundits seem quite upset that conservatives they disagree with are writing and talking about Haleigh’s fate. Cathy Young, for example, accuses me of “trying to turn this into a Terri Schiavo II.” What? I’m not filing court orders to end Haleigh’s life. I’m not trying to yank out Haleigh’s feeding tube. I’m not writing headlines about the child’s “right to die.” Young concedes the case deserves public attention, but then castigates those of us who are using our little keyboards to give Haleigh just that.

So, no, sorry, I won’t shut up. And I don’t plan on watching silently as we head toward Hollandization.

***

The Boston Globe reports on the latest developments:

Haleigh Poutre, the brain-damaged girl whose fate has been debated in the highest levels of state government, will receive emergency life-saving measures from hospital staff if her heart or lungs stop working.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, which has custody of Haleigh, said yesterday that among its revised requests to the courts last week was that the agency no longer sought to enforce a ”do not resuscitate” order.

That order told doctors not to begin emergency measures to save the 11-year-old Westfield girl’s life if she went into cardiac or respiratory failure. DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said the agency no longer seeks to have that order go into effect and has suspended plans to withdraw life support, including her feeding tube.

”There’s a stay on everything,” Monteiro said.

Last Wednesday, a day after winning approval by the state’s highest court to withdraw life support, the agency disclosed that Haleigh’s condition had improved, that she had begun to breathe on her own and showed increased responsiveness.

Doctors at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where Haleigh has been in a vegetative state since being beaten allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather, told them last fall she was ”virtually brain dead” with no hope for recovery.

DSS sought court approval for the ”do not resuscitate” order on Sept. 19, eight days after Haleigh was hospitalized with brain stem injuries and multiple bruises.

***

Related thoughts at The American Thinker: Democrat Death Trip

The latest on Haleigh Poutre: Gov. Mitt Romney has announced an independent investigation into the state’s abominable handling of the case.

Here’s Romney’s full statement (via the Boston Globe):

“One cannot look at the life of Haleigh Poutre without being overwhelmed with sadness. My heart goes out to her.

“Now I ask the question, what could have been done better to help her and to protect her. Yesterday, I read her DSS file. It is over 45 pages, mostly consisting of detailed evaluations and entries over almost 10 years. She was not someone who fell through the cracks — doctors and social workers were watching, but errors in judgment were made.

“I believe that the people in DSS did what they believed was right. No human is omniscient. But I wonder whether any changes in protocol or procedure may reduce the likelihood of error in the future.

“For this reason, I am establishing a panel to review in depth Haleigh’s case history and make recommendations they feel may help in the future. The panel will be announced as soon as possible, presumably by the end of the week. I will ask for their recommendations within 30 days. The panel will come from outside current government employees or officials.”

And this story published in the Boston Herald will make your blood boil.

***

Nixzmary Brown, 7

Meanwhile, in NYC, there are parallel investigations into how city child welfare agents there failed 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown–whose stepfather and mother have been arrested for starving, molesting, and beating her to death after years of abuse and suspicions by school officials, neighbors, and others that she had been victimized–as well as other children under the watch of government protective services who were murdered:

Two key Assembly committees will launch a statewide investigation into New York’s child welfare system focusing on the vigilance, reliability and efficiencies of agencies charged with protecting at-risk children.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) called on Assembly Children and Families Committee Chair William Scarborough and Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Chair James Brennan to hold a series of statewide public inquiries into the operation and procedures for safeguarding the health and welfare of the tens of thousands of children statewide receiving child protective services, preventive services, foster care services, and adoption services.

Scarborough and Brennan immediately set an initial hearing for New York City on Feb. 9. They said additional hearings have been scheduled for Feb. 16 in Buffalo and March 2 in Syracuse.

Calling the four fatalities of children known to New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in the last two months “a stunning example of sweeping failures on many different levels,” Silver said the hearings would provide an open, public process for legislative oversight. Silver said the deaths of seven year-old Nixzmary Brown, 16-month old Dahquay Williams, seven year-old Sierra Roberts, and two month-old Michael Anthony Segarra were particularly troubling because each child was known to ACS.

More background on the case:

NYDN: Bound, beaten, starved, killed
AP: Final days of girl’s life reveal horrors
AP interviews Nixzmary’s accused murderer stepfather: Nixzmary was beaten for her “own good”
NYPost: Fight for Nixzmary sibs
ACS system back under harsh spotlight

***

Previous/related:

Blogging for Haleigh
Haleigh wants to live
Standing up for the sanctity of life
When government cares for your kids, part II
When government cares for your kids
Homeschoolers vs. big brother

Here’s the latest in Haleigh Poutre’s fight for her life: The Massachusetts Department of Social Services, which last week won court-ordered authority to remove Haleigh’s feeding tube, is now under fire for failing to detect and act on signs that Haleigh was abused:

Even as the Department of Social Services defended its supervision of a now-comatose 11-year-old girl, a leading child advocate said yesterday that the 16 prior abuse reports regarding the child should have prompted the state to remove her from the adoptive couple charged with nearly killing her.

