Drunken Mother Gets Treatment, Not Prison Time
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Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- A doctor for a woman whose baby died from alcohol poisoning minutes after birth is angered that his patient will avoid a seven-year prison term if she completes an alcohol treatment program.
But treatment advocates say the sentence is the proper way to help Sherri Lohnstein battle alcoholism.
Lohnstein, a 34-year-old from Lincoln County, pleaded guilty last week in St. Charles County Circuit Court to involuntary manslaughter.
She was sentenced to four months in a substance abuse treatment program in the Missouri Department of Corrections. If she completes the treatment program, a judge can place her on probation, but she also will have to complete drug court, a program that monitors defendants to help them kick addictions.
Prosecutors say Lohnstein was drunk the day she gave birth, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent. Her daughter Zreanna was born several weeks prematurely on Sept. 9, 2006, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent, and died of acute intoxication.
Lohnstein also smelled of alcohol during one checkup, and her blood-alcohol level registered 0.22 percent. In Missouri, a driver is considered legally drunk at 0.08 percent.
Only in America you can get 4 months drug treatment for literally killing your OWN child but like Michael Vick kill and abuse dogs and you get two years. She showed up for several examinitions with over 2. alcohol level prior to the birth of her baby.
When will we start to Stay Human America? Should she have spent time in prison knowingly drinking her bay to death I certainly think so here's the full story Newborn Dies From Alcohol Poisoning?
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
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I don't get it. Do you not feel like total crap after a while, or do you just somehow get used to feeling like total crap...
It's so hard on the body, alcohol is officially poison afterall.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
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both. you get used to it and you still feel it. it's like that nirvana lyrics "i miss the comfort in being sad." you feel like hell, but you need the feeling becos being sober is worse.
in any case, i hope the OP is pro-life, becos how can the mother be charged with murder if the doctor would not have been if he had performed an abortion?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is currently the leading cause of mental retardation in the US. How sad is that? Babies are being born all the time to mothers like the one in that story. The only difference is those poor little things live, and who knows what sort of hell they are subjected to. I don't know the answer to the problem, but i do think if possible we should try to educate people like this lady. We have to try. What good will it do locking her up for a few years, not trying to rehabilitate her, and then setting her free, back to whatever sort of life she was leading before.
I agree.
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
I agree that rehabilitation was a must in this case she was surely going to return to her alcoholism after any jail time she was going to serve. I also think the judge and prosecution also were thinking of her OTHER 3 children and who was going to care for them while she possibly served time in prison.
Still doesn't make it right for her to drink herself into FAS to the detriment of her baby. I hope she can learn from this tragedy and make herself a better mother.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
I agree that rehabilitation was a must in this case she was surely going to return to her alcoholism after any jail time she was going to serve. I also think the judge and prosecution also were thinking of her OTHER 3 children and who was going to care for them while she possibly served time in prison.
Still doesn't make it right for her to drink herself into FAS to the detriment of her baby. I hope she can learn from this tragedy and make herself a better mother.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
i dont feel sympathy for her really, nor do i think she's suffered enough. i just think jail won't do an alcoholic like her much good.
My brother is an alcoholic that actually just got out of rehab a couple of weeks ago, so I know how strong the addiction is, and the havoc it can cause, but at the same time, if you take someone's life, then you should be held accountable. Granted, the system should be in place to help the mother with her addiction, but her just getting better is only part of what needs to happen.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
That's the problem, it shouldn't be about her, it should be about what she did. I'm all for case-by-case judgement calls, but sometimes the line is clear. Intoxication can not continued to be used as excuse for offenses that would normally require jail time.
it's not an excuse. and it should be about her. what is punishment for? to make you feel better or to try and prevent further crime and rehabilitate the criminal? i say if they can get her sobered up (and this is a good time to try), then they should. but tossing her in jail only means she will do it again when she gets out.
It is used as an excuse to escape punishment that would otherwise have criminal implications.
What is the punishment for, how about the repeated reckless action that caused the DEATH of her child.
Tossing her in jail for years would certainty sober her up. It would also, as I previously stated, send a message of consequences for excessive drinking during pregnancy.
For me justice has to include the following three things; 1. punishment, 2. atonement, and 3. non-reoccurance.
Punishment is usually jail time, probation or fines. But sometimes the legal system pretty much does away with punishement as in this case.
Atonement is not part of the current legal system but I believe it should be. It could come in the form of mandatory volunteer time. Atonement hopefully brings the offender back into being a caring or at least more active, contributing community member.
Non-reoccurance has to do what needs to be done to make the offender less likely to offend again. This is quite often going to be things like drug and/or alcohol rehab, debt councelling and gaming addiction rehab, mental health services. The big issue is what do we do with addicts who aren't ready for rehab? Putting a junkie back on the streets without rehab will lead to reoffending. Putting a junkie thru rehab when they are not ready for it is a waste of time and money and will only lead to reoffending.
How do you protect the public from addicts who do not want help?
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley