NY: Morbid obese teen dies, mother claims harassment by DSS
Patty
By DAPHNE STEIN
SCHENECTADY Gazette Reporter
SCHENECTADY - Sheila Saleh said Saturday any mother in her position would have thrown in
the towel long ago.
That's why she wishes Child Protective Services would leave her and her family alone.
Saleh, whose 16-year-old son Casey died last Saturday, said that she has lost track of the
number of times the County Department of Social Services unit has tried to take her
children away during the last 10 years because they have weight problems.
Edward Bruhn, director of Schenectady's DSS said Saturday that his agency was involved
with the Salehs for the last decade, but only to help.
The cause of her son's death, the county medical examiner ruled, was cardio-respiratory
arrest and acute congestive heart failure brought on by "morbid obesity."
Casey, who, Sheila Saleh said, cared little about his health, weighed approximately 580
pounds at the time of his death. Saleh and her other sons, Jason, 13, and Matthew, 12, are
also severely overweight.
"My whole family is like this," Saleh said.
Asked if she has thought about taking drastic measures such as putting her sons on
all-liquid diets to help them lose weight, Saleh said, "What am I supposed to do, not feed
'em?"
Saleh said Casey was taking Prozac as a diet pill. "How do I know it wasn't the diet pills
that killed him?" she said.
Sedentary lifestyle
Saleh acknowledged though that her son "wasn't active at all." Except to attend school,
Casey rarely left his seat in front of the family's computer. Towards the end, she said,
he wouldn't even leave the computer to use the bathroom.
"He would eat there and sleep there," Saleh said.
She was consistently cleaning up after her son, Saleh said, and she sees no reason for the
DSS to "harass" her the way it has.
Bruhn ascribed Saleh's harassment claims to her anguish over losing her son.
"We never pursued getting custody of her son," Bruhn said. "A number of reports were made
from the school system. Our investigations showed that she was not abusive or neglectful.
We were working as cooperatively as possible."
Patty
Obese teenager who fought school system dies
Schenectady -- Stairs at a city middle school became an issue
Four years ago, Casey Jonathan Saleh fought to stay at Oneida Middle School when
Schenectady school officials wanted to transfer the terribly overweight teenager to a
school that had an elevator.
His mother helped him fight that battle. But last Saturday, the 16-year-old lost the fight
for his life.
Casey weighed 580 pounds when he died in his sleep. The medical examiner ruled that morbid
obesity was partially to blame.
"I couldn't do anything,'' said Sheila Saleh, 44, Casey's mother. "If it were up to me,
I'd lose weight but I couldn't do it'' for him.
Others disagreed. When Casey was 10, a Family Court judge saw his condition as a sign of
parental neglect and wanted to put the boy in foster care. At 12, a doctor suggested
stomach surgery.
Specialists poked and prodded the boy in search of the medical reason for his condition
but always found none. Sheila said obesity runs in her family.
Sheila has kept meticulous records of her son's doctor visits in several black filing
cabinets in her living room. In 1997, when Schenectady school officials wanted to transfer
Casey to Mont Pleasant, a yellowed piece of paper shows that he visited a doctor 47 times
that year.
At Oneida, Casey labored to take the stairs between classes, but school officials were
concerned that they might be liable should he injure himself on school property, according
to Sheila. She asked the county Human Rights Commission to help her keep Casey at Oneida,
and eventually school officials relented.
"There's no reason to kick a kid out because he can't make it up the steps -- that's
discrimination.''
Her son loved computers, Sheila said, taking training courses at Schenectady High School.
He also took advanced level psychology classes and was torn between working in computers
or becoming a psychologist. He wrote poetry in his spare time.
Sheila said she didn't keep junk food in the house and served her sons regular-size
portions of food. But she said Casey could eat a whole loaf of bread or a box of cereal
after she went to sleep.
His classmates accepted him for who he was.
Casey had a younger brother, Jason, 13 and another brother, Matthew, 12.
