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State Legislature Won’t Pass Common Sense Bill For Grieving Mother To Streamline Notification Process When Family Members Are In Car Crash

State Legislature Won’t Pass Common Sense Bill For Grieving Mother To Streamline Notification Process When Family Members Are In Car Crash

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CALLING ALL TURTLERIDERS! I need your help! As a fellow Turtlerider, I have interacted with many of you in the comment sections. Some of them are of a combative nature, usually the ratchets or ratchet fam featured in the blog, but I realized that most of them are positive, have my back-type comments. So when faced with the desire to help a loved one with something they have been fighting for (for over a decade, mind you) get the support they need to get a bill passed in this back-asswards state, my first thought was: THE TURTLERIDERS!!

Meet my friend Josh.

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Look at that smile. No matter what mood you were in, one of his corny jokes and infamous smiles could turn your frown upside down. April 17th will mark 14 years since his passing, 14 years and a week since I saw that smile in person. And I speak for all his loved ones when I say he is sorely missed.

Joshua was riding shotgun in a friend’s car on a rainy, April night, traveling down “roller coaster road” in Sterling. As someone who had a friend die in a car accident, Josh was vehement about wearing a seatbelt. When he realized the driver’s ’89 piece of shit seatbelts didn’t work, he insisted on riding shotgun, because that’s the kind of guy he was. He would rather put himself in harms way than subject someone else to it to save his own ass. The car hydroplaned, rolled several times, hit a boulder and finally landed, passenger-side first, against a tree. All passengers involved sustained extensive injuries but Joshua’s were by far the worst. He was transported to UMass, admitted to the ICU for brain injuries and placed in a medically induced coma. Because Josh was 20 years old at the time, there is no requirement for the hospital to contact next of kin. He lay on that cold metal table with tubes breathing for him for three hours before a parent of another person involved in the accident contacted his parents. THREE HOURS!

Now I’m no expert but I am an avid reader of medical publications and almost every one I have read suggests that patients in comas are somewhat aware of what is going on. Joshua’s mother, Sharon, believes he knew he was alone and that’s good enough for me. Mothers: please put yourself in her position. How would you feel if your baby, albeit a 20-year-old baby (but they never stop being your baby, right?), was severely injured and all alone in a hospital? I think it’s safe to assume you’d be as pissed as she was and still is.

TurtleLadies and TurtleGents, allow me to introduce to you, Joshua’s Bill. It is currently up for consideration for the THIRD TIME after THIRTEEN years of Sharon’s hard work collecting signatures for petitions, interviewing, meeting with selectmen, and organizing the Forever Our Stars Children’s Memorial Garden at the Reservoir Pines Cemetery. The bill is very simple and so full of common sense that of course the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has stalled it twice. They voted in pay raises for themselves no problem, but that’s none of my business though.

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Joshua’s Bill will call for Emergency Contact information to be put into the system at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and will allow for retrieval of that information via the barcode on the back of every state issued ID. That’s it. The same damn barcode that almost every single packie in the state has a reader for. So it’s cool to make sure you’re of age to buy that 30 rack of Natty’s with money you got from selling your food stamps, but fuck you and your family if you get in a serious accident on the way home. Michigan just passed a similar bill in 2016, with an implementation deadline of sometime in 2017. Hell, even the hot mess Florida already has a website in place where citizen’s can enter their info and officials will contact a designated person, including across state lines, in the event of an emergency. Get it together Massholes!! I mean, this just makes so much sense it physically hurts that it keeps getting denied.

So here’s the favor I’m calling in. Please take two minutes of your time to email this fella:

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Bill Straus. He’s the Representative that currently serves as the Chairman of the Transportation Committee. He’s the one that needs to hear our collective Turtle voices. He doesn’t need the full wrath I know my fellow TurtleLoves can give, just a couple of sentences from as many of you as possible saying you are in support of this bill because you have common sense. Simple legislature, simple request. Yes, this may be important to Joshua’s loved ones but it is beneficial to literally everyone. If you have ever loved someone or have had someone love you, this applies to you. Would you want to find out someone you love is fighting for their life, or have someone you love find out you are hooked up to life support, hours after the fact? Especially if you or that person only had hours left to live? I don’t think anyone in their right mind would answer yes to that. So please, please, please, write an email, share this blog, get as many people as possible involved so that Sharon’s voice for Joshua is finally heard and her wish that no family ever have to suffer through this is fulfilled. Thank you for your time, you awesome, foul-mouthed delights. Never change.

 

 

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13 Comment(s)
  • Niiko
    March 19, 2017 at 5:22 pm

    I think that it’s a great idea to have emergency contact info attached to your license. If you can designate wether you want to be an organ donor or not, you should have the option to register next of kin for the police to notify should anything terrible like this happen.

