Eleven days into her son's life, Bowen-Wright and her mother were observed pouring milk her son didn't finish and lied to medical professionals that her son had finished his bottle. After that incident, an eight-year cycle began of Bowen-Wright seeing multiple doctors to seek medical treatment and lie about her son's condition and medical history.
The compliant was placed in hospice when he was 5 years old. He has undergone multiple medical examinations, procedures, surgeries, and was placed on feeding tubes and central line tubes. Bowen-Wright's son developed life-threatening blood infections on two separate accounts.
As a result of this, the compliant has been placed into a foster home and it has been determined that he does not have any current medical conditions. Although he he does not have any current medical problems, he has suffered bodily injury from blood infections and radiation exposure; as well as "serious mental impairment."
Questions:
- Do you think Bowen-Wright should be given a longer sentence? Why or why not?
- Are Bowen-Wright's actions justified? Why or why not?
- How do you think Bowen-Wright's actions will affect her son physically and mentally after all of the mental procedures and surgeries imposed upon him?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your second question, I believe there is absolutely no justification for Bowen-Wright's actions. No mother should put their child under a medical procedure unless there is a legitimate health concern. In this case, Bowen-Wright has been intentionally neglecting the health of her child by malnourishing him and framing her son's health as a legitimate health concern when it is her own fault. No child should ever have to endure a surgery, let alone thirteen of them that are absolutely unnecessary knowing that the child has no medical problems. This just emphasizes how neglectful Bowen-Wright is towards her child so much so that even medical professionals proceeded to carry thirteen major surgeries on her son.
ReplyDeleteEven though everything Bowen-Wright did to her son was completely unethical, I don’t think her prison sentence should be longer, because it seems like she has some sort of mental disorder, so I would actually say that her sentence should be shorter, so she could have more time to treat and have a professional help her with her mental state. However, I don’t think she should be able to have her son because she is not in a state of mind where she can take care of another being. Her actions are not justified at all, and I am still confused as to why she did this because it just seems like it is a lot of extra money, time, and effort, and she didn’t get anything out of it. Because of what she has done, her son won’t have a mother and will have a lot of baggage from going through unneeded surgeries.
ReplyDeleteI do think that Bowen-Wright should get a longer sentence. I see her actions as a sophisticated form of child abuse, and it should be punished. Putting a child under unnecessary surgeries is not a joke, and she put her child under it for 13 times, more than the years of his life. There's no justification for this. Whether it was done as a mistake or not, what the mother did should be punished with many years in prison. Her actions will affect the child physically, and it already is. He's developed life-threatening blood infections and I'm guessing his body will somehow keep having more difficulties functioning well after all those medical procedures. It's also very likely that the child will also develop psychological difficulties, it makes sense because after finding out that your mother, someone who's supposed to protect you, hasn't been doing this, but rather, has been harming you, you will develop psychological problems like Pistanthrophobia, which is the term to the difficulty of trusting others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments regarding the fact that Bowen-Wright's actions were not justified. She put her child's needs after hers and made him go through countless medical procedures that no child his age should have to go through, especially with no reason. Her actions impacted the rest of her child's life, as now he is left without a mother and has to deal with the mental repercussions that come along with being abused at a young age. Having to grow up knowing that his own mother put him through unnecessary, harsh medical procedures will be traumatizing. As Pablo stated, he will most likely have difficulty forming relationships because of his inability to trust others (which was caused by his mom). Overall, I'm not sure if she deserves a longer sentence or not because while she neglected the needs of her child and put him through unnecessary harm, as Marisa pointed out, rehabilitation might help her more than prison.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first question, although the actions of Bowen-Wright was by no means ethical or justified, it is hard to say whether or not her sentence should remain the same or be extended. Intentionally putting her son through medical procedures that were clearly avoidable seems strange and suggests that she herself has some kind of mental disability. It also sugguests that she had some sort of care for her child in that she spent the money or possibly took loans in order to accomodate the expenses of each surgery. However that does not compensate or outweigh the terrible consequences that have resulted from her insensitive actions. The most important point was that the child had no medical problems therefore those thirteen surgeries had no reason to take place. This treatment and condition the child has endured and continues to live with will affect him in tremendous ways, however if he develops the determination to move past such adversities, he may very well recover mentally.
