[wagglebee]

Dr. Alveda King continues to carry on her uncle's dream of real human rights.

Thread by NYer.

Pro-Life Rally Disrupted: Alveda King: ‘I Dare You to Arrest Me on My Uncle’s Grave’

SPEAKING UP. Alveda King said ‘This is a time for boldness’ after Freedom Riders were denied the right to gather at the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr.

ATLANTA — A pro-life event at the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site was disrupted by officials July 24.

Participants in the “Freedom Rides for the Unborn” rally — more than 100 pro-life supporters — were kept from rallying on the federal park surrounding the gravesite of the black civil-rights activist even though they had a permit.

Meanwhile, pro-choice opponents who showed up without a permit were ushered onto the grounds for a counter rally.

Organized by Priests for Life and Martin Luther King’s pro-life niece Alveda King, who heads the organization’s African-American Outreach, the event brought several pro-life black pastors and a busload of supporters to the King Center in Atlanta in emulation of the civil-rights Freedom Rides of the 1960s.

The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, an independent nonprofit founded by the King family, is part of a National Historic Site under the National Park Service, so both King Center staff and Park Service personnel were present at the event.

Free Speech Obstructed
When King and Father Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life, arrived with the Freedom Riders, they were denied access to the King tomb by King Center staff.

When Park Service staff finally allowed King onto the federal property surrounding the center, she managed to get to the gravesite via a back way.

When she was stopped by the King Center’s CEO, John Mack, King was distressed enough by the obstruction that she climbed into a reflecting pool and reportedly said, “I dare you to arrest me on my uncle’s grave.”

Later she joined Father Pavone across the street from the center in front of a laundromat to deliver a speech calling for justice for the unborn.

Before the Freedom Riders arrived at the site, local pro-lifers were already running into trouble from the Park Service, according to Bridget Kurt, an Atlanta pro-lifer and event participant.

“When we got there, a rally of pro-choicers was already going on right on park property, chanting and using a bullhorn,” reports Kurt. “The park superintendent told us we couldn’t congregate on the sidewalk or go onto the grounds and that we couldn’t carry signs. She told us the pro-aborts had a permit but later changed that to say they had permission.”

Kurt was shocked by what transpired: “The Park Service and the King Center disrupted something that was to be very peaceful and prayerful. It all was totally contrary to the spirit of nonviolence that Martin Luther King stood for. I heard one park ranger joke about whether they should get their clubs out. It was a joke, but still, how nonviolent was that?”

Kurt published her version of events on the CNN iReport website under the headline “National Park Service violates free-speech rights of Alveda King and pro-lifers at MLK grave.”

For its part, the Park Service denies that remarks about clubs were made. Moreover, according to Marianne Mills, the public affairs spokeswoman for the National Park Service’s southeast region, any ordering about of pro-life supporters was intended to keep them and pro-choice demonstrators apart.

“The actions directed by Park Superintendent Judy Forte were focused on trying to separate the parties present as their conflict escalated, not show support for one group over another,” Mills told the Register in an e-mail.

Pro-Lifers Assert Rights
Some pro-lifers began turning their signs over to park staff, says Kurt, but she told Superintendent Forte, “We had every right to be on a city sidewalk. She told me to shut up and told a staff member to call 911. I said, ‘Fine, and I’ll call CNN.’”

Both followed through on their statements. However, neither CNN nor any local news agencies sent reporters. The Atlanta police did, however, eventually respond to Forte’s call.

“They told Forte,” says Kurt, “that we could use the sidewalks.”

According to Park Service spokeswoman Mills, Alveda King told Park Service southeast regional director David Vela in an e-mail exchange that the problems that day were with the King Center “and not the National Park Service.” Therefore, Mills told the Register, “the assertion that the ‘National Park Service violates free-speech rights of Alveda King and pro-lifers at MLK grave’ is incorrect.”

Not so, says Kurt. Egged on by King Center staff, Park Service officers did impede King initially, and before she arrived, they bullied and coerced pro-lifers into giving up their signs and tried to disperse them from city sidewalks.

“Park Service staff escalated a tense situation rather than calming it down,” Kurt says. “And it was quite apparent to me the superintendent did not understand free speech and the boundary between what was public and private property and that free speech is allowed on public property.”

[wagglebee]

The UK's health care system demonstrates EXACTLY what we can expect from Obamacare.

Threads by frithguild and me.

Girl texted pics of herself

A DESPERATE woman texted photos of herself slowly DYING to her mum as she lay suffering on a hospital bed - being ignored by NHS doctors. Tragic Jo Dowling, 25, sent over forty messages to her mother and best friend including pictures of a deadly rash spreading across her body as her life ebbed away.

The pretty youngster was diagnosed by her family GP with suspected Meningococcal Septicaemia after developing a purple skin rash and low blood pressure last November.

She was rushed to Milton Keynes Hospital where A&E doctors rejected the diagnosis believing instead her illness was a mild infection caused by her Cystic Fibrosis.

Doctors abandoned Jo on a observation ward and gave her headache tablets and fluids as they failed to spot the purple rash spread over her arms, hands and legs.

As the hours passed terrified Jo took photos of her rash on her mobile phone and sent them to her mum and best friend describing her condition as "getting worse".

The meningitis bug left her in septic shock choking and coughing as fluid filled her lungs and she died four hours after her last text message - just 14 hours after arriving at hospital.

Her family yesterday accused the hospital of "neglect" after an inquest at Milton Keynes Coroners' Court heard doctors failed to spot she was suffering 'blood poisoning shock'.

Coroner Tom Osborne criticised the hospital for a "communication breakdown" that led to her death as tragically a simple dose of penicillin and antibiotics would have saved Jo's life.

