Society's ChildS


Ambulance

Man run over, killed, when dog jumps into car, pushes accelerator

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© Shutterstock
A man has died after a dog jumped into a van, stepped on the accelerator and struck him as he opened a gate outside a Florida Panhandle home, according to officials.

The Florida Highway Patrol says Iris Fortner, 56, and James Campbell, 68, were backing into their driveway at their home in Cantonment on Monday when Campbell got out of the passenger side of the vehicle to open the metal gates.

Health

PTSD is an epidemic for military vets and their families

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© Photos by Brady FontenotKatie, Caleb, and Brannan Vines
Brannan Vines has never been to war. But she's got a warrior's skills: hyperawareness, hypervigilance, adrenaline-sharp quick-scanning for danger, for triggers. Super stimuli-sensitive. Skills on the battlefield, crazy-person behavior in a drug store, where she was recently standing behind a sweet old lady counting out change when she suddenly became so furious her ears literally started ringing. Being too cognizant of every sound - every coin dropping an echo - she explodes inwardly, fury flash-incinerating any normal tolerance for a fellow patron with a couple of dollars in quarters and dimes. Her nose starts running she's so pissed, and there she is standing in a CVS, snotty and deaf with rage, like some kind of maniac, because a tiny elderly woman needs an extra minute to pay for her dish soap or whatever.

Brannan Vines has never been to war, but her husband, Caleb, was sent to Iraq twice, where he served in the infantry as a designated marksman. He's one of 103,200, or 228,875, or 336,000 Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and came back with PTSD, depending on whom you ask, and one of 115,000 to 456,000 with traumatic brain injury. It's hard to say, with the lack of definitive tests for the former, undertesting for the latter, underreporting, under or over-misdiagnosing of both. And as slippery as all that is, even less understood is the collateral damage, to families, to schools, to society - emotional and fiscal costs borne long after the war is over.

Arrow Down

Surgeons left 16 different items in German patient's body during routine procedure

Surgery
© Medical Daily
The family of an elderly patient who died in Germany after surgeons left 16 different items in his body during a routine operation is now suing hospital authorities for over $120,000.

Dirk Schroeder was said to have suffered "appalling agony" after the routine surgery for prostate cancer in 2009. Doctors had told him that he could expect to live another six years at least.

However, the procedure failed to relieve his pain, and within three months the 74-year-old was back in hospital after a nurse on a home visit in Hanover, Germany discovered a huge gauze pad protruding from his wound, according to Ninemsn.com.

Later, after two subsequent operations, surgeons managed to remove 16 different items from Schroeder's body, including a needle, a six-inch toll of bandage, a six-inch long compress and several swabs and a piece of surgical mask.

Arrow Up

Four-year-old girl, Savannah White, goes to the dentist and her mother gets the shock of her life!

Dentist Visit
© B2C
Savannah White is probably going to hate the dentist forever.

Alecia White decided to take her daughter to the dentist for some routine dental work. The dentist told the mom that her four-year-old daughter, Savannah White, had four cavities. Of course, the mom made the decision to have the cavities filled. During the process, Alecia White decided to wait in the waiting room while her child was being sedated and worked on by the dentist.

Alecia White took her daughter, Savanna White, home while she was still filling groggy from the sedation. Shortly after, Alecia White was in for the shock of her life.

Alecia White looked into her daughter's mouth and that's when she found out that every single one of the child's teeth was capped with silver crowns. Picture the villain from James Bond films known as "Jaws." Yes, I'm being serious. The child's whole mouth was silver.

Handcuffs

Science teacher accused of offering oral sex to police officer after DUI arrest

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© Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office / January 14, 2013Mary P. Maloney, 53, of Lake Worth, is charged with DUI, hit-and-run, and attempting to bribe a police officer after she was arrested on Jan. 13, 2013.
A Palm Beach County school teacher who was charged with DUI after a hit-and-run collision offered oral sex to a police officer and invited him to grope her in exchange for letting her go, police said.

Mary Patricia Maloney, a 7th grade science teacher at Palm Springs Middle School, was arrested Sunday by Greenacres police after a report of a hit-and-run at South Jog Road and Purdy Lane.

"How much do I need to pay you to just let me go?" Maloney, 53, allegedly said to an officer driving her to the police station, according to the arrest report. "Don't you understand I am a school teacher?"

Maloney of Lake Worth, then allegedly offered to provide oral sex to the officer. She also invited the officer to grope her breasts, according to the arrest report.

Maloney has a prior DUI conviction from 2009, according to the arrest report. Police said she was driving while knowing her license was under suspension.

Red Flag

Police: Michigan couple grew 206 marijuana plants 'across the street from city hall'

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A couple in Coloma, Michigan was arrested Wednesday and charged in connection to a marijuana growing operation authorities claim they found in the rear of their computer repair business, located directly across the street from the town's city hall.

In all, police said they pulled 206 marijuana plants out of the building. Area residents also told Michigan's ABC 57 News that they "smelled weed constantly" in the area around city hall for weeks leading up to the bust.

Magnify

Professor James Tracy says he's facing university probe over Newtown conspiracy

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A tenured professor who controversially claimed the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut never happened is worried that he may now lose his job.

Florida Atlantic University professor James Tracy told the university's student newspaper that the university plans to have a meeting with him later this week regarding his conspiracy theory, which he published online.

"They're getting people calling them saying that this person shouldn't be teaching, he's an awful person and what have you, so I think that they have to do something," Tracy told University Press.

Pistol

Recreational assault weapons fire riddles Ohio home, narrowly misses officer

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Two men were arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after their target practice with an AK-47 assault rifle accidentally shot up a woman's home and nearly hit a officer who was responding to reports of gunfire.

Mary Kuruc told WEWS that her daughter discovered a bullet hole in the siding of their Montville Township home and other holes inside the house. After calling 911, Montville Police Sgt. Matt Neil began investigating and the home was hit again.

"We noticed a second bullet hole, followed the trajectory of it and noticed the bullet landed in the microwave," Kuruc recalled.

Neil found himself in the line of fire as he tried to track down where the bullets were coming from.

Pirates

U.S. software developer caught outsourcing his job to China

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© ABC News
A software developer was busted for outsourcing his job to a programmer in China while he surfed the Web at work.

The case was described by Andrew Valentine, a principal with Verizon Enterprise Solutions, who published a blog post about the incident.

"We've seen plenty of employee misconduct cases, but not typically like this," Valentine told ABC News.

Valentine's team was contacted by another company based in the U.S. for assistance over "anomalous activity" it noticed in records of employees logging remotely into the company's IT system.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions is not releasing the name of the company or the employee.

Attention

German surgeons leave 16 objects in patient, lawyer claims

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© Fabrizio Bensch/ReutersA lawyer representing a now-deceased man says doctors removed a needle, compresses and surgical strips from German banker Helmut Brecht after his wounds failed to heal properly following surgery in 2009.
A lawyer in Germany claims surgeons left up to 16 objects in her client's body after an operation for prostate cancer.

Annette Corinth says doctors removed a needle, compresses and surgical strips from banker Helmut Brecht after his wounds failed to heal properly following surgery in 2009.