Mother, baby found dead in Millvale apartment (Mom OD, Baby Died of Dehydration)

[Divernan]

29. Neighbor repeatedly heard child crying - did nothing. What about YOU?

There's a valuable lesson here for all of us. We need to keep in closer contact with our family members and neighbors who live alone. And if you hear a child (or anyone) crying, for god's sake, check it out.

When my Mom was elderly and living alone in another city, I checked in by phone with her nearly every day. In addition her neighbors on either side of her house, plus 2 families directly across the street were long time friends who kept an eye out for her. They all had my phone number for an emergency contact. If she had not brought her mail in from her front door mailbox, her longtime postman would have checked on her.

Now I am "elderly" (70 plus) and live alone, as do many of my elderly friends, several cousins
and widowed sister-in-law. We have occasionally and sadly commented to each other our awareness that if we had an accident or serious illness which incapacitated us, it could be weeks before anyone considered checking up on us. Everyone laughs at those "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" commercials. But even those devices are no safeguard if one falls and is unconscious, has a stroke, etc.

I had a miserable cold for about a week this winter, and didn't bother to go outside in terrible weather to get my mail for several days. My longtime mailman, god love him, knocked on my door to make sure I was OK.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the grandson of a woman I know died in his single room at a dorm at the University of Chicago, and it was only after 8 days, when the stench of his decomposing body spread to the hallway outside his room that his body was discovered. http://abc7chicago.com/archive/9434206/

Think about it, please. Is there a family member in your life who lives alone? Can you spare 2 minutes every other day to give them a quick call? Just a "Hi, I'm just checking in. Everything OK? Good. Talk to you again soon." If they're on line, you can quickly check in with them via email/FB/etc.

More from the OP link:

“What hurts me most is that I heard him crying,” said Gonzalez, who lives on the first floor and heard the little boy's cries when he went in and out of the front door of the building.

“If I was closer to the noise, I would have done something. I didn't know. I feel so guilty. I feel so bad,” said Gonzalez, whose apartment is around the corner and down the hall from the front door. “The thought of that little kid running around after she died ... looking for food. That's what I'm upset about. It's such a helpless feeling.”

Dr. Stephen Nelson, a pediatrician who teaches at the Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, said the child probably died of dehydration. It generally takes three to four weeks to starve to death. But someone can die within a week without water, Nelson said. “It's the dehydration that kills you,” he said. He “probably survived at least three to five days, maybe up to a week.”

A brother, Matt Knaus, found the bodies when he went to check on his sister and nephew, Morton said. Knaus did not want to talk to the media Friday night. Kessler and her son lived alone.