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NRL News
Haleigh
Poutre Describes Harsh Treatment
Although she did not provide details about the September 2005 abuse that sent her into a doctor-diagnosed “irreversible vegetative state,” 14-year-old Haleigh Poutre told prosecutors about frequent spankings and slaps to the face given to her by her adoptive parents Holli and Jason Strickland, according to the Boston Globe. Haleigh spoke to investigators in December using “simple words and hand gestures,” the Globe reported. She also spelled out sentences by pointing to letters. Her ability to communicate is amazing, given that only two years earlier her brain injuries were so severe that doctors held out no hope for her recovery. Two and a half years ago the Stricklands brought the bruised and unconscious Haleigh to the emergency room of Noble Hospital in Westfield, Massachusetts, “saying she had become unresponsive after suffering flulike symptoms,” according to the Globe. “Within two days, the Department of Social Services (DSS) took custody of the couple’s two other children, and a week later the couple was criminally charged in connection with Haleigh’s traumatic brain injuries.” Incredibly, only six days after DSS took custody of Haleigh, it asked Juvenile Court Judge James G. Collins for permission to remove her feeding tube and ventilator. According to the Globe, on October 5, 2005, Collins gave the agency the go-ahead. Fortunately, Haleigh (who, supposedly, was “in a vegetative state” and “had suffered a severe brain injury, and probably would never think or feel again”) began to breathe on her own and show ‘increased responsiveness.” This came on January 18, 2006, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Judicial Court had backed the lower court’s death order. “A week later, DSS Commissioner Harry Spence witnessed her picking up a duck and a Curious George doll on command and tracking some of his movements with her eyes,” according to the Globe’s Patricia Wen. On January 26, DSS transferred Haleigh to the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, where she has been receiving physical, speech, and occupational therapy. The irony is that the only reason she had remained on life support was because of Jason Strickland’s appeals, “which delayed the process long enough that Haleigh’s condition began to improve,” the Globe reported. Jason Strickland will go on trial in October for abusing Haleigh. (Holli Strickland killed herself in 2005 after charges were filed.) His lawyer filed papers questioning Haleigh’s ability to testify because of her brain injuries, according to the Globe. |