Found via Dooce.com
This is an incredibly disturbing story about the horrible neglect of a child. Long, and sad. But it does have a slightly happier ending.
Her name, her mother had said, was Danielle. She was almost 7 years old.
She weighed 46 pounds. She was malnourished and anemic. In the pediatric intensive care unit they tried to feed the girl, but she couldn’t chew or swallow solid food. So they put her on an IV and let her drink from a bottle.
…
She wouldn’t make eye contact. She didn’t react to heat or cold – or pain. The insertion of an IV needle elicited no reaction. She never cried. With a nurse holding her hands, she could stand and walk sideways on her toes, like a crab. She couldn’t talk, didn’t know how to nod yes or no. Once in a while she grunted.
…
Danielle’s was “the most outrageous case of neglect I’ve ever seen.”