Casey recently took college entrance exams and had sent away for college brochures. He and
his mother were planning for his future.
"Like a miracle, I expected him to lose the weight. I don't know when, or how,'' she said.
mil...@mail.com
>
> "I couldn't do anything,'' said Sheila Saleh, 44, Casey's mother.
Usually people who "couldn't do anything" don't.
> "If it were up to me,
> I'd lose weight but I couldn't do it'' for him.
As a mother, it *was* up to her. As a mother of a legal dependent, she *could* do it for him.
>
> Sheila said obesity runs in her family.
Are the other children obese?
>
>
> Sheila has kept meticulous records of her son's doctor visits in several black filing
> cabinets in her living room.
Did Sheila keep meticulous records of her son's eating habits? Did she control her son's
eating? Is Sheila's compulsive ratpacking similar to her son's compulsive eating? Does
ratpacking "run in the family" too?
> In 1997, when Schenectady school officials wanted to transfer
> Casey to Mont Pleasant, a yellowed piece of paper shows that he visited a doctor 47 times
> that year.
Not much help if the son visited a pizzeria 47 times too. Does Sheila like yellowed pieces of
paper? What about a white piece of paper with the latest diet on it?
>
>
> Her son loved computers, Sheila said,
Maybe he should have loved sports instead. Obesity and and a sedentary life don't go too well
together.
> He wrote poetry in his spare time.
That's okay for a consumptive like John Keats, but the son wasn't consumptive but obese.
Computers + writing poetry doesn't give the child much chance for exercise. The only exercise
he probably got was chewing. And obese people rarely chew, they just swallow. So, really,
the son may have had the best exercised esophagus in his percentile.
>
>
> Sheila said she didn't keep junk food in the house and served her sons regular-size
> portions of food. But she said Casey could eat a whole loaf of bread or a box of cereal
> after she went to sleep.
So what is Sheila saying? She doesn't have control over her son? Or she renounces control
after certain hours, like business closed after 6? Parenting is a 24-hour business. Besides,
what is the mother doing serving her son "regular-size portions" if he's so obese? If she's
not willing to serve him less than normal at the dinner table, it's no wonder the boy thinks
his appetite is normal and eats a whole loaf of bread after Sheila goes to sleep.
>
> "Like a miracle, I expected him to lose the weight.
Like a miracle, you expected him to live to an old age at his weight level too. Miracles
begin with human initiative. D-day was a miracle, but many people sacrificed their lives to
effect it.
> I don't know when, or how,'' she said.
There's your problem right there. You *should* have known when and you should have known
how. When? NOW. How? Eat less, eat much less; exercise; move around; an exercise program,
8 hours if necessary. Weight is full-time; therefore, the cure must be full-time too. That
doesn't mean it shouldn't be done in a pleasant way. I'm not advocating military maneuvers
here. But if a child is diabetic, the regime (diet, hygiene, etc.) must match the symptoms;
if a child is overweight and if 8 hours is what it takes, then you use 8 hours. Forget
computers for now; forget poetry. That can come later, after the weight reduction.
AgonyInBlk
Essentially, a story of reprehensible parenting to the Nth degree, but some
things I wanted to comment upon anyway.
>Sheila Saleh said Saturday any mother in her position would have thrown in
>the towel long ago.>>
Really? That's how she expects other parents to react, eh? To throw in the
towel early on a battle to save their child's life? Hopefully, her surviving
children are removed from her "care" permanently. (If ever there was a looser
use of the word, I'm at a loss to find it...)
>Saleh, whose 16-year-old son Casey died last Saturday, said that she has lost
>track of the
>number of times the County Department of Social Services unit has tried to
>take her
>children away during the last 10 years because they have weight problems.
Unfortunately, I have to place some blame on the CDSS because they didn't
succeed. Here was a child who clearly should've been removed from this woman's
"care" (boy that hurts to type) long ago.