ReplyDeleteI believe Bowen-Wright's actions are absolutely wrong, to say the least. There is obviously something wrong with the whole situation because I could not think of any logical reasons in which a mother would put her child through unnecessary medical procedures. I am not familiar with the just sentencing for this type of crime, so it it difficult for me to determine the correct amount of time this woman should be in prison for. I believe all the medical procedures her son was forced to undergo could do nothing but harm his physical and mental well-being. Getting treatment for an issue that is not there only harms the body, not helps it. As for his mental development, not only the procedures could affect it, but also being raised by a woman who's intent was to harm him. This woman is being rightfully punished, but I do think she may being getting off a little easy.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly a disturbing news story, to say the least.
ReplyDelete1. I cannot think of any situation in which Bowen-Wright's actions are excusable. Even if, as Marisa suggests, she has some sort of mental disorder (this would be called Munchausen by proxy after Munchausen syndrome), that does not absolve her of culpability for recklessly endangering the life of her child and wasting most likely hundreds of medical professionals' time and resources. She should have life imprisonment, as anything shorter would allow her to drain society's resources further.
2. No. Need I say more?
3. I certainly can't imagine the prognosis as being good for her son's long-term health, not only mental but physical. I imagine this is deeply traumatizing, and I shudder to think what he would have to go through later in life as a result of his mother's foolish actions.
This situation is very similar to a Hulu series called The Act, which is about and young girl named Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and how her mother intentionally made her appear ill in order to collect money from foundation designed to help sick children. Bowen-Wright could be suffering from the same illness that Gypsy's mother allegedly had; Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, which is when a caregiver makes up or causes an illness in a person under their care. If this is true, she may need extra help aside from being imprisoned. However, I do believe that is not an excuse for the abuse and mistreatment her child has faced at her hand. Bowen-Wright's actions are certainly not justified, because her child will forever be traumatized and confused about why this has happened. I do believe 6 years is not very much time for the horrible actions she has committed, but that people are not always punished to the full extent of the law based on their mental status.
ReplyDeleteBased on Bowen-Wright's horrific actions, it seems like she has a mental illness. Claiming that your child has a genetic disease when he clearly doesn't have one is a sign of delusion, which should warrant an official diagnosis. At the same time, it's shocking that Bowen-Wright was able to convince the medical personnel that her son was seriously ill. If that's the case, stricter testing and diagnosis procedures should be conducted before operating on a minor, as minors have little will of their own if their parents lie. Sadly, there is the likelihood that her son will find it difficult to form relationships or experience painful flashbacks of his abuse, and a lot of warmth and social support is necessary. Regardless of Bowen-Wright goes to a psychiatric hospital or prison, she must be prevented from inflicting further harm to society.
ReplyDeleteBowen-Wright's actions definitely aren't justified, but given that it seems that she has a mental disorder, I think she deserves medical help because this is a seriously disturbing case. I think her child lived a very atypical first few lives of his life, and continuing to live without his mother will definitely have a profound impact on him. I do also think that the hospital carries a large responsibility for not testing thoroughly enough to ensure that his symptoms weren't caused by extraneous factors.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Brown-Weight should serve a longer sentence however I do think that she needs to be put under some type of care or surveillance after she comes out. In addition, the child should not be allowed to return to the mother. Her actions cannot be justified because she is disruption the well being and health of another person. It is hard to understand what her motivations are because she is spending money and time into procedures that may harm her child. But also, why did the doctors perform these 13 procedures, they should have done more research and looked into the child's medical state. If the child visited the doctor over 300 times they should have noticed something sooner.
ReplyDeleteBowen-Right’s actions were cruel and unnecessary by all means, yet it is debatable on whether or not her sentence should be extended or not. I agree with other people that Bowne-Right could possibly have some kind of mental issue that should be handled not by extending her sentence, but rather by providing her with some kind of counseling or help. I do not think that her actions are justified by any means. As a result of her unnecessary actions, her son has suffered traumatic physical injuries as well as mental harm. Her son has essentially been left with this traumatic experiences from the last 10 years of his life that would most likely affect his adult life. He may experience PTSD, and possibly develop mental disorders just from what he’s been through for a majority of his childhood seeing as he had gone through these hardships during a time that is essential to his mental and physical development.
ReplyDeleteI believe that under no circumstances is there justification for Bowen-Wright’s actions. She has been forcing her son to undergo painful and life threatening medical procedures even though he had no legitimate health concern. What she did was a form of abuse for her child, mentally and physically. I agree that Bowen-Wright might have had some form of mental illness that lead her to hurt her child; however, no child should ever have to endure that type of pain for no reason. While her actions were unethical, I believe that her prison sentence should be shorted a little because of her mental illness that she should treat with a medical professional. I only say shortened a little bit because her actions forever damaged the life of her child.