“When you have multiple reports of abuse, no matter what the child’s history, alarms should go off,” said former New York State Commissioner of Social Services Barbara Blum, chief of the Research Forum at Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty. Gov. Mitt Romney also raised questions about the care.

At a news conference yesterday at DSS headquarters, Commissioner Harry Spence said some of the 16 reports of abuse concerning Haleigh Poutre of Westfield were made at his department’s insistence, despite medical opinion that they may not have been necessary.

But multiple DSS investigators, a licensed social worker who saw Haleigh weekly and four psychiatrists all made the nearly fatal error of believing that the girl’s injuries were self-inflicted, Spence said. The reason, he said, was that Haleigh had been traumatized by abuse in her prior home, and that her adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, was an effective liar.

Blum rejected that argument, saying she would have placed Haleigh in a treatment facility where the child could have been monitored around the clock. “Even if you believe these wounds are self-inflicted,” she said, “then there’s no reason to believe the average adoptive or foster home would be equipped to deal with her.”

DSS came to that conclusion last year, even arranging a visit to a facility in the week before Haleigh was pummeled into a coma – allegedly by Strickland, now deceased, and her husband, Jason, now jailed. But the medical team treating her “objected strenuously,” Spence said. “They asked, and urged, that we stop the investigations because they were upsetting her and, they believed, impeding her progress.”

Asked about DSS’ performance, Romney said, “Clearly, there were mistakes made with respect to the events that occurred prior to Haleigh Poutre’s hospitalization.”

Among the signs missed:

According to a report by her court-appointed guardian, the Department of Social Services received 17 reports of abuse or neglect involving 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre — referred to in court papers by the alias “Sharlene” — in the three years before her adoptive mother and stepfather were charged with pummeling her into a coma. The guardian’s timeline includes:

# An Oct. 24, 2002, report by someone concerned about how the girl was disciplined because the person saw bruises on her and noticed she had missed nearly two weeks of school. The following day, DSS determined the report was unsupported.

# A Jan. 6, 2003, report of neglect “because mother is unable to keep child safe from harm.” DSS finds the case unsubstantiated.

# A Feb. 23, 2004, report of neglect after Haleigh, then 10, went missing for two hours before she was found in a bathroom at Noble Hospital in Westfield. The same day, DSS determines the report is unsupported: “Child did run away from home, but mother acted appropriately.”

# A June 11, 2004, report of abuse because Haleigh had bruises, was not in school and did “not look as well cared for as other children in the home.” Three days later, DSS finds the report unsupported after Haleigh says she bruised her face diving into a pool. “Mother responsive to (Haleigh’s) self-abusive behaviors by bringing her to pediatrician and following counselor’s recommendations.”

# A June 18, 2004, report of neglect. The same day, DSS finds the report to be unsubstantiated. “Mother addressing issues with child’s therapist, mother agreed to voluntary services, child hospitalized and mother working with therapist to get child placed in residential care.”

# A July 15, 2004, report of abuse and neglect by her mother after bruises are found on her arm. DSS decides the case is one of neglect, noting “mother inadequately supervised (Haleigh) in store despite prior history of (Haleigh) stealing in a store.”

# An Aug. 18, 2004, report of neglect because “child received burns during a bath.” The same day, DSS finds the report unsubstantiated “because department is currently involved with family and closely monitoring (Haleigh’s) care.”

# An April 14, 2005, report “due to concerns about the level of supervision provided for (Haleigh), given the extent of her injuries in light of her history.” The same day, DSS finds the allegations unsupported.

# A May 11, 2005, report of neglect. “Mother did not seek medical attention when (Haleigh) complained of a headache and was vomiting. Mother left (Haleigh) alone at softball game and she was hit in the head with a baseball bat.” The same day, DSS finds the report unsubstantiated. “Incident was an accident. Adequate services in place to assist with monitoring.”

# Final report, on Sept. 11, 2005, DSS receives report of abuse by an “unknown perpetrator,” based on the child’s “multiple bruises and fractures in different stages of healing.” The following day, DSS substantiates the report, saying Haleigh “sustained serious life-threatening injuries which were the result of trauma.”

The Boston Herald editorializes:

Not content to have touched off a firestorm over life and death decisions, the head of the Department of Social Services has embarked on a major butt-covering offensive in connection with the fate of 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre.