>Edward Bruhn, director of Schenectady's DSS said Saturday that his agency was
>involved
>with the Salehs for the last decade, but only to help.
Hmnnn...Gee, Ed, ya failed. Miserably. Helping would have been to go to the mat
with this woman and get the kid out of there. You blew it.
>Casey, who, Sheila Saleh said, cared little about his health, weighed
>approximately 580
>pounds at the time of his death. Saleh and her other sons, Jason, 13, and
>Matthew, 12, are
>also severely overweight.
Casey was a minor. If he were diabetic and didn't want to take shots, it would
have been *her* responsibility to make sure he did. That's part of being a
parent. At 580 pounds, unable to traverse the school stairs with ease and being
a risk to his own safety and those around him, he was clearly being neglected.
It's not like you can hide being 425 plus pounds overweight.
>"My whole family is like this," Saleh said.>>
Luckily for the survivors, they may not have to be a part of her family for
long.
>Asked if she has thought about taking drastic measures such as putting her
>sons on
>all-liquid diets to help them lose weight, Saleh said, "What am I supposed to
>do, not feed
>'em?"
Perhaps the most disgusting quote I've read on here in a non-J10 thread in
months. The attitude and irresponsibility behind a statement like this is
stomach-churning.
>Casey rarely left his seat in front of the family's computer. Towards the
>end, she said,
>he wouldn't even leave the computer to use the bathroom.
So, rather than intervene, she would clean for him, and allow him to wallow in
front of the box, even sleeping there. This woman doesn't seem fit to care for
a goldfish much less a child(ren).
>She was consistently cleaning up after her son, Saleh said, and she sees no
>reason for the
>DSS to "harass" her the way it has.
Hopefully, the local law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor will be the
next ones in line for "harassment" when they bring charges of negligence and
child abuse against her. As well, the CDSS can *really* drop the hammer on her
by removing the surviving children and hopefully, saving their lives from
similar fates.
>"We never pursued getting custody of her son," Bruhn said. "A number of
>reports were made
>from the school system. Our investigations showed that she was not abusive or
>neglectful.
Not abusive or neglectful? Sorry, IMO allowing your child to weigh more than my
motorcycle, to get to a stage where he could not traverse steps well enough not
to be considered a danger to himself, and to essentially eat himself to death
is both abusive *and* neglectful.
As well, the fact that she *assisted* in trying to keep the boy from being
brought to another school where facilities were available for him to better be
able to cope with the "challenges" of stairs, disgusts me. What a minor in your
household might want and what's in his/her/their best interests aren't
necessarily 100% compatible. Claiming he was being "discriminated" against
because the school officials feared he was a danger to himself is ridiculous.
As well, if the stairs were anything like they were at my high school, I can't
help but think that school officials were considering what would happen not
only to Casey, but any students behind him if he were to fall on those steps.
Can you imagine 580 lbs. rolling down a dozen steps during the minutes between
classes? I've got the image of a refrigerator wearing sneakers (filled with
cinder blocks) tumbling down the dozen stairs our high school had, before a
landing led to another twelve or so steps. The word that comes to mind is
"carnage."
I really hope those other two kids get some medical attention and some help,
and that Sheila Saleh gets some jail time. Several years worth.
Best,
JM
___________________________________________
The Nightmare never ends...
AGONY IN BLACK
http://www.chantingmonks.com
Come worship at the new house of horrors
___________________________________________
Lyrker
cardio-respiratory
> arrest and acute congestive heart failure brought on by "morbid obesity."
Seems to me that this woman should've had custody of the 7-year-old who was
starved to death and sent her son to live with -that- family.
A child should never die due to morbid obesity or starvation when parents'
only reason was 'we didn't know what to do'. I do wonder if her other two
children will stop eating as much now that they've seen their brother die
from it...
Teresa
At least this kid got to die in peace, at home
with his mommy. Thank God the social services
people didn't take him away like Anamarie in
New Mexico, right?
