Plan B Forum

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:55 pm**

UK toddler treated for alcoholism

March 14, 2011 - 9:59PM

A three-year-old British child has been treated for alcoholism by staff at an NHS hospital.

The unnamed toddler, thought to be the country's youngest alcoholic, was among 13 youngsters aged 12 and under who were diagnosed as alcoholics by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust between 2008 and 2010.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act also showed that the trust admitted more than 70 children aged 13-16 for emergency treatment for alcohol abuse.

The Trust, which runs hospitals in Birmingham, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield, said a further 106 teenagers aged 13 to 16 were treated for addiction to alcohol during the same period.

Health managers declined to give details of the three-year-old's condition due to patient confidentiality regulations.

A spokeswoman for the Trust said: "We treat alcohol abuse very seriously and have specialist teams and experts on hand who are there to treat young patients with alcohol-related problems.

"This enables us to provide the best possible care for our patients."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/uk-toddler- ... 1bumd.html

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:18 am**

Wow, talk about a story with a lot of missing pieces....

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:33 am**

Which pieces would you like Jim?

More info here.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:42 am**

Oh well...let's see...for starters....

How did this happen? How does a three year old get hooked on alcohol? Who provided it? Was it the parents? Are they in custody? How did this come to the attention of health officials? How do you determine that a three year old is an alcoholic?

Seven unanswered questions off the top of my head that would seem really central to this story....

I'll add an eighth one....

Where did the guy who wrote this article learn journalism?

And a ninth....

Where did the editor who passed this on for publication learn journalism?

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:53 am**

Lord Jim wrote:Oh well...let's see...for starters....

How did this happen? How does a three year old get hooked on alcohol?

Same way as the rest of us I suppose?

Lord Jim wrote:Who provided it? Was it the parents? Are they in custody?

One would assume so.

Lord Jim wrote:How did this come to the attention of health officials?

One would assume the toddler was taken to hospital

Lord Jim wrote:How do you determine that a three year old is an alcoholic?

Unable to function, cravings, withdrawal symptoms. (they are human you know

)

Lord Jim wrote:Seven unanswered questions off the top of my head that would seem really central to this story....

I'll add an eighth one....

Where did the guy who wrote this article learn journalism?

And a ninth....

Where did the editor who passed this on for publication learn journalism?

I'm assuming they took the report below and ran it, I don't think that's very unusual, even your beloved Fux is running it after all

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act also showed that the trust admitted more than 70 children aged 13-16 for emergency treatment for alcohol abuse.

The Trust, which runs hospitals in Birmingham, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield, said a further 106 teenagers aged 13 to 16 were treated for addiction to alcohol during the same period.

Health managers declined to give details of the three-year-old's condition due to patient confidentiality regulations.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpres ... 099434056A

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:16 am**

Same way as the rest of us I suppose?

Getting loaded at a party with his friends?

Who provided it? Was it the parents? Are they in custody?

One would assume so.

Why would one assume that? Could have been a neighbor, a family friend, another relative, a babysitter....

And why would who ever the perpetrator was be assumed to be in custody when they don't even tell you who it was?

How do you determine that a three year old is an alcoholic?

Unable to function, cravings, withdrawal symptoms.

Sorry, how do you determine those things in a three year old and attribute them to a pattern of alcohol abuse? Did he share the story of his decline into alcoholism with the doctors?

I'm assuming they took the report below and ran it, I don't think that's very unusual,

Sadly, the state of journalism has declined to such an extent that you're probably right.

Health managers declined to give details of the three-year-old's condition due to patient confidentiality regulations.

This is a blatant case of child abuse. Are child abusers entitled to confidentiality rights too?

I'm sorry, but you're so focused trying to rise to the defense of an Aussie publication that you're not seeing just what a shitty job of journalism this is....

I don't care who wrote it, or where they're from....

The decline of basic journalism is sticking point of mine, (I've commented a number of times on stories that are abysmally written, leaving out even the most fundamental and obviously relevant information) probably this comes from having a father who spent 40 years as a journalist and editor who would be rolling over in his grave if he saw some of the lazy, unprofessional crap that gets passed off for reporting these days.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:23 am**

Ermmm... it was a Brit publication who first published it, I only noticed it in an Aussie one..

I recognise Jim that they have taken a scant piece of information and made a great headline grabber out of it.

However there is little chance of this kids parents being outed by the Hospital from where the report came, as that would mean the kid would be identifiable, breaching confidentiality. Likewise other kids in the "family" would be made vulnerable.

I'm assuming "family" provided, or at least allowed access to, alcohol as it occurred over 6 months, though, as you say it could have been a sibling, or a babysitter looking for peace and quiet. However the parent is ultimately responsible for the child's welfare.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:23 am**

Let's hope the shit diggers of Fleet Street get more info eh?

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:03 am**

health managers can't give out details because of patient confidentiality, obviously as this article has been written someone has leaked a story.

They have said no where that the abusers have not been prosecuted or the child has NOT been taken away from the situation of abuse. Health professionals have a duty of care in the fact had this incident not been reported then they would have been found negligent which has quite obviously not happened!

Shitty journalism or not they have reported the story!

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:09 pm**

I really don't get the "confidentiality" issue here....

