Picky eater goes blind

[pErvinalia]

And a parent disorder.

[laklak]

Chips and crisps? Luxury. When I were lad ate gravel and mud and were glad to have it.

[Scot Dutchy]

No, he was kid with an eating disorder.

He was a kid with bad carers. Social services should have stepped in.

[Sean Hayden]

It's hard to imagine why they didn't seek treatment earlier. Now he's 17 and there is nothing they can do.

But it's important to keep in mind that we aren't actually machines, or at least machines that are so well understood that repairs are assured. We don't know what all they tried. We know they took him to the doctor and he was supposed to take supplements. They may have taken him to head docs too.

But so what? There's no guarantee of anything where these things are concerned. There are many parents out there struggling to get their children help to no avail. There are probably even more idiots promising help of all kinds that does nothing or worse.

Automatically blaming the parents doesn't help in my opinion.

[Scot Dutchy]

No? Whose fault is it then? The child? Weird.

[Sean Hayden]

What's weird is your insistence on finding fault for a mental disorder. It's archaic actually.

[Scot Dutchy]

What's weird is your insistence on finding fault for a mental disorder. It's archaic actually.

So just do nothing? Archaic.

[Sean Hayden]

It's possible that you will end up doing nothing, yes. But more importantly to the point I was making --which btw is hard to believe you've missed-- is that there may not be much difference in the end. So, it is not possible to look only at the consequences of a mental disorder e.g. blindness, and decide that nothing was done and therefore someone must be held accountable.

--//--

We don't know what all they tried. We do know they took him to the doctor and that he did not stick to the doctor's advice, which is not uncommon.

[Rum]

‘First, do no harm’.

[Brian Peacock]

No? Whose fault is it then? The child? Weird.

Sure, everything happens for a reason, and this is a terrible case, but the point is that a moral judgement on the kid, the parents, the medical or social support staff assumes that what happened to the lad is and always was an avoidable outcome, and while I'm sure we'd all prefer that the child had avoided the normally avoidable effects of malnutrition we'd probably also acknowledge that people with mental disorders can not always be managed effectively, medically or socially de/reprogrammed, or simply forced into different, better forms of behaviour. These are complex matters that very often resist simple and simplistic push-button resolutions.

[Rum]

Anorexia nervous it seems has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders. These are not exactly self inflicted, cases of neglect or ignorance.

http://www.anorexiabulimiacare.org.uk/about/statistics

[Scot Dutchy]

It's possible that you will end up doing nothing, yes. But more importantly to the point I was making --which btw is hard to believe you've missed-- is that there may not be much difference in the end. So, it is not possible to look only at the consequences of a mental disorder e.g. blindness, and decide that nothing was done and therefore someone must be held accountable.

--//--

We don't know what all they tried. We do know they took him to the doctor and that he did not stick to the doctor's advice, which is not uncommon.

Maybe in your world sunshine. Taking him to a doctor is minimal but unless you have money in your world you are fucked.

[Scot Dutchy]

No? Whose fault is it then? The child? Weird.

Sure, everything happens for a reason, and this is a terrible case, but the point is that a moral judgement on the kid, the parents, the medical or social support staff assumes that what happened to the lad is and always was an avoidable outcome, and while I'm sure we'd all prefer that the child had avoided the normally avoidable effects of malnutrition we'd probably also acknowledge that people with mental disorders can not always be managed effectively, medically or socially de/reprogrammed, or simply forced into different, better forms of behaviour. These are complex matters that very often resist simple and simplistic push-button resolutions.

We are not talking push button solutions Brian. A normal healthy society would look after these type of patients. The system has failed.

[Brian Peacock]

No? Whose fault is it then? The child? Weird.

Sure, everything happens for a reason, and this is a terrible case, but the point is that a moral judgement on the kid, the parents, the medical or social support staff assumes that what happened to the lad is and always was an avoidable outcome, and while I'm sure we'd all prefer that the child had avoided the normally avoidable effects of malnutrition we'd probably also acknowledge that people with mental disorders can not always be managed effectively, medically or socially de/reprogrammed, or simply forced into different, better forms of behaviour. These are complex matters that very often resist simple and simplistic push-button resolutions.

We are not talking push button solutions Brian. A normal healthy society would look after these type of patients. The system has failed.

That's a rather glib and insensitive remark. Unfortunately these things happen, in your adopted land as elsewhere. Treating people with mental disorders is difficult and complex work which does not always result in the best outcomes. I can understand your frustrations though. In fact I share them. The difference between us is that I'm not leaping to apportion blame based on simple-minded assumptions and incomplete information.

[Scot Dutchy]

I have personal experience in this field Brian.