Teresa (with heavy doses of sarcasm)
ImNot911
You probably won't get many replies to this post, Teresa. I wonder if this boy
weighed 120 lbs when he was 3. I'll bet his mother gets a monthly check for
being a big fat woman with a bunch of big fat children.
JoAnn
Maggie
>
>>What is everyone all upset about?
>>At least this kid got to die in peace, at home
>>with his mommy. Thank God the social services
>>people didn't take him away like Anamarie in
>>New Mexico, right?
>>
>>Teresa (with heavy doses of sarcasm)
>>
***You'll be sorry to hear, teresa, that social services will be returning
Anamarie to her mom later today. From the AP:
November 9, 2000
Obese Girl To Go Home Friday
An overweight 3-year-old girl taken into state custody was to return
home to her parents Friday afternoon.
Anamarie Martinez-Regino was taken away from her parents Aug. 25 and
placed in state foster care amid allegations of medical neglect. At the time,
she weighed 120 pounds and was 3 1/2 feet tall.
State officials claimed her parents, Adela Martinez and Miguel Regino,
were not providing the special diet and exercise the girl required. The parents
denied all the allegations.
An agreement was reached last month that the child be reunited with her
parents. The reunion was schedule for Friday afternoon at her home, a source
close to the case said Thursday evening.
Children, Youth and Families Department attorneys filed a brief this
week with the state Supreme Court arguing that Children's Court Presiding Judge
Tommy Jewell's gag order should remain in effect to protect Anamarie and keep
more information about her case from leaking out.
They said school for Anamarie will be dramatically different from the
experience of other children because the media has reported "intimate details
of her struggle."
"None of us is going to accompany A.M. (Anamarie Martinez) to her first
day of school, but she will have to face all of her classmates and teacher who
now know intimate details of her struggle," said CYFD General Counsel Diane
Garrity and attorneys Daniel J. Pearlman and Peter Klages.
Similar arguments were made by Anamarie's court-appointed guardian, who
claims the girl's story could have been told more accurately and completely if
news media outlets had not attached her name to it.
By naming her, news media forced the state to follow confidentiality
laws, which were enacted to protect children, the state attorneys said. Thus,
state officials could provide no information about how the case was handled and
why, which is the very information the media have argued the public has a right
to know.
The arguments came in response to media attempts to get the gag order
lifted by the Supreme Court. The media contend Jewell improperly imposed the
gag order and that it violates Anamarie's mother's constitutional rights.
The mother's attorney, Troy Prichard, has said in an affidavit filed
with the high court that she feels stifled by the gag order and wants to talk
about the custody case to help others in a similar situation.
But the guardian ad litem, Kari Converse, said she believes Anamarie's
mother, Adela Martinez, has changed her mind and now agrees that the gag order
should stand.
"Originally, the parents were willing to speak to the press and did
disclose confidential information, perceiving it was in their best interest.
This was not in the child's best interest," Converse said.
Attorney Marty Esquivel — representing The Associated Press, The
Albuquerque Journal, The Albuquerque Tribune, KOAT-Channel 7 and KRQE-Channel
13 — wants a full Supreme Court hearing on the gag order. The court
said recently it is still considering whether to have a hearing and has asked
all parties to respond to Esquivel's request for a hearing.
Maggie
"Pretty smart campaign for a dumb guy."--Newsweek on George W.
Teresa
> Anamarie to her mom later today. From the AP:
>
> November 9, 2000
>
>
> Obese Girl To Go Home Friday
> An overweight 3-year-old girl taken into state custody was to return
> home to her parents Friday afternoon.
> Maggie
No, Maggie, I'm not really sorry to hear that she'll
be returned to her parents. I'm sure she'll be much
happier back home. I just hope that Mom and Dad
have learned how to provide for her without endangering
her very life like they did before she was taken.
Teresa (I wonder how much she weighs now)
