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Jo Bridgeman, "Case Note: Criminalising the one who really cared", Feminist Legal Studies VI/2 (1998), forthcoming: Thirteen year old Christina Corrigan died in 1996 from heart failure caused by her obesity (at the time of her death she weighed over 48st). Her mother, Marlene Corrigan, was tried and convicted of child neglect based upon her failure to secure medical treatment for the bedsores covering Christina's body. It is the criminal law which sets the outer limits of acceptable parenting and Marlene was judged to have failed in her responsibilities of care for her daughter. Yet, her failure to ensure that Christina continued to receive medical advice in relation to her weight and her ignorance of the sores covering Christina's body were the result of respecting Christina's wishes. The responsibility which mothers have for ensuring the health of their children includes assessing the extent to which their teenage children possess the necessary skills to make decisions about their health and well-being for themselves. This note argues that a caring perspective exposes the circumstances in which care is provided and reveals that those closest to the child are in the best position to understand their wants and needs and to assess them in making decisions relating to their health and well-being.

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