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Nothing but a bizarre tragedy in this bathroom story
By Gary | March 13, 2008
Every cable TV channel, local news outlet, and print outlet with the opportunity has done something with this story about the woman who lived in her bathroom for two years.
And almost all of the headlines I've seen have gotten the story WRONG. Headline writers (I used to be one) love to do clever or spectacular headlines, because the nature of a good headline is to 1) inform, and, 2) grab readers'/viewers' attention. Unfortunately, too many who wrote the headline on this story got the attention-grabber, but missed the information part.
Most of the headlines I've seen today for online reports say she was sitting on a toilet for two years. Wrong. She LIVED IN the bathroom almost exclusively for two years, or about two years. More detailed stories than the one I linked to above indicate she was on the toilet probably for a month or more, and the toilet had to be surgically removed.
My primary question is not related to the toilet details. My primary question would be this: How in the world could her boyfriend have allowed this to happen without calling for help. The woman should have been given psychiatric help, voluntary or involuntary committal in a mental institution, hospitalization -- something. That should have been done long before she spent so much time in the bathroom, and certainly long before the stool seat became embedded in her flesh.
Nasty stuff. Someone somewhere somehow should have prevented or quickly resolved the issue. It shocks me, hopefully it shocks everyone who heard the story. Life should be more and should be better for all of us.
What can you and I do today to take time to help someone take more pleasure in life?
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Topics: Odd News |