Posted on 01/02/2012 7:38:25 PM PST by CedarDave
SANTA FE – About four years ago, a doctor probably helped Juliana Reyes Vasquez into the world. Now, a doctor is accused of ending her life.
Juliana, 4, died early Saturday morning, about two hours after an alleged drunken driver struck a minivan at a Santa Fe intersection that carried the child, her 3-year-old sister Yeretez Jasmine Reyes Vasquez and their mother, Carla Vasquez Rivera. Mother and sister were both injured, but survived.
Both girls were in the back seat and in car seats at the time of the crash, and both drivers were wearing seatbelts, according to police.
Deborah Aaron, a former surgeon at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center who currently has ties to Doctors Without Borders, is accused of being drunk behind the wheel of the SUV that T-boned the Rivera Vasquez family’s minivan.
Aaron, 56, is a New York University graduate who attended medical school at UCLA, according to information from her Facebook page. The doctor was booked without bond into the Santa Fe County jail early Saturday on charges of DWI and vehicular homicide.
About three years ago, Aaron worked as a surgeon at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, according to Delgado, who was unable Saturday to provide information about the circumstances that led to Aaron’s leaving the hospital.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Ah, sweet memories...a few winters ago we were driving back home to California from a family emergency in Minnesota and encamped at the La Quinta Inn in Santa Rosa, and ate at the adjoining Route 66 diner.
It felt so damned good to us to finally see no snow, and to be able to walk outside again without shivering.
Yes the doctor is an alcoholic, by definition therefore an addict to alcohol. That’s what anyone in AA will say.
And no, most drinkers are not alcoholics. A small percentage are, but they create the large majority of problems the rest of society must deal with w/r/t drunk driving.
The way to deal with addicts is to house them in buildings they cannot get out of, and give them as much of whatever they are addicted to because almost none are curable. They will take care of themselves and the rest of us will be safe. Think of all the innocent people that would be alive today if drug addicts and drunk drivers were in a safe building they could not get out of and cause problems that could injure or kill others.
It would be a fantastic way. The people OD’ing would be given clean safe drugs and alcohol and would exit on their own terms. Without crime, injury or death to other parties.
Clearly these are people who cannot help themselves and as another person noted, over 96% can’t be cured of their addictions, which is why they continually are problems and dangerous to others around them.
In my younger, single days, I spent many evenings after work socializing in a bar filled with successful professionals in every type of occupation - doctors, lawyers, business people. On Ladies Night & Two-for-one, virtually everyone in the bar was snockered by the time they drove home. Very few would be considered an alcoholic or addict by their peers.
I doubt the bar scene has changed much in 25+ years. People go there to get a buzz, & many overdo it. Same with illicit drugs.
So, locking up addicts will only skim the surface of the problem, which is dangerous, impaired behavior - especially driving, not addiction.
I believe the ONLY solution to the impaired driving problem is a very intelligent car that wont move an inch with an impaired driver. I realize we are many years from this solution, & a lot of people are gonna be injured & die, until the car refuses to move.
But unreasonable ideas about locking up addicts while they party is NOT a solution. Giving the gov’t license to decide who is an addict & should be locked up is also NOT a solution, though we have been doing it for decades, with no hope of solving the problem in sight.
I disagree. Government is not in charge of forcing people into these buildings. Addicts choose to go there because they want free, good drugs and an infinite supply of them.
People who kill while drunk or on drugs get the choice to go to jail the rest of their life or gamble againg St a death penalty ruling if the state has one, or going into one of these buildings.
The only thing the government would do is make sure nobody left the building, and provide clean drugs and alcohol for the addicts until they expire. And body removal.
And it was apparently not obvious to you but the only addicts this would ever apply to would be the ones that are causing problems. Addicts who’s habits are impacting others - crimes, injuries, deaths, theft, robbery,destruction of property, cops continually having to deal with them.
The people who get buzzed but do not cause problems because they can control themselves, would never hit anyone’s radar.
She’ll likely spend only a few years in jail and be right out again. Same thing happened to my brother’s girlfriend. Killed by a drunk-driving doctor. Multiple offenses. He got six years for murder.
Must be nice to live however you like, I guess.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.