ReplyDeleteI do think Bowen-Wright should have been given a longer sentence. She put her own child at risk for the rest of his life, which would have had an emotional and mental toll on his health. It's hard to see such a life put ahead for her son for her own gain, and he had to undergo surgery which could have been extremely dangerous and damage him for life. As people above suggest, Bowen-Wright may have had a mental illness, to which she should get access to psychiatric help from prison, but it doesn't completely excuse her from her actions and she should still be held accountable.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not Bowen-Wright should be given a longer sentence depends on what her intentions behind lying about her son’s medical history were. Nevertheless, her actions are in no way justified, as it is seriously unethical for someone to knowingly put others through harm. What makes it worse is that Bowen-Wright did that to her own son, so on top of prison time she should be prevented from making any further decisions regarding her son’s health.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence for Bowen-Wright should depend on what the court thinks her intentions were on hiding her sons medical history. Her actions however shouldn't be condoned at all. They are harmfully and severely unethical. No one should harm anyone no matter what the effects may be. The horrible thing that you shouldn't do that to your own son, she could've and should've stopped the health decisions.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if she should be given a longer sentence because no one knows if longer time in jail will somehow fix this mother who clearly has some mental issues. Will locking her up for longer make her son more healthy? Maybe, because he isn’t living with her anymore, but he could also just change his legal guardian. Will locking her up for longer help her heal from her serious disillusionment? I really don’t think it will. I’m pretty sure there are not quality therapists in jail so just keeping her in jail won’t exactly do anything. This brings up the question of what our prison system’s goal is. Should it be to help people, to simply punish them, or both? So there really is no simple answer to should her sentence be longer because it really depends. And to try and respond to were Bowen-Wright’s actions justified, I read the article and a few others, but she really doesn’t explain her reasons. I can’t make the argument that she was or wasn’t justified because no source has explained her intentions. I think that is also a huge issue, this was terrible abuse to her son, but I think she has the right to tell her story too and get the help she needs.
ReplyDeleteLonger time in jail won't help the situation. I think there's no need to give her longer sentence. It is not clear why she hid her son's medical history, she may also be suffering under some mental issues. However, this won't make her actions justified because she caused her son's sufferings for all these years. I think her actions will for sure cause a huge damage to her son's life as he went through so many surgeries and had so many injuries because of this.
ReplyDeleteI think that Bowen-Wrights actions are just plain wrong. I do not believe from her actions that she is fit to be a parent in any capacity. As far as what effect this will have on the son, well it's hard to imagine that this kid will be won't have some residing issues as the result of his mother's actions. As far as her sentence goes, she should be required to attend to psychotherapy, and undergo several screenings to examine if she will be a public safety threat once she is released...
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the girl Gypsy Rose who had a similar experience with her mother, who had an illness which led to this similar behavior. I don’t believe that Bowen-Wright should be given a longer sentence because, similar to Gypsy Rose’s mother, she could have a mental illness that is causing her to behave this way. There is no justification for Bowen-Wright’s actions because no mother should be putting their child through this much unnecessary pain and suffering despite any sort of mental illness. Bowen-Wright’s son is probably going to be deeply traumatized by this, and this will most likely affect his life in the future which is very unfortunate to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThe prison system exists because there are people who endanger themselves and others who can no longer normally be a part of society without endangerment or other corrupt actions, and since Bowen-Wrights posed a huge threat to her son, she deserves to go to jail. However, debating about whether she deserves a longer prison sentence is a completely different question. To commit these acts of endangerment to your own child is unthinkable to most, and there would not even exist a motivation to do so in the first place. Her motivation could come from a mental illness, or a serious misunderstanding of what was best for her son. Because she does not seem to pose a violent threat to society, and her child is under different care, she needs more rehabilitation than simply locking her up. Her motivations remain unclear, and so she should stay in an institution where she could get help in order to better understand what she did wrong and why it was such a bad situation for her child, instead of putting her in jail for longer. The only thing that should be said definitively is that she should, under no condition, be able to assume responsibility for her child again even after jail or another institution. Her son has undergone immense trauma and should be able to move on from such negligence under a guardian that will care for him properly and without negligence. She also abused the medical system, as those resources and time could have gone to patients who needed it. Because of this and the effect she had on her son's long-term mental and physical health, her actions were completely and totally unjustified.
ReplyDelete