I'm not suggesting that the kid's name should be reported, or even where he's from....

Just the basic circumstances surrounding what happened, and whether or not it was reported to the proper authorities....

I have to say the fact that some of you seem to assume that of course, the health authorities must have done so, must reflect a cultural difference....

Most Americans would not take for granted that government bureaucrats do their jobs properly....

We've learned through long experience that this is frequently not the case....

Especially in the area of child abuse, the list over reactions and under reactions by the bureaucrats is quite lengthy....

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:16 pm**

I seem to remember reading about a practice in Europe many, many years ago where small children and babies were given enough liquor to make the sleep well while the parents went out for the evening thus no requiring a baby sitter. I certainly hope that is not the case here as we should be a bit more civilized by now.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:48 pm**

This story appears to be about adolescent alcoholism in a certain area in England, and the 3-year old case being just an example of the problem. The editorial choice of headline is sensational and off topic. Of course, I'm not sure what the point of the story is since there is very little reporting about the overall problem, other than its nice to know the hospital takes this seriously and believes it provides good care to the poor kids. It does provide good fodder for jokes like we didn't get Hi-C Punch like that when I was a kid!

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:56 pm**

I agree LR, the press has spotted an attention grabber, and run with that.

I wonder who demanded the information under the FOI act?

Posted: **Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:43 am**

12-step program for toddlers?

Posted: **Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:57 am**

Hell, they need to learn to walk before they are n an any step project.

I know a bogan couple that have allowed the 2 1/2 year old to drink from their glasses at parties. Many years ago, that would have meant the kid took one sip and then spat the rest out due to the taste. Now with the kiddy-pop drinks available, I resume a larger amount is now being drunk in these " sips".

The kid is doomed.

Posted: **Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:10 pm**

3-year old bodies are very small.

And people who are chronic drinkers have crappy judgment.

Could happen.

They would not appreciate that the amount of alcohol given to a child of that mass which could cause serious harm would be far less than the amount they would drink themselves with no effect.

Ugly, but entirely possible. But this is the kind of lurid singularity which tells us nothing useful in making the world a better place and just sells newspapers (or TV ads) to stupid people. The kind of crap Rupert Murdoch has made his fortune on.

And lying politicians like Reagan used this kind of vivid bullshit to get elected; he invented a genre which did not exist in real life. The 'welfare queen in a Cadillac'.

Its about the DATA people. If there is one instance like this in a whole country does that tell us something about that country? PERSPECTIVE! Stop being unthinking victims to the tabloid press.

yrs,
rubato

Posted: **Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:19 am**

It's the Daily Mail ...

dios!

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:43 pm**

13-16yo's I see at every "open" AA meeting. (OPen means that those who are not alcoholics can attend) The kids are alcoholics, but the parents are not and want to attend the meeting so they opt for the Open meetings. What I am saying is 13yo + alcoholics are not that unusual, and many/most/all are also addicted to some kind of drug. There is CA (cocain Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) but most attend AA as their problem start (and usually ends) with alcohol abuse. Many say that they had no "need" to get high until they started drinking. Stop the drinking, stop the narcotics abuse.

As far as a 3yo becoming an alcoholic in 3 months I find a little hard to believe. Sure, he/she may wnat that drink but maybe only becaused of conditioned response. I think it takes a little longer of drinking time frame to not be able to stop drinking no matter what.

I have found that most, if not all, alcoholics were predisposed to it. That someone in their family (usually more than one) were/are alcoholics and that there is a gene or enzyme or chemical that is passed around families aiding the tendancy toward alcoholism.

Don't know if this family has that trait, but given that they allowed (or encouraged) a 3yo to drink, there is a distinct possibility. Maybe they just got their jolly's watching a 3yo get falling down drunk (beats cable).

ETA
Is this wierd or what, but in a dream I had last night I was holding that bottle in the opening post, nipple and all. don't remember if I drank from it or not[/b]. I the dream I also had a few pints of smirnoff I was trying to hide from friends and family. Been remembering a lot of dreams now with the chantix I'm taking to stop smoking.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:57 pm**

That's very true, I've seen toddlers get so tipsy at parties that they couldn't stand up. I've told about you how my dad and uncle got me drunk when I was about 5 or 6, on a long ride in the truck. That's not usually a regular occurrence that builds a habit though.

Posted: **Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:52 pm**

Parents at pub while child, three, drank lager at home

A three-year-old boy was found drinking from a can of lager while his parents were at the pub, a court has heard.

He was one of five youngsters living amid "shocking" conditions in a house in Blackpool, Lancashire.

Police discovered the house was strewn with dirt, food and lager cans.

Angela Freer, 31, and Christopher Steele, 55, were given suspended sentences at Preston Crown Court after admitting child neglect.

Neighbours alerted the police in September 2009 after they spotted the children swinging from the net curtains.

Inside, officers found four of the children partially-clothed and one was drinking lager from a can.

There were no bed sheets in the children's rooms, no clean clothing, no toilet paper and the house smelled of faeces and urine.

Officers found one boy asleep on a sofa and could not wake him, leading them to believe he was under the influence of alcohol.

The couple were sentenced to 20 weeks' imprisonment for each of the five counts, suspended for two years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-la ... e-13015823

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