Get well soon, Haleigh Poutre

Haleigh Poutre, the girl in the picture, is fighting for her life in a hospital bed.

Doctors say new tests are needed on a severely beaten 11-year-old girl, who officials said was responding to medical stimuli and breathing on her own a day after Massachusetts' highest court ruled the state had the authority to remove her from life support. The girl has been in a coma for four months and thought to be in an irreversible vegetative state.

It is not a unique story. Many people, both young and old, get severely beaten or just sick and lie comatose on their beds. Some of them die, some of them survive. In case of Haleigh, all but one person have surrendered and agreed that there is no sense to continue the waiting.

And here is the rub - the only person who fought for continuing treatment and life support for Haleigh is her stepfather - the same scumbag who beaten her to near death.

Haleigh's stepfather, Jason Strickland, is charged with beating the girl and could face a murder charge if she dies. He has fought to keep her on life support but lost his appeal Tuesday in the Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts' highest court.

Sometimes one wishes for some of that good old frontier justice.

Anyway, get better soon Haleigh, and let's hope that this vermin gets his justice in jail - this way or the other.