“Everybody, not just [DSS] read this wrong. If it were only my people who had gotten this wrong, I’d worry. But all of us were taken in,” said Commissioner Harry Spence.

All of us?

Certainly not people involved in reporting at least nine separate incidents of neglect or abuse – reports that DSS workers always found were unsubstantiated.

“My staff knows I will never defend negligence or dereliction of duty,” Spence told Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis. “But I will. . . always defend conscientious error. Because conscientious error is part of the human condition.”

Well, commissioner, so is incompetence.

“It seemed this was a clear case of severe self injury by the child,” Spence said Friday. “Haleigh consistently said ‘I injure myself.’ Again and again, she would claim self-injury.”

A doctor who examined Haleigh after she was brought to Baystate Medical Center with “multiple old fractures also all over her body” found “that her injuries could not have been self-inflicted.”

Couldn’t Haleigh have been examined before – say after the second or third injury?

…Legislators need to start asking some questions of Spence and his oh-so-“conscientious” DSS workers – about Haleigh, about the fate of her siblings and about competence – the competence of anyone who could look at a two-year record of abuse and see none, and of the man who would defend their conduct.

After doctors and bureaucrats acknowledged that Haleigh had responded to stimuli and is now breathing on her own after being on a ventilator for the past four months, the state has announced it will seek outside experts for help.

Radio talk show host Michael Graham, now at Boston’s WTKK, is also staying on top of the Haleigh Poutre case. Be sure to check out his website for the latest Haleigh developments.

Michael e-mailed me that many talk show hosts don’t want to discuss the story:

I fear it’s the post-Schiavo syndrome.

I think Michael is right, and that the post-Schiavo syndrome is affecting more than just talk radio. Few on either the left or right–in politics, in the blogosphere, in the MSM punditocracy–want to grapple with the moral, legal, and medical implications of this wrenching case. And as I noted before, the bleeding hearts in Hollywood–so quick to leap to the defense of every last Death Row convict–are AWOL. There’s already a jaded and shockingly callous exasperation about Haleigh’s case epitomized by the title and comments at John Cole’s blog: “Dear God, not again.”

One of the dumber platitudes I’ve seen expressed is that the case should be a “private” matter. Hello? The State–which has acted with blindingly obvious incompetence–holds Haleigh’s life in its hands. The court system gave the green light for the State–despite its glaring conflicts of interests–to pull the plug on Haleigh. The State’s agents at DSS have acted with zero oversight or accountability throughout the handling of the case. This is a public case, and it is not only pro-life fundamentalists who ought to be concerned about the unchecked power that has been conferred on the State in the matter of whether Haleigh should live or die.

Kathryn Lopez at NRO is keeping on top of the story, too. So is the ProLife Blogs site.

Gov. Mitt Romney, to his credit (and probably to his peril), has weighed in clearly and forcefully:

”My concern is with this young girl and her current status. In light of reported improvements in her medical condition, it should be clear to everyone that no action should be taken to end this girl’s life.”

If you pray, pray hard.

***

More:

Young brain’s flexibility offers some hope

***

Previous:

Haleigh wants to live

Last fall, Haleigh was hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat. Haleigh, in a coma, was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was “virtually brain dead” — in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

The Massachusetts Department of Social Services wanted to remove Haleigh’s feeding and breathing tubes.

Even her biological mother (who had been deemed unfit to care for Haleigh and whose former boyfriend was accused of sexually abusing the child) wanted her to be put to death (transcript via Nexis/CBS Evening News):

CBS reporter SHARYN ALFONSI: This is Haleigh Poutre before, before her teeth were broken, before her tiny body was burned and before she was beaten, doctors say, into a vegetative state. You’re her mother.

Ms. ALLISON AVRETT (Biological Mother): Yes.

ALFONSI: What do you want for her?

AVRETT: I want her to rest.

ALFONSI: And right now?

AVRETT: She’s not. Being kept like that is not a life.

The only person who wanted Haleigh alive was her stepfather, who will likely be charged with murder if Haleigh dies.

Two days ago, Massachusetts’ Supreme Court ruled against Haleigh’s stepfather, saying it was ”unthinkable” to give the power to make a life-and-death decision to the man accused of putting Haleigh in a coma. “Court: State can let beaten girl die,” the headlines trumpeted.

Just one small complication for all of those who, for whatever reason, were in such a rush to “let Haleigh die:”

Haleigh wants to live.

As state officials prepared to remove Haleigh’s life support, the supposedly impossible happened:

A day after the state’s highest court ruled that the Department of Social Services could withdraw life support from a brain-damaged girl, the agency said yesterday that Haleigh Poutre might be emerging from her vegetative state.

