Posted on 08/08/2011 4:32:11 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Ben Barnhard finally had reason to be optimistic this summer: The 13-year-old shed more than 100 pounds at a rigorous weight-loss academy, a proud achievement for a boy who had endured classmates' taunts about his obesity and who had sought solace in the quiet of his bedroom, with his pet black cat and the intricate origami designs he created.
But one month before school was to start for the special-needs teen, his mother, psychiatrist Margaret Jensvold, shot him in the head, then killed herself. Officers found their bodies Tuesday in the bedrooms of their home in Kensington, Md., an upper-middle class Washington suburb. They also found a note.
"School — can't deal with school system," the letter began, Jensvold's sister, Susan Slaughter, told The Associated Press.
And later: "Debt is bleeding me. Strangled by debt."
Although family members said they were stunned by the killings, they also said Jensvold had become increasingly strained by financial pressure and by anguished fights with the county public school system over the special-needs education of her son, who had an autism spectrum disorder. They said the school district — apparently believing it could adequately educate Ben — had refused to cover tuition costs for the boy to attend a private school for special-needs students. Jensvold didn't have the money herself and didn't want to return her son to public school, where relatives said she felt harshly judged and marginalized and where Ben had struggled.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This is just so tragic, it’s unreal.
Every psychologist/psychiatrist I've ever known has been unbalanced.
Prayers for that poor woman and child.So sad.
The brave new schools have no real need of special needs kids. They want their butts in the seat for the funding but really don’t want to teach them
“Every psychologist/psychiatrist I’ve ever known has been unbalanced”
I knew one psychologist years ago, long gone,RIP, who was not. She had quit and opened a bookstore. Said that psychology was crap and she did not believe in it any more.
Sad, tragic, and wrong. She went over the edge. Rest in peace.
“...and where Ben had struggled.”
And what exactly were they going to teach him to do ?
I am sure that solved everything
The mother freaked out and went insane.
I haven't known many, but my estimation fits yours. They are high in vocabulary and tend to think themselves smarter than they are--big on BS.And since they are so much "smarter", they tend to take sides in marital counseling. Male Psychologists/psychiatrists tend to identify with the male if he is a professional and treat the little woman like an imbecile.
When I was 18, i had finished 1 yr. college and worked as stenographer for Dept of the Army in Security & Intelligence. My boss thought I was exposed to too much criminal/bad activity and send me to interview with a woman psychiatrist on the base. I came back and told him she was nuts and "No thank you".
vaudine
I am skeptical of psychiatry a a science. The brain may be the province of medicine, but I see no true science of the mind. Psychiatrists are busy using their pseudo-science to get people hooked on legal drugs to make them happy, while street pushers languish in jail for selling illegal drugs being used for the same purpose.
That is why I don’t think “poor woman”/ I think “poor boy” instead.
That is why I don’t think “poor woman”/ I think “poor boy” instead.
The whole country knows that feeling
I agree, it is very sad. No prayers for a murderer from me, thank you very much.
If she offed herself and left the kid alone, she might have earned my sympathy. Taking another innocent life only makes me hope she is burning in hell. Selfish bitch comes to mind.
But if you can't pay, then DON'T. Stop. Don't destroy your family over something you can't do anything about.
They don't send a guy over to break your legs, they probably won't even take your stuff. Tell 'em to get bent and you'll get back with them when you can pay. Or file bankruptcy.
It's only business. They'd do it to you in a heartbeat. Family first, always.
That story breaks my heart. Partly because I have been thru the same type of garbage with the schools. I have a son who 7 years ago required brain surgery to correct an arachnoid cyst the size of a softball. We were living in Ohio at the time. The principal demanded to see the MRI’s - a surgeons letter was not good enough. I have another son who has a very light case of Asperger’s. The schools have done absolutely nothing here in Fairfax County, Va. to help yet they bitch and moan at me without telling me what his assignments are (as I am entitled with an IEP). The same was true in Ohio. My solution finally has been to yank all of them out of public school and enroll them in Virtual Academy. The schools are nothing more than indoctrination camps for the left anyway. Hell with ‘em!
The child murdering mother — Jensvold, a Johns Hopkins-educated psychiatrist specializing in women’s health, was passionate and determined. She made news in 1990 by filing a gender discrimination lawsuit against the National Institute of Mental Health, where she was a medical staff fellow. A judge ultimately ruled against her, calling her version of events an “illusion.
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