KUMAMOTO (Kyodo) A hospital here plans to create a drop box where parents can anonymously leave unwanted babies, hospital officials said Thursday.
Jikei Hospital said it will begin the work to create the drop box as soon as it obtains permission from local public health authorities. The hospital wants to set it up by the end of the year.
Drop boxes for abandoned babies have been introduced in Germany, where they are known as a "babyklappe" (baby flap) or "babyfenster" (baby window) in German. In Italy, they are called "culle per la vita" (cradle for life).
A Jikei Hospital official visited Germany, where they are usually set up at hospitals or social centers, in 2004.
Jikei Hospital said its baby drop box, called "konotori no yurikago" (cradle of storks), will be a boxlike chamber similar to an incubator, accessible from outside the hospital by opening a window. When a baby is dropped off, an alarm will alert nurses.
The hospital plans to introduce the abandoned babies to an adoption system through the local administration, through which there are some 160 couples across the country who have registered with the Okayama Prefectural Medical Association.
The hospital will also post leaflets informing the parents on how to reclaim their children if they have second thoughts.
Hospital director Shoichi Hasuda said the baby box "is an emergency measure and is not aimed at encouraging parents to abandon babies." He said he hopes to "see a reduction in the number of abandoned newborns and unhappy abortions."
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, in fiscal 2004, the number of abortions in the prefecture stood at 5,619, while the nationwide figure came to 301,673. No figures were available on abandoned babies in Japan, which is struggling to find ways to stem a falling birthrate.
This would be the first such facility in Japan, Jikei said. Some institutions in Okayama and Fukuoka prefectures are also eyeing similar initiatives.
Kumamoto Prefectural Police said they will make a judgment based on law and evidence on each case of a baby abandoned if it constitutes a crime.
Article 218 of the Penal Code sets penalties for guardians who have neglected to perform their duties to protect the elderly, infants, disabled or sick people.
The Kumamoto Municipal Government said it has found no problems under medical laws because a hospital can check a baby's health and is there to protect a baby's life.
"When a baby is dropped off, an alarm will alert nurses."
Well thank God. Wouldn't want them just piling on top of each other.
This seems like a not-so-bad idea.I mean, it's sort of protecting the kids. Kind of like in those movies where babies get dropped on random doorsteps! Now Harry Potter an Link can live in one big drop-off!
Two pop-culture references in one post, I'm on fire.
The hospital will also post leaflets informing the parents on how to reclaim their children if they have second thoughts.
... What? As if the whole idea of dropping of your baby in a window wasn't bad enough, now they can change their minds and get their babies back?!
You just know that there's some lazy couple that'll drop their baby off when it makes poopies and then go back in to claim it after hopsital staff changes the diaper.
An anti-rape device invented by a retired anaesthetist in the Free State has appalled men and women - for different reasons.
Jaap Haumann, 72, who farms near the small town of Clocolan, has designed a "killer tampon" which can lop off the end of a would-be rapist's penis.
Dr Haumann said he designed the device after speaking to several rape victims.
"It was clear to me that rape has a devastating impact on the lives of women, physically and especially mentally."
Women found the idea of carrying a 'tampon timebomb' absurd
He said in one instance, a rape victim had refused to leave her house, even nine months after she was raped. Her friends did her shopping for her.
"We all know that South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape in the world. With this device I believe would-be rapists would think twice before attacking a woman."
Dr Haumann said the device is designed to be used in the same way as a tampon. "I designed a hard cylindrical plastic core which contains the spring blade, which slices when pressed against.
"This plastic core is covered by soft material, the same as a real tampon. This is then inserted by the woman. When the rapist attacks the woman and penetration takes place, the point of his penis will touch the section containing the blade and it (the penis), or at least a part of it, is sliced off."
Speaking of the danger of HIV infection from a bleeding rapist, Dr Haumann said because rape was a violent crime, the danger of infection from semen was high in any event.
'Hasn't he got better things to do?'
"But when a woman wears this device she would not resist and would not be damaged internally. So the chances of being infected by the blood from the rapist are, indeed, less."
Dr Haumann said the deterrent value of the device would be immense.
"And this is really the idea. If this device makes rapists think twice about attacking women, we have already achieved something."
But women Saturday Argus spoke to found the idea of carrying a "tampon timebomb" absurd.
"I would be extremely uncomfortable. Again the onus is put on the woman. Men who rape women should be jailed for life. Men should not rape, end of story," said one.
Another said Dr Haumann has obviously had too much free time since retiring. "What kind of person thinks up such an idea? Hasn't he got better things to do?"
Dr Haumann said the device was still in the design stage. "It would cost about R10 to manufacture one such device and I estimate at least a million South African women would wear it," he said.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A woman told police she was overcome by "demons" when she smothered her 9-year-old son and then tried to kill herself by jumping in front of a subway.
Olivia Jean Noel was arrested Tuesday on murder and other charges in the death of Knil Jean Noel after telling police: "I did something terrible to my son."
She told detectives that "demons overtook her" when her son woke up Monday upset that a playmate hadn't come to his family's birthday dinner for him the night before, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
She told detectives she called the boy over to her bed and smothered him with a pillow, Kelly said.
The boy's father was at work at the time, police said. They said Jean Noel warned him during a telephone conversation: "You're going to have to forgive me."
Afterward, Noel said, she was overcome with remorse and threw herself in front of a train. She survived with a broken leg and severed fingers, police said.
The boy's father, Evans Joseph, discovered Knil's body in the family's apartment.
Police said Noel had been treated for depression.
At Knil's school, Montgomery Academy, he was remembered as a bright and sociable student. On the day he died, his classmates had been planning a birthday party for him.
"He was well-loved," said the boy's teacher, William Ebanks.
"Michael Lewis, angry with his gay boyfriend, used the movie, Die Hard with a Vengeance as inspiration. He drugged his boyfriend, Tony Berry, into an almost catatonic state, then dressed him only in a double-sided white board that read Death to all Niggers! On one side, and God Loves the KKK. On the other. Lewis then drove the victim to downtown Harlem and dropped him off. Two minutes later Berry was deceased."
Comments
"When a baby is dropped off, an alarm will alert nurses."
Well thank God. Wouldn't want them just piling on top of each other.
Two pop-culture references in one post, I'm on fire.
Whatever happened to the anonymous basket drop off on a rainy evening. Now that had class.
And Superman was dropped off in a rocketship, which is far cooler than a basket.
The SMB movie is not canon!
... What? As if the whole idea of dropping of your baby in a window wasn't bad enough, now they can change their minds and get their babies back?!
You just know that there's some lazy couple that'll drop their baby off when it makes poopies and then go back in to claim it after hopsital staff changes the diaper.
So I know this is 6 years old, but I think it's fucked up enough to still warrant posting.
Rape Deterrent Horrifies Everybody.
"aghhghghgh!"
"get offa me!!"
SLICE
"oh, it's Halloween. Good Prank, honey!"
"..."
"oh shit."
*Snicker*
Everyone, I would like to direct your attention to an old entry of mine.
Go ahead, it won't bite.
A video of the incident.
This is pretty brutal.
"I HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION!" was particularly funny. Is it worth watching the other five minutes?
I didn't find it funny at all.