DSS also said it has no immediate plans to remove her feeding tube.

”There has been a change in her condition,” said a DSS spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro. ”The vegetative state may not be a total vegetative state.”

Monteiro said Haleigh is breathing on her own, without the ventilator she has depended on for four months. Monteiro also said that doctors at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield elicited responses from Haleigh during tests performed yesterday.

Everyone had given up on Haleigh–except Haleigh.

This is a huge story, a wake-up call to “right-to-die” ideologues who recklessly put such unlimited trust in the medical profession and Nanny State. The same government bureaucrats and doctors who had conclusively deemed the 11-year-old girl “hopeless” and her vegetative state “irreversible” now tell us she is responding to stimuli and breathing on her own.

They were wrong.

Next, look for The Professionals to tell us that despite her improvements, her “quality of life” will be worthless. We already know how they feel about people with feeding tubes.

Haleigh’s fight has just begun.

***

When the state condemns a convicted murderer to die, Hollywood celebrities trip all over themselves to protest.

Where are the Tinseltown activists who will rally to protect a truly innocent life?

***

Ace of Spades: “I do think it’s interesting that a court can spot a conflict-of-interest, but only when the purported guardian with the conflict-of-interest is in favor of keeping the patient alive.”

See-Dubya at Patterico’s: “Unlike the Schiavo case, not only has Haleigh not told anyone of her true wishes, but she legally can’t make these kind of decisions. There should be a presumption that people, that children, even brain-damaged orphans, ought to live.”

Karol at Alarming News frames the ghouls’ position succinctly: “Quick, let’s starve her to death!”

***

On the prospects of recovery:

Some patients with severe brain stem injuries may partially recover from a persistent vegetative state, but they rarely recover fully enough to communicate, feed themselves and live ordinary lives, Dr. Steve Williams, chief of rehabilitation medicine at Boston Medical Center, told the Globe. But he said recovery is more likely with children than adults.

“There’s more plasticity to their brain. There’s potentially other areas of the brain that can take over,” he said.

***
More background on the case via the Boston Globe:

After her biological mother, Allison Avrett, was deemed unfit to care for her and Avrett’s former boyfriend was accused of sexually abusing Haleigh, the girl went to live with Avrett’s sister, Holli Strickland.

From the time Haleigh was 6, she lived in Westfield with Holli and Jason Strickland, who married in 2001. Holli Strickland legally adopted the girl when she was 7. As she went through elementary school, the DSS received numerous complaints from sources it won’t name that Haleigh was being neglected or abused, but never concluded that the Stricklands’ home was unsafe.

Last Sept. 11, relatives took the unconscious girl to a local hospital. She was found to have bruises all over her body, at different stages of healing, as well as severe traumatic brain injuries and a body temperature of 85 degrees. Doctors determined that her injuries could not have been self- inflicted.

As DSS took custody of the girl and began hearings for a do-not-resuscitate order, Holli and Jason Strickland were arrested on Sept. 20 on child abuse charges.

Holli Strickland, 32, was released on bail two days later, and within hours, was found dead alongside her grandmother. Police continue to investigate the two deaths, but say they believe it might have been a murder-suicide, though they are unsure who shot whom.

In October, the state won a court order from a juvenile court judge to cut off life-support systems for Haleigh.

Jason Strickland, 31, filed an appeal with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to reverse the juvenile court ruling and keep her attached to life-support systems.

He denied accusations by relatives that he wanted to prolong Haleigh’s life to avoid murder charges. He argued he was a “de facto” parent who helped financially support the family and helped care for Haleigh.

But the high court flatly rejected Strickland’s arguments, saying in yesterday’s opinion that there was little proof that he was significantly involved in her upbringing.

The court also said it took into account that the stepfather refused to testify about how Haleigh suffered the bruises and other injuries, asserting his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

“To recognize the petitioner as a de facto parent, in order that he may participate in a medical end-of-life decision for the child, is unthinkable in the circumstances of this case,” Greaney wrote.

Avrett Haleigh’s biological mother, who said she never wanted to give up custody of Haleigh said yesterday she is relieved by the ruling, though happy that more medical tests will be conducted.

When she visited Haleigh at the hospital last week, she said, she observed Haleigh’s hand moving, which gave her new hope that Haleigh’s condition might have changed.

But Avrett said she was later convinced by DSS officials and doctors that those movements were involuntary and not signs of revived brain function.

“I agree with the removal of life support, but it [the court ruling] doesn’t make it any easier,” she said. “I’m still burying my daughter.”

Not so fast.

***

Updates:

Jan. 21, 2006: Blogging for Haleigh

Jan. 23, 2006: Failing to protect innocent life