Stephannie White, the mother of 14-year-old Michael White who was found dead in a Gyeongsan sauna last May, currently finds a piece she wrote about the anniversary of her son's death among the most-viewed and most-shared stories on CNN's ireport for the past 24 hours. According to an email from her, if the story stays atop the most-viewed list it will be part of a Mothers' Day special on CNN. Visit the link and share the news.
Also make sure you pass along what's collected on MightieMike.com, including the podcasts. The last updates I've had here were last month when Stephannie toured the Gyeongsan sauna where Mike was found dead under suspicious circumstances, and when she sued the Korean government back in January.
7 comments:
the first link doesnt appear to be working anymore
THIS IS AWESOME! If CNN picks this up for its Mother's Day special something might actually happen in Korea . . .
I really hope a firestorm of press takes off!
J
Is there a Twitter account for this yet?
And the CNN link is not working . . . I'm searching for the story now . . .
J
If she posted it recently, it looks like she deleted the piece. I wonder why...
What do you think happened to the boy at the suana?
From the MightieMike website:
11:02/11:05 staff worker at Sauna see's Mike floating face down in a shallow pool. Thinks (according to different news reports) 1) he is bathing 2) he is joking around -Staff person doesnt check for either situation.
11:20 Staff worker sees Mike is same position. with help from nameless patrons, pulls Mike from the water. (had staff notified Stephannie THEN, Mike would have been recieving CPR at least 16 minutes earlier than he did)
11:28 EMT is called (what happened during those 8 minutes? Smoke break?)
11:36 EMT arrives. Claims they have proper equipment including a defibrillator and breath masks etc.
11:45 Staff at Sauna notify Mike's mom. Neither Corina nor Stephannie saw the defibrillator and there were no defibrillator marks on Mike's chest. There were no electrodes monitoring his condition. EMT didn't get breath mask out until half way to hospital, he never actually used it.
11:50 Teakyeung Medical Center ER declared Mike DOA. This is without a proper examination of Mike's eyes, brain activity, fingernails or core body temperature. If he is face down in the water at 11:02 or 11:05 and a second person checks on him and he is face down in the water at 11:20, then he has been face down in the water for 15 to 18 minutes. If his nose and mouth are both in the water, air is not going to get through.
If that's the situation, that's fifteen minutes without air, and even if he's in the 냉수 tub, half of his body is at room temperature. I don't see how he could be alive or revivable at 11:20. Judging by the rest of the description, it sounds like the EMTs knew that. I'll have to listen to the podcasts to catch more of this, but that's the impression I got from the MightieMike site.
BUT... It sounds like the jimjilbang staff was negligent. In the bath area, where there is hot water and hot saunas and then cold water, people with heart conditions or physical ailments — especially ones they don't know about — can easily succumb to cardiac distress. Something like that happened to someone at my church when I was in high school: an 18 (?) year old who suddenly had a heart attack; had he been alone he would have died.
The jimjilbang must be aware of this potential danger and behave accordingly. Not checking on someone who is face down in the water is negligence. It may very well have been too late for Mike at that point, but we don't know: the fact that they did not check makes them negligent.
Not to disparage the dead, but it appears Mike was a bit overweight and he did have an enlarged heart, according to he autopsy. These can lead to serious problems in the wrong situation.
But the jimjilbang staff is negligent for being in such a business and NOT checking on someone who might be in distress (face down in the water!!!).
Losing a loved one is probably the hardest thing most people will ever face, and my heart goes out to Stephannie White. My grandmother was very distressed that her oldest daughter died, from breast cancer, before her. Children aren't supposed to die before their parents, and it's something that makes it all the harder to move forward.
A punch to the chest can cause tachycardia, arhythmia, and cardiac arrest. No bruise would be left, but even if there was, it could look like CPR had been performed and brusing consistent with CPR was listed on the autopsy.
Not checking on someone who is face down in a pool of water is retarded, but TOTALLY within "usual" behavior in Korea. My guess is that someone hurt the poor boy.
And i have said this many many times in many many situations to people: Please...do not do things overseas that you would not do in your home country. Letting your minor child go to a suana and not be supervised was inexcusable. I dont want to make this about the mother, I feel so bad for her and I know about her loss.
Extapolate this to your behavior in Korea. Do not do things you wouldnt do back home.
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