KEIKO SHIBAGAKI
OCT/26/98

The article "Mother on trial for death of obese daughter" by Rusty Dornin is about the mother who lost her daughter from heart insufficiency, and charged with high degree child abuse. The circumstances of her daughter's death show the obvious negligence because she was covered with her own droppings and bed sore. Also, there is a critizm against the mother because of her daughter's weight which is 680 pounds. The prosecutor says that the significant evidence of negligence is her bed sore and condition of the body, not the size of the daughter. The mother insists that the doctor did not help with her daughters weight in spite of 35 visits or more also it is not the case that children are open about bedsore. She did not neglected or abuse her daughter on purpose. On the other hand, people who have obese children say that the mother would no have been in trouble if she had not had a fat child. The prosecutor and the judge are shocked by the photo of the evidence and have hard time to make decision of the mother's future.

I choose this article because it reflects the social issue, such as child abuse and negligence. I feel so sorry for the girl who died and feel anger for the mother and media. Why I feel sorry for the girl is because of the way she died, surrounded by her own waste. She might not have been able to go to bathroom by herself, however I think the mother could have been able to help her daughter with that. I really prefer not to make comment on bedsore, because I have never had bedsore if I had one I would hesitate to tell anybody even my mother. Also,I always believe that the society shows negative reactionabout fat people. In this case the girl was extremely over weight so that the mother abused her daughter. However, some people think that this mother would not have been in trouble if she bad not had a fat child. I oppose the opinion, no matter what the girl looked like, the mother would be in trouble anyway. This mother should find out the main factor of her daughter's death, if it had something with her diet or not.

Neglect (n)~ ignorance (v) ~ to ignore

Felony (n) ~ high degree of crime

Failure (n) ~ insufficiency

Obese (adj.) ~ overweight

fat (n) ~ destiny

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