Ready access to modern dental care.

It is more common is rural villages of third world countries where the
closest health professional is far away and the only way to travel is by
foot.

On Mar 1, 4:07 pm, jessie...@yahoo.com wrote:

I' not so sure it is as rare in the U.S. as we would like to believe.
I have a frined whose brother died of an abcess that went into his
brain (a middle class, normal working guy, non-welfare person).

Also, the recent (Demonte) case reminded me of this case in 2005.
This boy was turned away because when he showed up for his prearranged
appt, he was told that his teenage siblings were not old enough to
give permission for the pre-appointed RCT surgery.

(Article below)

-Sue

LATE-NIGHT HOSP DRAMA KEEPS TRAGIC BX. BOY ON LIFE SUPPORT

By DOUGLAS MONTERO, DENISE BUFFA and MARSHA KRANES

April 23, 2005 --A midnight visit by a judge to the bedside of a brain-
dead Bronx teen helped forge an agreement between the boy's family and
hosptial officials that will keep the child alive with the aid of a
respirator.

Justice Douglas McKeon stood by Taran Francis' bedside at Montefiore
Hospital and mediated an end to the gut-wrenching legal battle over
whether to pull the plug on the boy.

On Thursday, the hosptial told Taran's mom that they planned to take
the boy off machines that help maintain his vital funcions - prompting
the mom to seek and win an injunction to keep him on the respirator.

Last night, the hospital and the family agreed the boy would remain
hooked up to the respirator.

"I think Judge McKeon has done a fantastic job of bringing the
hospital and family together," said family lawyer Robert Genis. "I
think both sides understand one another and both sides are happy."

Montefiore released a statement saying: "The conference allowed all
parties to express their concerns and confirm that we all truly are in
agreement with doing what is best for the child and the family."

Both sides will appear again before McKeon in Bronx Supreme Court on
Monday.

Earlier yesterday, the boy's mom Marcerlyn sat in his hospital room
sobbing as she recalled the start of their hosptial ordeal.

She remembered the 13-year-old's plaintive cry of "Mommy" as he was
wheeled out of the emergency room.

"I told him, 'Taran, the doctor is going to take care of you. Go
ahead, don't worry,' " she told The Post.

That was Monday. Taran's heart-rending "Mommy" was the last word her
son would say to her.

The next time she saw Taran was on Thursday - after she learned he had
been declared brain dead and his doctors matter-of-factly informed her
they were going to take him off life support.

Marcerlyn went to court yesterday to stop them and won a temporary
restraining order barring Montefiore Medical Center from pulling the
plug on her son until she gets some answers.

According to Genis, the family traces Taran's illness back to April 6,
when he had a terrible toothache.

He was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital's pediatric dental clinic, and
scheduled for root-canal surgery on April 15, the family said.

But when he showed up, in the care of two older teenage relatives, he
was told the surgery couldn't be performed. His relatives weren't old
enough to give permission for the procedure.

Two days later, on Sunday, Taran's toothache had developed into a
blinding headache, and Marcerlyn also was feeling achy and
disoriented.

By Monday, Taran was vomiting and seeing double. His mother called 911
and both were taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.

In the emergency room, doctors examined Taran and told Marcelyn the
infection that had started as a toothache had traveled to her son's
brain.

That's when he was wheeled away, crying, "Mommy."

Both were admitted to the hospital and assigned to different rooms.

Soon after, Taran's doctors did a spinal tap to see if he was
suffering from meningitis, said Marcerlyn's sister-in-law, Anne Marie
Douglas.

"And ever since then he's been unconscious," she reported.

"They started doing CT scans, they came up negative," she said. "Then
they did an MRI and found his brain was swelling."

On Tuesday, he was transferred to Montefiore.

On Wednesday, Marcerlyn got a phone call in her hospital room at Bronx-
Lebanon.

She said it was a doctor phoning from Montefiore to tell her "they had
to do an emergency operation" on Taran to relieve the pressure on his
brain.

Marcerlyn said she gave her consent.

"The doctor said that he would call me back , but he didn't," she
said.

When neither she nor her sister-in-law, who was at Montefiore keeping
watch over Taran, had gotten any word on his condition by Thursday, "I
decided to sign myself out of the hospital," Marcerlyn said.

She headed for Montefiore.

When a doctor appeared, the two women asked, "Should we be worried
about anything?" Douglas said.

"The doctor said, 'Yes. He's literally brain dead.' " Soon after, they
were approached by a hospital social worker, who told them, "We're
going to give you time to mourn. You have 24 hours," said Douglas.

Asked what that meant, the social worker explained, "Legally, in New
York state, the hospital has the right to take a person off life
support when he's brain dead," Douglas said.

That's when Marcerlyn called a lawyer.

Douglas noted, "We pleaded with the doctors, 'This child needs time,
for Christ's sake. Give him time.' "

In a chilling response, she said, the social worker told them that the
only reason the hospital was giving Taran medical attention at that
point was "to keep his organs functioning in case you want to donate
them."

Officials at Bronx-Lebanon did not return calls for comment about
Taran's illness and treatment.

State Health Department spokesman Robert Kenny said the agency was
"reviewing the case."