Daily Archives: September 19, 2015

Sometimes you have to just show them you love them…….

Mom’s “creative” punishment for teen son

Parents around the world are coming to a mother’s defense after a letter detailing a “creative” punishment for her 13-year-old son went viral.

The mom wanted to teach her son, Aaron, a lesson familiar to kids his age: If you want to be treated like an adult, you have to start acting like one.

To make a point, she took away his clothes, comforter, Legos, stuffed animals — even the lightbulbs in his room. If he wanted them back, he’d have to pay: rent: $430; electricity: $116; Internet: $21; food: $150. He would also have daily chores.

“I guess you will need a lesson in independence,” Aaron’s mom, who wants to be referred to as Estella, stated in a Facebook post. “If you decide you would rather be my child again, instead of roommate, we can renegotiate terms.”


A screenshot of the letter that went viral on Facebook.

 ESTELLA HAVISHAM

Estella told CBS News she came up with the punishment after her son walked in the door from school a few weeks ago and told her he didn’t have any homework. Later that night, he ran into her bedroom, searching for colored pencils to “color something for school.”

“That’s it. You are not getting your computer, you’re not going to have access to the TV,” she recalled scolding him. “He sat at the end of my bed, and just started lipping off: ‘You can’t take that away from me. You can’t control me.'”

The 13-year-old, who makes a few bucks here and there from his YouTube channel, fired back at his unemployed mom: “Well, at least one of us is making money!”

Estella, who has been unable to work due to health issues, said that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I wrote the letter to make a point on a lot of different things,” she explained. “First off, you’re my child, you don’t get to talk to me that way. Secondly, you’re treating me more like a roommate — and not a very good roommate.”

When Aaron read the letter, he stormed off, took a long walk and eventually circled back to his mom’s room to apologize for his behavior: “I’m so sorry, mom. I’m really sorry. I was wrong. I was out of line. What can I do to start earning my stuff back?”

As Aaron completed his chores, Estella slowly began giving him his items back, including his precious Internet.

“I know that he knows it wasn’t about making him pay money; it was about having gratitude,” she said.

In the end, Aaron wasn’t the only person who learned a lesson. Estella said she did, too.

“Don’t be afraid to be creative — think outside the box sometimes,” she advises. “That’s where I have the most success.”

More than 160,000 people shared her letter and nearly 14,000 commented.

Some agreed, others disagreed with her parenting tactics. But in the end, both Aaron and Estella received praise.

“We need more parents like you,” one Facebook user commented.

“I wish I were standing next to you. I would hug you sooo tight! And Aaron, kudos to you sir, for being mature enough to work with your mom on this,” another replied.

Despite getting some harsh criticism online, the mom knows she made the right decision.

“My advice: You know your child best, don’t second guess yourself,” she said. “If you’ve made a decision for a consequence for your child, you know that’s the right decision.”

Dipshits of the day: Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York

A drug treating a common parasite that attacks people with weakened immune systems increased in cost 5,000% to $750 per pill.

At a time of heightened attention to the rising cost of prescription drugs, doctors who treat patients with AIDS and cancer are denouncing the new cost to treat a condition that can be life-threatening.

Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill last month, shortly after purchasing the rights to the drug from Impax Laboratories. Turing has exclusive rights to market Daraprim (pyrimethamine), on the market since 1953.

Daraprim fights toxoplasmosis, the second most common food-borne disease, which can easily infect people whose immune systems have been weakened by AIDS, chemotherapy or even pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“This is a tremendous increase,” said Judith Aberg, a spokesperson for the HIV Medicine Association. Even patients with insurance could have trouble affording the medication, she said. That’s because insurance companies often put high-price drugs in the “specialty” category, requiring patients to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. Patients whose insurance plans require them to pay 20% of the cost — a common practice — would shell out $150 a pill.

About 60 million people in the United States may carry the Toxoplasma parasite, according to the CDC. It comes from eating under-cooked meat, cooking with contaminated knives and boards, drinking unclean water and contact with infected cat feces.

Mothers can also pass it to their children during pregnancy and organ transplant patients can get it through an infected donor. Symptoms can feel flu-like, but the parasite attacks the brain and can lead to blindness or brain damage.

A number of doctors and patient advocates recently have spoken out about the rising costs of prescription drugs.

The average cost of brand-name medications rose 13% in 2013, according to a reportfrom the Prime Institute at the University of Minnesota. New cancer drugs now routinely cost more than $100,000 a year. A new brand-name hepatitis drug, Sovaldi, costs $84,000 for a 12-week course of treatment.

“Every week, I’m learning about another drug that has increased in price because of a change in marketing or the distributor,” Aberg said.


USA TODAY

Skyrocketing drug prices leave cures out of reach for some patients

The HIV Medicine Association and Infectious Diseases Society of America wrote Turing about concerns over the new price. Aberg said she worries the increase will prevent hospitals from stocking Daraprim, which could delay patient treatment. There are no alternative brands for pyrimethamine, and other treatments are not strong enough.

The price increase hasn’t yet delayed patient care, said Rima McLeod, medical director at the University of Chicago Toxoplasmosis Center.

“Turing’s people have been helpful every single time,” McLeod said, noting that she has been able to get patients on medication on the day they needed it.

McLeod heads research on toxoplasmosis in Chicago. She said up to 3 billion people in the world are infected with the parasite, which attacks the brain.

“It’s a serious disease and it’s been neglected in this country for a long time, for the most part,” McLeod said.


USA TODAY

Skyrocketing drug prices leave cures out of reach for some patients

It’s critical that the treatment stays readily available, McLeod said.

“It makes the difference between whether people see or don’t see, whether babies grow to live happy lives with families or not,” she said.

A Turing spokesman, Craig Rothenberg, said the company is working with hospitals and providers to get every patient covered. This includes free-of-charge options for uninsured patients and co-pay assistance programs.

Rothenberg defended Daraprim’s price, saying that the company will use the money it makes from sales to further research treatments for toxoplasmosis. They also plan to invest in marketing and education tools to make people more aware of the disease.

“There has been no innovation in dealing with toxoplasmosis,” Rothenberg said. “That has been a long neglect in the patient community.”

We have sadly become a nation in search of the almighty dollar and not caring who get FUCKED in the process.

I constantly see these ads for these Pharmaceuticals on TV and such and they love to try to put out a persona of being so people friendly and concerned about the quality of life. Then this type shit.