18 children died of hunger at Tuam mother and baby home
PATRICK COUNIHAN June 15,2014
Details are emerging of the horrific stories behind some of the 796 deaths at the Tuam mother and baby home – where 18 children died of hunger. 12 of the 18 who starved were girls and there is a suspicion that some were mentally retarded. One child wasn’t even given a name by the Bons Secours nuns who ran the Tuam home. The youngest child to die was recorded as just ‘10 minutes old’ while the oldest was eight, a girl who had lived all her life in the home until measles killed her. Bridget Agatha Kenny was two months old when she died as a result of marasmus, child malnutrition, on August 23, 1947. She is described as having been ‘mentally defective.' She was one of 18 children whose cause of death was listed as child malnutrition or the official term “marasmus.” Marasmus is a form of severe malnutrition characterized by energy deficiency. A child with marasmus looks utterly emaciated with ribs protruding. Body weight is reduced to less than 60% of the normal body weight for the age....
The children were crammed into communal nurseries where contagious diseases ran unchecked according to the report.... http://www.irishcentral.com/news/-18-children-died-of-hunger-at-Tuam-mother-and-baby-home.html
