COLUMBUS, Ohio - The only US-licensed maker of a drug used by several states to execute inmates is selling the product to another drug manufacturer, saying pentobarbital - a sedative never intended for capital punishment - wasn’t an important product for the firm....
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Related: Slow Saturday Special: States Scramble to Execute
"Parents plead guilty to denying aid to son" January 12, 2012|By Thomas J. Sheeran
CLEVELAND - The parents of an 8-year-old boy who died from Hodgkin’s lymphoma after suffering for months from undiagnosed swollen glands have pleaded guilty to denying him medical treatment.
Monica Hussing, 37, and William Robinson Sr., 40, both of Cleveland, face up to eight years in prison at sentencing. They pleaded guilty Monday to attempted involuntary manslaughter in a plea deal before their trial was about to begin.
Willie Robinson collapsed at his home on March 22, 2008. Prosecutors say he had begged his parents to take him to see a doctor but was refused. Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a highly treatable cancer.
Hussing’s attorney, John Luskin, said his client took responsibility in the case, but because of her education and background, she did not realize the boy was seriously ill and was treating him with cold medication. “She is a mother that just did not have the capability to recognize’’ cancer, Luskin said yesterday.
Robinson’s lawyer, Thomas Rein, called it a “sad, horrific case’’ that drew inquiries from the White House as changes to federal health care law were being considered in 2009. “Had he had regular health coverage, it possibly could have prevented this,’’ Rein said of the boy’s death.
Luskin and Rein said the parents had financial problems and tried to get checkups for their children but could not afford it.
“The kid had what appeared to be swollen glands,’’ Luskin said. “This was not a tumor that was getting bigger. It would come and go. He would have his good days, he would have his bad days.’’
Hussing’s daughter, Lillian Hussing, said the family did not have money for medical care when they lived in Warren. She said they tried repeatedly to get help from social services and visited a free clinic, but left when told they would have to pay $180....
Prosecutors said that while the boy was suffering, the parents claimed financial hardship but paid $87 to have a pit bull treated for fleas. Luskin said the dog belonged to Hussing’s parents, and her parents paid for the treatment.
Trumbull County Children Services says it had worked with the family to provide Willie health care, getting involved after receiving a phone call in July 2007. Agency officials said a case worker visited the family at least monthly and pushed the parents to have a medical follow-up on his swollen neck but they didn’t.
However, Rein said a social worker who visited the family in January 2008 “indicated the kids were healthy and happy.’’ He said no one knew the boy had cancer until he died and an autopsy was performed.
And Lillian Hussing said a case worker had told the family the boy’s lump looked like a swollen gland and to hold off until they could secure financial assistance before getting it checked.
About two weeks after they moved to Cleveland, she said, her brother came down with something. Her mother treated him with cold medicine and he died within three days.
She said the boy never complained. “He played, he went outside, he wrestled, he played video games,’’ the boy’s sister said. “He was the happiest kid you could imagine. It never seemed like he was suffering.’’
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"Ohio man kills kin, self over care of terminally-ill wife" January 12, 2012
LOGAN, Ohio - A man repeatedly shot his adult son and two sisters-in-law in his living room, killing them in front of his terminally ill wife, then fatally shot himself on the front porch as family tension about the cancer-stricken woman’s care apparently boiled over, authorities said.
An earlier dispute about whether the woman should have been fed tea and toast or the orange her husband had peeled for her apparently set off the shooter, Paul Gilkey, 63....
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Also see: Man charged in Craigslist killings
"Ruling stands in ‘White Only’ pool sign case" by Associated Press January 13, 2012
A Cincinnati landlord who claimed a black girl’s hair products clouded an apartment complex’s swimming pool discriminated against the child by posting a poolside “White Only’’ sign, an Ohio civil rights panel said yesterday in upholding a previous finding.
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"SNOW BLOWER -- It was finally looking like winter in the Midwest as the season's first big snowstorm delighted skiers and snow-reliant businesses but thwarted commuters. One of them cleared snow from around her car in Berea, Ohio (Boston Globe January 14 2012)."
"Floor collapses at Ohio casino project" Associated Press, January 28, 2012
CINCINNATI - A floor collapsed into a V shape yesterday at the construction site of a new casino, sending workers sliding down to the ground and injuring at least a dozen of them.
Authorities said there were no life-threatening injuries in the collapse, which came weeks after a similar accident at a Cleveland casino with the same developer....
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