    • I Hate Stupid People
      March 19, 2017 at 7:26 pm

      The sad thing is people (Dr’s and insurance companies) make money off of someone who is an organ donor. They were probably the driving cause to get the organ donor stamp on your license.

      • UsualSuspect
        UsualSuspect
        March 20, 2017 at 9:19 am

        Organ donation as a money maker? You are a fool. Take good care of your organs, lest the day come when you need one. Go hate yourself oh stupid one.

  • Diane Woods emerson
    Wtf
    March 19, 2017 at 12:31 pm

    In 1984 the paxton police failed to notifyy mom i was in a serious accident and i laid on a back board for 4.5 hrs until i told the hospital to call her because she should have been there. So i am def writing in. Doesnt matter who or how old immed notification needs to happen now in this day of literally everything available in an instant.

  • Ima Jeinyus
    March 19, 2017 at 11:24 am

    I am going to email this to every state rep and senator that I know. This really is common snese and shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This is something every single person should be able to get behind.

  • Chris
    March 18, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Put a note in your wallet that says “in an emergency please call so-and-so.”

    You’re happy, this is done and it didn’t cost any money.

  • True Reality Speaks
    True Reality Speaks
    March 18, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    Apparently, no one in the Legislature has figured out a way to make money off this bill. If there was a way to profit from it, you know the Democrats would make it a law in record speed.

    • bigdaddy
      bigdaddy
      March 19, 2017 at 12:18 pm

      That pretty much sums it up I could contact my so called rep but since I am not on welfare in a union or an illegal alien he doesn’t give a shit

    • Realist
      March 19, 2017 at 5:58 pm

      Um, What about those hypocrite Republicans?

  • itsjustme
    Good idea
    March 18, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    Serious question here. Why is it every time I see my doctor, or any doctor for that matter, any hospital, any urgent care, etc. they always ask for my emergency contact information, if they have no intention of doing anything with it because I’m an adult? I always see on early news articles, usually involving a death, that names are being withheld pending notification of family or next of kin. Is this different because he was still alive, by machines, but still alive.
    I think this is a good idea, but I also wonder, if he (or anyone else in the same circumstance) had their license on them it shouldn’t be hard to find his relatives,even if he doesn’t live with them. Most states have a database of people and where they live or lived (scary but true) it should only take a couple minutes and a few clicks on the computer to find the parents or spouse of someone who can’t relay that information.

    • itsjustme
      Questions
      March 18, 2017 at 6:32 pm

      Serious question here. Why is it every time I see my doctor, or any doctor for that matter, any hospital, any urgent care, etc. they always ask for my emergency contact information, if they have no intention of doing anything with it because I’m an adult? I always see on early news articles, usually involving a death, that names are being withheld pending notification of family or next of kin. Is this different because he was still alive, by machines, but still alive.
      I think this might be a good idea, but I also wonder, if he (or anyone else in the same circumstance) had their license on them it shouldn’t be hard to find his relatives,even if he doesn’t live with them. Most states have a database of people and where they live or lived (scary but true) it should only take a couple minutes and a few clicks on the computer to find the parents or spouse of someone who can’t relay that information.

  • Publius
    March 18, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    Not following what this is supposed to do ? would it not be easier for the police or hospital to call the family ? what of the person does not have a drivers license or like it seems so many doesn’t bother to carry it even when driving ? what special equipment is needed? who maintains it ? what if next of kin is put in the system, say in 1990 when someone gets their license and like registering to vote, they never bother to update it ? do they contact decades old next of kin ? seems it would be easier to look though wallet, pockey book or cell phone and go that route.

    • Jenn
      March 18, 2017 at 10:17 pm

      I’m not sure why this is causing questions. It doesn’t cost money, and if it helps one parent then it’s worth it. It doesn’t cause anyone their time or effort.
      There is a reason a cell phone or piece of paper aren’t always enough. My son and a friend were killed in an accident. The cell phones was smashed in the debris and wallet ruined by the firefighters putting out the car fire. My son was wearing his father’s dog tag, so they were able to contact him. I told tge police where to find the other boys father. I had moved 3 weeks prior, and the registry and post office had the address, but Google did not.
      I found out my son was gone 3 and a half hours after the accident, 2 hours after his death. It haunts me wondering if he knew I wasn’t there.
      I called the police station because I was in shock and didn’t believe the phone call I received from a family member. The police then asked my address and came to the house. The police were amazingly supportive and did everything they could for those boys that night, this is not meant to be against them. I will forever be greatful to police, fire and EMTs for what they did.
      So please, please, if you don’t want to do this for your loved ones, that’s up to you. But as a mom who lost son, he is buried in Reservoir Pines, I know Sharon and she is a wonderful person, I know that this could make a difference in the future.
      I pray that no one else ever has to go through this to find out why they might need it.

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