The inquest heard there were only two doctors on duty to cover the entire hospital the night Jo died.

Devastated mum Sue Christie, 48, of Milton Keynes, a distribution worker, said: "Our doctor knew it was meningitis but when we got to hospital all the care seemed to stop.

"They didn't seem to know what they were meant to do or what meningococcal septicaemia was.

"The hospital was saying it was just an infection. She had a lot of infections with Cystic Fibrosis but never a rash like this.

"I saw her picture messages and the rash was really bad. You couldn't miss them but the nurses did. I thought she was in hospital and with the best people.

"She wasn't given a chance and was left to die without being given any treatment.

"It is so sad as Jo had got through everything with her Cystic Fibrosis and was such a strong girl."

Jo was given penicillin and admitted to hospital at 3.25pm on November 23 last year with a letter from her GP Dr Nessan Carson diagnosing Meningococcal Septicaemia.

Dr Carson listed symptoms as low blood pressure, a raised pulse and a purple rash that would not disappear when pressed with a glass.

The inquest heard locum consultant Dr B. S. Khattak sent Jo for a CT Scan and lumber puncture and results were sent to micro-biology to determine which type of anti-biotics to use.

When the scans showed no traces of meningitis Dr Chris Akubuine, physician in general medicine, refused to continue treating Jo's symptoms with antibiotics.

Instead Dr Akubuine administered headache pills and fluids and left her in the Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) for overnight observations, the inquest heard.

Trainee GP Vivake Roddah failed to keep a written observation record but told the inquest he did not see Jo's purple rash on her hands, arms and legs.

Five nurses also told the two day hearing they did not spot any rash on Jo's body.

As her condition worsened Jo swapped 42 text messages with friends and her mum describing her illness and symptoms.

Just two hours after doctors ruled out meningitis she texted a friend to say "rash is getting worse".

She took around 10 photos of the purple rash on her legs, hands and arms and sent one to her mum complaining her condition was not improving.

Her death was pronounced at 5.20am on November 24 three hours after hospital logs show she was last checked on.

Dad Ivor Dowling, 52, a mechanic, said: "If she had been given antibiotics she would have survived. The hospital failed her.

"The first doctor who saw my daughter did everything he was supposed to do. But after that these doctors and nurses failed to spot her failing vital signs.

"They were obnoxious and arrogant. She was neglected."

Delivering a narrative verdict Deputy Coroner Tom Osborne ruled Jo died from a combination of Meningococcal Septicaemia and Cystic Fibrosis.

He criticised hospital doctors for failing to realise she was in 'blood poisoning shock'.

Mr Osborne said: "As a result of a breakdown in communication the antibiotics was not continued and resulted in lost opportunities to render further medical treatment."

Jo, who was on a waiting list for a lung transplant, occasionally needed a wheelchair to get around after she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a baby.

She worked as a cashier at Great Mills and The Bag Shop, in Milton Keynes, and competed in junior cross country championships as a child.

Her best friend Jess Wales, 20, from Kent, who received the other messages also suffered from cystic fibrosis and died in January shortly after a lung transplant.

A spokesman for Milton Keynes Hospital said: "Following Joanne's unexpected death, the Trust conducted a comprehensive internal investigation to review her care and treatment.

"The findings of the investigation were presented in detail at the inquest today and the recommendations are already being implemented.

"The Trust fully accepts the verdict of the inquest."

Former director Maggie Southcote-Want, 48, revealed a series of shocking incidents at the hospital at an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal in May.

Ms Southcote-Want claimed bodies were routinely dumped on the floor of the mortuary fridge and photographs of a car crash victim uploaded to websites, prompting a police inquiry.

She also claimed a locum doctor wrongly analysed dozens of breast cancer biopsies, a leading consultant was suspended for surgical blunders and two employees were caught having sex in the pharmacy during working hours.

The hospital denied the claims.

___________________________________________________

Malnutrition of elderly Scots is 'euthanasia'

WASHINGTON (BP)--Government-run hospitals in Scotland are guilty of a "form of euthanasia" by malnutrition, a patients' organization leader has charged.

Jean Turner, executive director of the Scotland Patients Association (SPA), said hundreds of patients, especially the elderly, are undernourished in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals because of a lack of assistance from staff members, according to The Herald of Glasgow, Scotland.

About 50,000 patients die in a state of malnutrition each year at NHS facilities, according to one recent report.

"The SPA would call this a form of euthanasia to allow dehydration and malnutrition to develop due to lack of awareness, lack of staffing or carelessness," Turner said, according to The Herald's July 4 story.

The patients' organization has urged the Scottish government to urgently tackle the problem of malnutrition of the elderly in the nation's hospitals. Turner indicated the problem stems from staff who do not help patients who cannot feed themselves.

One woman died of kidney failure, The Herald said, after 14 weeks in a hospital, and her family believes poor standards of care, particularly in nutrition, contributed to her death.

"Staff would tell me, 'It takes an hour to feed your mother and we don't have an hour,'" one family member told the newspaper, adding, "We believe that the care she received in that hospital is the reason she is not here today."

Turner said the case is one of many.

"If patients do not manage to swallow food, nutritious or otherwise, and drink then they will not heal, their general health will deteriorate and death may be an outcome, sooner or later," Turner said.

"... Whatever happened to measuring input and output and keeping charts to prevent this? We are in no doubt many wards short-staffed and staff do not have the time that they know is needed to provide the best care, but SPA would say it is down to all staff to be accountable and raise their issues of concern."

When the hospital staff is aware that a patient has difficulty eating, the patients' organization said it expects them to help the patient eat, The Herald reported.