Posted on 04/24/2023 11:57:04 AM PDT by nickcarraway
He was hospitalized multiple times for diabetes while in state custody.
Arizona's Department of Child Safety (DCS) seized Jakob Blodgett from his father's custody last December. Two weeks later, the boy died of ketoacidosis—a dangerous complication of Type 1 diabetes.
While DCS has already received a barrage of criticism over the child's death, an autopsy report obtained by Reason shows even more evidence of misconduct. According to the report, Jakob had been hospitalized for ketoacidosis once before in the weeks before his death. Despite this, those caring for him at a DCS group home did not take steps to prevent Jakob from developing the condition again, leading to his death.
Jakob was taken into DCS custody after his father, Richard Blodgett, was arrested for drug possession and taken to a jail in Holbrook, Arizona. Richard, who had a different drug charge pending against him at the time of his arrest, claims that he wasn't abusing the more than 4,000 fentanyl pills found by police. Rather, he says he was using them to treat chronic pain after weight loss surgery.
"I wasn't getting high. I wasn't abusing them. I was using them to be able to work and provide for my son," Blodgett told the Associated Press. "Unfortunately, they are illegal. I can't get around that. But they were stronger than my meds, and they were working."
Jakob had Type 1 diabetes, a serious medical condition that occurs when an individual's pancreas produces little to no insulin, a hormone that helps control blood sugar. In order to manage the condition, people with Type 1 diabetes must constantly monitor their blood glucose levels and have regular insulin injections or have insulin delivered automatically through an insulin pump. When Type 1 diabetics don't receive enough insulin, death can occur in just a few days.
Jakob's grandmother claims that DCS took his insulin pump away from him after he had been "playing with it."
On December 9, the same day he was placed in the group home, Jakob was hospitalized with ketoacidosis. He was discharged six days later. After this incident, DCS records quoted in the state's autopsy report claim that Jakob "'sneaks food and candy' and is 'resistant' to glucose monitoring and insulin therapy." On the night of December 19—just four days after Jakob was released from his first hospitalization—DCS records state that he refused his insulin dose.
On the morning of December 20, Jakob's glucose was elevated, and group home workers "received medication administration instructions from his physician"; the report does not state whether DCS employees attempted to administer insulin. On December 21, the report states, Jakob "complained of headache" and drowsiness, after which he returned to the hospital. According to the autopsy report, he arrived to the hospital "with altered mental status and vomiting" and testing revealed that his brain was swelling. On December 26, after being placed on life support, Jakob died.
Though he had already spent six days in the hospital for mismanaged diabetes, those caring for Jakob don't seem to have taken appropriate measures to ensure that the child would avoid life-threatening complications again. While officials have not confirmed whether Jakob, in fact, had his insulin pump taken away, it is troubling either way that DCS workers were unable to keep a diabetic child alive for more than two weeks after he entered their care.
Failing to give diabetic children insulin injections is extremely dangerous. "Missing insulin doses places the child at imminent risk of [ketoacidosis] as well as the long-term microvascular complications of diabetes," says a 2020 article in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. "For young children, it is the parent's or guardian's responsibility to make sure all diabetes supplies are obtained without fail and all management tasks are completed on a daily basis and in a timely manner." While most children can learn to self-inject insulin with time and patience, DCF staff should have done anything necessary in order to deliver his medication.
DCS custody is an incredibly dangerous place for kids to be, especially if they have a serious medical condition. According to the Associated Press, children seized into DCS custody in Arizona have a death rate almost twice the national average. For children with significant medical needs, being placed with caregivers who don't know how to manage those conditions—or don't care to—can result in tragedy.
"They couldn't keep him alive for two weeks, two weeks," Richard told the Associated Press. "That's absolutely insane. That was my pride and joy. I'm lost. I'm completely lost. My family is completely lost."
SMH
Popped some corn... Waiting.
You would think that the DCS would put him with a family that was familiar with diabetes.
l
l
Fucik! (a composer)
We had a cat with diabetes for 12 years — when we were on vacation we hired someone to give ‘Oslo’ his insulin.
This is for a cat — what type of scum cannot the care of a child? (I personally guarantee you that it is easier to obtain a blood sample from a human -infant, child or otherwise- than it is from obtaining a sample from a cat.
This is absurd!
Why wasn’t he placed with the grandmother? Probably because the local government is paid by the state or Feds to kidnap children.
So sad.
“Jakob was taken into DCS custody after his father, Richard Blodgett, was arrested...”
But lets not miss that the "father" was a dope-head (and I would wager a dealer) -
Richard, who had a different drug charge pending against him at the time of his arrest, claims that he wasn't abusing the more than 4,000 fentanyl pills found by police. Rather, he says he was using them to treat chronic pain after weight loss surgery.
4000 fentanyl pills for weight loss surgery pain? BS and double BS
IN the interest of honesty - that “father” was a dug-addict and unfit (read the article -busted with 4000+ fentanyl pills).
That hardly seems like a reason to execute the child.
So no matter what else he was, he took adequate care of his son with no financial return.
No matter how much they were paid, the group home was unable to do the same.
that “father” was a dug-addict and unfit
ABsolutely - that “group home” - aka - that internment camp for kids who’s parents are deadbeats, drug-addicts, and criminals... Yet sometimes these kids were better off with their derelict parents...
How old was the kid? Laws now allow minors to make their own medical decisions. They are allowed to refuse treatment, even to death.
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