** Mississippi medic, seriously injured after being hit by truck at July MVA scene, now off ventilator
** Canadian prison ombudsman lobbies to downgrade security risk classification for convicted terrorist who killed US Army medic
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A female Jackson, Mississippi paramedic, severely injured after being hit by a truck at an MVA scene July 31st, is now breathing on her own. That is the word from the Clarion Ledger (August 20) which said American Medical Response practitioner Jennifer Hesselbein, 27, has endured a total of five surgeries so far since the accident. Heeselbein, who came off her ventilator August 16th, was preparing for her wedding during the period when the crash happened. She is being treated at the University of Mississippi surgical intensive care unit for head trauma, broken bones, and a serious eye wound. The patient Hesselbein was assisting died at the scene. The driver of the vehicle that hit her, meanwhile, remains in the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. Robert Lee Howard, Jr., 44, has been charged with aggravated DUI death and aggravated DUI injury.
CANADA NEWS
** A convicted terrorist who killed a US Delta Force combat medic in Afghanistan in 2002 is not a maximum security risk. That, at least, is the opinion of the country’s prison ombudsman who said Omar Khadr, who did the deed at age 15, was classified as a minimum risk while housed at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay base. The CBC (August 18) quoted Office of Corrections investigator Ivan Zinger. Zinger said Khadr was being unfairly branded given that he has displayed no problematic behaviour since being returned to Canada to serve out his eight year sentence for killing Sgt. Christopher Speer. Beginning at Millhaven in Ontario, he has since been sent to an Edmonton prison. In reacting to Zinger’s accusations, Minister of Veterans Affairs Steven Blaney dismissed the claim. Blaney said Khadr’s crimes were heinous. He said the Canadian Government would fight against any change in his classification.
