DocumentCode :
21911
Title :
Affluenza [Ethically Speaking]
Author :
Haupt, Randy L.
Author_Institution :
Electrical Eng. and Computer Science, Colorado School of Mines, Brown Building W350B, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401 USA
Volume :
56
Issue :
1
fYear :
2014
fDate :
Feb. 2014
Firstpage :
225
Lastpage :
225
Abstract :
It´s affluenza season. Did you get your vaccination yet? Affluenza infects more people than you think. Statistics dramatically understate the epidemic. There was a devastating case in Texas that killed four people (http://www.forbes.com/sites/dalearcher/2013/12/16/the-affluenza-epidemic/). A 16-year-old boy from a rich family was drunk from drinking beer he stole from a Wal-Mart store when he drove his vehicle into four people and killed them. He confessed to intoxication manslaughter and was found guilty. The evidence to convict the boy was overwhelming. During the sentencing, a psychologist testifed that the boy suffered from affluenza. Affluenza infects children of wealthy families. Symptoms include a sense of entitlement and irre sponsibility. The infected make excuses for poor behavior because parents have not set proper boundaries. The term affluenza originated in the 1970s by blending the words ¿¿affluent¿¿ and ¿¿influenza¿¿ (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/affluenza). Rather than giving him the maximum 20-year prison sentence prosecutors were seeking, the judge gave him 10 years of probation. His harsh sentence requires therapy at a treatment facility in California, for which his parents will reportedly pay more than $450,000 a year. Will health insurance cover that?
Keywords :
Economics; Ethics;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
1045-9243
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/MAP.2014.6821787
Filename :
6821787
Link To Document :
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