Tag: Medicine
Florida mayor opens fire at cops as they raid his home
The mayor of a Florida town opened fire at a SWAT team who raided his waterfront home and arrested him, officials said.
Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad fired two shots at officers when he was arrested Thursday on allegations of practicing medicine without a license.
The deputies announced their presence at his home on the Gulf Coast around 4:40 a.m. as they attempted to serve a search warrant.
Shots were fired when officers entered, but they retreated and didn’t return the gunfire, officials said. No deputies were injured in the shooting.
“He’s lucky he’s not dead,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a press conference.
The 68-year-old mayor surrendered to authorities and was taken to Pasco County Jail.
Authorities said they received information that Massad — whose medical license was revoked in 1992 — was still treating patients at his home.
Massad faces charges for attempted murder and practicing medicine without a license.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/21/florida-mayor-arrested-at-home-opens-fire-at-cops-sheriff/
Teen who died days after Christmas didn’t know she had cancer
A teenage girl tragically died just days after she was out partying with her friends — completely oblivious to the fact she had terminal cancer.
Ellie Walsh celebrated Christmas Eve with her friends without a care in the world, but three days later she fell gravely ill.
The 18-year-old from Lincolnshire, England, underwent surgery after a scan revealed a tumor in her stomach. Lincolnshire is about 110 miles north of London.
But there were complications during the lengthy procedure and despite the best efforts of doctors, she passed away.
Mom Emma Walsh, 37, says she never got the chance to properly say goodbye.
“We didn’t realize just how ill Ellie was,” she said. “She had tummy pains for a few years and then about five weeks ago, a scan showed she had a tumor.”
“We have been going to the doctors since 2014 as she has lost a lot of weight and had bad pains in her side, but it was always passed off and she was given Paracetamol [acetaminophen].”
“She died during the operation, but before she went in [for the operation], I told her I loved her and that I would see her later.”
“When they told me, I was in shock and my head went into a spin. You could see they were upset, but they did all they could.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, though.”
She had just embarked on her career, having just been hired as a receptionist after impressing as an apprentice at law firm Burton and Co.
But while her death has come as a surprise, her mom has taken comfort from the fact that the pair got to spend a final Christmas together and that her baby girl was able to live a normal life right until the end.
“It is a shock,” she added. “Ellie was out on Christmas Eve with her friends.”
“She was quite a private person and had a small group of friends, but they have stuck by her all the way through school.”
“They loved partying and even though Ellie was usually quiet, she would talk to anyone on a night out.”
“I am taking comfort from the fact Ellie got to do all the things she wanted to do as had she had known, she wouldn’t have enjoyed herself as much.”
The distraught mom has since learned that the growth in her daughter’s stomach was likely cancer and even if the operation had been a success, Ellie would have still most likely only had a few months left to live.
And she is glad that people will be able to remember her daughter for the bright and smiley girl she was.
“Ellie was so kind and funny,” she said. “She was a great sister and daughter.”
“She had a great sense of humor but was so brave. I will miss her forever.”
Tributes have appeared online since Ellie’s death was made public and her mom said that has really helped the family during a difficult time.
“I want to say thanks to everyone who has got in touch,” she added. “The nice things said about Ellie have been a real comfort.”
“Both Lincoln and Sheffield hospitals were great as well.”
Mary-Anne McNulty also paid a heartfelt tribute to her best friend of 14 years.
She said: “I went to primary school with Ellie and we started secondary school together until she left to go to LSST, but we still remained as close as ever.”
“Ellie was a kind, generous, beautiful and funny young girl. She will always remain my best friend and she will never be forgotten.”
An exact cause of death has yet to be determined.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/04/teen-who-died-days-after-christmas-didnt-know-she-had-cancer/
St. Louis County jury finds mother guilty of poisoning 9-year-old son for attention
CLAYTON • A jury agreed Thursday with prosecutors that a woman kept her 9-year-old son gravely ill for nearly a year by secretly poisoning him with a cocktail of prescription medications until doctors uncovered her scheme.
A St. Louis County jury found Rachel Kinsella, 36, of Meadville, Mo., about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, guilty Thursday in St. Louis County Court of charges of first-degree assault and child endangerment. She was accused of keeping her son’s doctors in St. Louis and Kansas City in the dark about medications she was poisoning her son with for much of 2014.
The jury deliberated for 90 minutes. After the verdict was read, relatives and prosecutors hugged in the courtroom, proclaiming, “He’s safe! He’s safe!”
Kinsella brought Patrick to the hospital weekly for treatments, and while he was there she visited pharmacies in the area to stockpile prescription drugs he was already getting at the hospital, authorities said. Kinsella also sought drugs and treatment from a hospital in Kansas City but didn’t inform doctors in St. Louis and didn’t tell Kansas City doctors about her son’s care in St. Louis.
“She manufactured illnesses,” Assistant Prosecutor Sheila Whirley told jurors Thursday. “People don’t want to believe that a mother would do this because mothers are supposed to plant the seeds of love that grow for a lifetime.”
While under his mother’s care, Patrick suffered seizures, hallucinations and problems walking and breathing. Doctors struggled to diagnose his condition and gave him more than a dozen blood treatments and surgeries. Whirley credited doctors at Children’s Hospital with saving Patrick’s life. Patrick, now 11, is living with his paternal grandparents and has no major health problems, prosecutors and relatives say.
Authorities said Kinsella had rented a home in the 7400 block of Grant Village Drive in Marlborough while Patrick was undergoing care here. She told police she “accidentally” gave her son the wrong medication “on occasion,” but doctors told police the types and amount of drugs found in the boy’s system revealed intentional poisoning.
The medications were meant to treat mental health and seizures, but police have said Kinsella tried to attract attention through her child’s illness in what is known as a caregiver-fabricated illness or Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Her attorneys said the presence of various drugs in Patrick’s system did not prove she was poisoning him.
Patrick was born premature in 2005 and was diagnosed with epilepsy, hydrocephalus and, later, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. One of Kinsella’s attorneys, Gregory Smith, said hospitals near Meadville where Kinsella lived were ill-equipped to handle Patrick’s long-term medical problems. Smith argued that the claim that Kinsella was poisoning her son was false because the hospital had prescribed Patrick nearly two dozen different medications at different times. Smith also said toxicology results did not reveal the amount of each drug in his system.
Smith was disappointed in the verdict. “I have no doubt that she loves her son as much as any parent,” he said.
Patrick’s father died in 2012 without a will, which resulted in the court’s appointing a relative to manage a $275,000 inheritance for the boy. By keeping Patrick sick, a prosecutor suggested at trial, Kinsella could receive payments from that inheritance to care for her son. Kinsella also has a teenage daughter from an earlier marriage.
Patrick’s aunt, Carmen Mallery, provided a statement after the verdict saying, “We are pleased that justice has been served.”
Sheriff’s deputies led Kinsella away in handcuffs Thursday. Sentencing is set for May 26. She faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison.