Asshole of the Year.. I nominate this guy

[SoCalDem]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36694847/ns/health-more_health_news/

Ex-husband won't allow visits, wants financial support from her

updated 1:01 p.m. PT, Wed., April 21, 2010

LOS ANGELES - A mother who is unable to move or speak — and possibly to understand — is the focus of an unusual, emotional court case to decide if she has visitation rights with her 3-year-old triplets. A trial is set to start next month after a Los Angeles County judge on Tuesday ruled the parents of Abbie Dorn can fight for their daughter's right to see her children. "They're not going to parent," Superior Court Judge Rudolph A. Diaz said. "They only want a right of visitation. They have the right to pursue that."

Dorn, 34, gave birth to a girl, Esti, and boys Reuvi and Yossi in 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She suffered brain damage from complications of blood loss after a doctor nicked her uterus during delivery, according to a malpractice lawsuit that was settled for nearly $8 million. Dorn was left unable to move, talk, eat or drink, and now lives with her parents, Susan and Paul Cohen, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She receives hours of daily therapy at a cost of about $33,000 a month, funded by the malpractice settlement. She and her husband, Dan Dorn, divorced, and he lives with the triplets in Los Angeles. He has refused to allow the children to see their mother, arguing that a visit would be too traumatic for the youngsters.

snip

Father wants financial support from ex-wife
Dan Dorn is seeking child support from his ex-wife, with the trial on support, custody, visitation and other issues scheduled for May 13.

snip

Dan Dorn contends his ex-wife is in a vegetative state and is incompetent to have visitation rights. The Cohens, who are their daughter's conservators, say their daughter communicates with them by blinking in answer to questions.

snip

"Abbie is alive. She is entitled to pursue visitation," the attorney argued. "If she is denied the opportunity, she is denied equal protection under the law."

[SKKY]

1. He certainly gets my vote.

What a prick.

[SoCalDem]

2. 3 years old is old enough for these little kids to at least SEE their Mom

I don;t think it would be traumatizing at all.

Growing up UNABLE to see her or to even know about it WILL traumatize them later on..

and it;s keeping them away from grandparents.

[ejpoeta]

3. so she suffered this terrible debilitating thing while giving birth and she doesn't even get to SEE

the kids!! i don't think it would be hard for the kids if they are used to seeing her that way. if she's ALWAYS been that way. she is there inside and it has to be awful for her to not have her kids or be able to be their mom. he doesn't want her to see the kids AND he wants child support from a woman who can't move. nice one. i hope he learns all about karma.

[hobbit709]

4. He's definitely a contender.

He wants his grubby paws on that $8 mill. That's why he wants support

[malaise]

14. Even more important

ReTHUGS would have prevented her family from collecting re medical malpractice.

[hobbit709]

5. Just noticed the unrec troll has struck.

[SoCalDem]

6. Our old pal Uggo, just cannot resist

Hi Uggo.. you chicken-shit little driveby coward:)

nothing personal, you understand :rofl:

Uggo in its dorm room





Uggo's avatar & motto

[ret5hd]

8. Unrecc'd for whining childishly about unrec.

[SoCalDem]

9. whatever

:rofl:

[TheOther95Percent]

16. Love the blind kitten

And Dorn's a definite contender. Without the mom having visitation rights, the grandparents aren't likely to be able to see the kids either.

[Lerkfish]

11. as if you weren't going to unrec anyways.

LOL

but now you get to unrec and get all self-righeous about it.

[babylonsister]

7. I cannot even fathom this coldheartedness. He wins, hands down.

:grr:

[unblock]

10. the law is all about what's in the best interest of the children, not the parents

one could argue that he's being a jerk to his wife by denying her the chance to see her kids, assuming she is able to understand that.

however, he at least is making the proper form of argument, which is whether or not such a visit is in the children's best interests.

personally, i would argue that it IS in their interest to visit their mother. i have a 3-year old and if i can bear to imagine my wife in a near vegetative state, i think it more beneficial to my son to at least see his mommy. i would try to explain the situation as best i could.

but if i thought it would harm mini-unblock, i would not do it, even if i thought it would hurt mrs. unblock. legally and morally, kids come first.

so i don't see him as a jerk, just a dad who is merely in error.

[Stevenmarc]

12. And the knees jerk

From that snippet of information I doubt anyone here is qualified to make an assessment of asshole'edness. Certainly no one here has the slightest clue on the childrens ability to to deal with this situation that decision is best left up to the custodial parent until a court says otherwise.

Personally I can't blame a father of 3 young children for divorcing his wife under these circumstances especially with the health-care situation, in this country, it was in the best interest of the family to financially separate. With that said should he be going after her settlement, well here again we don't have the information to make that assessment, if in the course of coming up with a settlement figure the children were part of that calculation then yes he has a right to ask for support, if it wasn't well good luck with that.

[hobbit709]

13. There is often a wide gap between legal and ethical.

The divorce was probably for financial reasons. That $8 mil covers about 20 years at the $33K/mo expenses, assuming she lives that long.
It's the idea of demanding support money from someone in that condition that rankles me. Legal-probably, Moral and ethical-highly questionable.

[SoCalDem]

17. Yep.. the time to go after money for the support of the babies (with no Mom) was in court

when the original lawsuit was litigated.. not to go after the money needed to care for Mom.. She;s the injured party here..

Those babies will grow up fine (although deprived of their Mom) and Dad will be okay too..even though he's financially struggling...many women end up raising 3 kids on their own, with little or no support from a Dad..and on lower wages to boot..

This dad needs to suck it up and perhaps a child psychologist would be the one to consult about seeing their mom or not..

[havocmom]

19. Yep. But logic and calm thought seldom win over emotional knees

[BlueIris]

15. The only bigger asshole

will make himself visible in this thread.

[Javaman]

18. After reading the entire article...

I don't think the issue is all that clear cut.

this is a similar version of the terry schiazo chase.

Until an impartial party can determine the mental state of the mom, the issue is still up in the air.

I do believe this does have elements of the grandparents wanting visiting rights, but again, until a full investigation into the womans cognitive state can be determined, it's all he said she said.

There is also nothing in the article that states that the father is financially able to care for the children on his own. It just states that he wants child support and since his is currently the one who has to support the kids on his salary. We don't know how much he makes, we don't know the line of work he is in.

And extrapolating; there seems to be a bit of a double standard going on here. Suppose it was the father in the bed who got the 8 million dollar settlement and the mom wanted child support? Would we be calling her an "asshole"?

It cuts both ways folks and until there is more information, I choose not to vilify anyone.

[newtothegame]

20. A doctor nicked her uterus and that's $8m malpractice? Did he do it on purpose or something?

:shrug:

[TexasObserver]

21. Which part don't you understand?

No malpractice case requires a showing that the doctor did it on purpose. The harm is what determines the $8 million, not your personal sense of outrage or lack thereof.

" ... suffered brain damage from complications of blood loss after a doctor nicked her uterus during delivery."