Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Serious Danger!

For the last few weeks, I have been going to Occupational Therapy to try to resolve an issue with my right thumb. No big deal, but today, while I was in therapy, a man came into the therapy clinic with his 21 year old daughter, who was confined to a wheel chair, and looked to be suffering from cerebral palsy. At least that was my assumption. But there was something different about her. Her eyes were bright, she was quite attractive, and seemed to be very quiet yet expressive, very intelligent. Yet she was unable to move her arms or legs, hold her head up on her own, or redirect her eyes. She was only able to talk at a whisper.

Anyway, after a few minutes the therapists began to recount her trials and tribulations. It turns out that she had only been in this condition for about 11 months. Back in January, she had taken some Ambien CR to help her sleep. This is over the counter medicine you can buy without a prescription, and it nearly killed her, and has left her wheelchair bound for probably the rest of her life. I didn't hear her whole story, but at one point, her parents were told to prepare for the worst. She was in the ICU, and they were told to say goodbye.

After her father told the story, she made it very clear who was to blame.

"Ambien. Horrible drug." she said.

I'm not a big believer in frivolous lawsuits, but this is definitely one of those times where I'd be lawyering up.

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