two victims double tragedy

TWO VICTIMS DOUBLE TRAGEDY
first let me say
what happened needs to be prosecuted to its fullest extent
could it have been prevented
maybe
but it probably was years in the making

early on in  my medical career i was involved in a committee
that reviewed child abuse cases
it didnt take me long to realize that the odds were stacked
against the child
parents would just move to another county or another state
the ball would be dropped
the abuse physical mental sexual would just continue
i would see cases come back that were the same as what
had happen in the past involving the same parent and child

also in practice i had to interact with child protective cases
knowing that sometimes it would take real bad things
to happen before the child would be removed from
the home
real bad stuff

so its with these past experiences with the system
many of them not good
along with the lack of good mental health care for folks
especially for the poor and underpriviledged
for a child that no one wants

a disaster in the making is what happened in this case
i am sure when this all goes to trial
if it does
there will be a lot of finger pointing at the system for
failing this child
now acussed of this horrendous murder of this
beautiful talented college student here at the
university of texas in austin

whenever i look at her picture
i feel this gut wrenching in my stomach
i get tears in my eyes
i feel angry that this happened
i can only imagine what the parents must feel

the first murder on campus since that guy shot all those
people from the tower here in the 60s

i sit and look at the picture of the kid that allegedly did
the murder
where did the system let him down
was it the federal and state and local government cutting
funds for mental health and child services
my guess is that will be shown to be part of the problem
along
with being put in abusive situations all his life
along with some underlying mental defect that was not
properly cared for and monitored
like a festering sore not allowed to heal

now i use to see a lot of foster kids in my practice
some of those kids were real lucky to have the foster parents
they did have
they were treated with love respect and discipline

there were a few foster parents undeserving of that name
most were ok

so i can only imagine what this kids life was like for almost 18 years
probably like when you take this nice gentle dog
beat him abuse him neglect him isolate him
that dog becomes a mean junkyard dog

so it may be with this kid

no matter if it was the system that led him to do this murder
if he did it
he must pay the price

we as a society also are paying the price
caring for him probably for years and years
wondering if there are more of them out there
i am sure there are
since our system fails many of them

then
the absolutely gut rendering tragedy
for the family and friends and society
for the loss of this beautiful young girl
what a tragedy this is

one was years in the making
the other was instantaneous

could they have both been prevented
maybe

the organicgreen doctor