PLYMOUTH – Becky Kekula had all the time dreamed of constructing a household. When she gave beginning to her son, Jackson, in August of 2021, she fell in love at first sight. “I used to be so excited the day I met him,” Becky stated. “I used to be so excited to see what we may do with an addition to our household and all he was going to perform on this planet.”
Becky and her husband, Ryan, each have dwarfism. Jackson was born with it too. Nearly instantly, Jackson began experiencing sleep apnea, one thing Becky stated shouldn’t be unusual in youngsters born with dwarfism.
Jackson would require oxygen across the clock for the primary few months of his life, however he began exhibiting indicators of enchancment. In November of 2021, the Kekulas took Jackson for his first automobile seat check and sleep research at Boston Youngsters’s Hospital. Jackson would find yourself falling brief on the check, however he was in a position to transfer off of respiratory help for a part of his day. He would nonetheless require it to sleep.
Jackson Kekula
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CBS Boston
In February of 2022, the Kekulas would head again to Boston Youngsters’s Hospital for one more automobile seat check and sleep research, of which the household says got here on the suggestion of the staff at BCH.
Just a few hours into the sleep research, Jackson’s oxygen ranges began to drop on the displays. The Kekulas stated the nurse blamed defective tools for a couple of hours, resetting and adjusting the machines periodically. After a couple of hours, the Kekulas declare the nurse lastly checked Jackson for a pulse. He had almost coded. “They have been in a position to revive him and get a pulse,” stated Ryan. “At that time there had been a extreme traumatic mind harm.”
And so started a collection of 12 days only a few can fathom. Jackson had been positioned on life help. His situation was not bettering. “How do we are saying goodbye to our son,” Ryan recalled asking. “Or how can we carry him dwelling and make the perfect of this? It was a choice that we weren’t ready for.”
On March 2, 12 days after they walked in for the sleep research, Jackson Kekula handed away. Becky and Ryan determined the time had come. “We went from doing a routine research in February, to March 2nd saying goodbye, to March third, calling the funeral dwelling,” Becky stated.
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Becky and Ryan Kekula
CBS Boston
The Kekulas filed a lawsuit towards Boston Youngsters’s Hospital for the dealing with of their son’s care. Final month, BCH settled the case for $15 million.
However for Becky and Ryan the lesson, the legacy, of Jackson’s story lies inside all of us opening our minds. “We’re two adults with dwarfism,” stated Becky. “We’re not all the time taken severely on this planet. There may’ve been moments in that hospital the place individuals hadn’t seen individuals like us earlier than they usually did not know ask sure questions.”
Boston Youngsters’s Hospital despatched WBZ-TV an announcement for this report expressing their continued condolences to the Kekulas. The assertion learn:
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“We specific our deepest condolences and apologize to the household for the lack of their son. Following this incident, we instantly stopped all sleep research and commenced a radical assessment of what occurred. We examined our insurance policies, workers coaching, competencies, and all techniques that help sleep lab research, together with scheduling, ordering, triaging, and performing the precise research.
“We recognized and applied a number of enhancements for the way we conduct sleep research, together with a revision of tasks of staff members, hands-on expertise coaching and training for sleep lab workers, enhanced sleep technologist orientation and ongoing coaching, modification of the ordering and triage course of that assesses potential dangers to sufferers, and a assessment of the setting during which testing is carried out. After this assessment and implementation of those enhancements, sleep research have been reinstated in a phased method to make sure affected person security.”
Brandon Truitt
Brandon Truitt joined WBZ-TV in January 2022 after working as a reporter and fill-in anchor at WPRI in Windfall, Rhode Island. Earlier than WPRI, Truitt labored at WNCT in Greenville, North Carolina, the place he started his profession in broadcast journalism.
A prominent Boston-area doctor accused in several lawsuits of sexually assaulting more than 200 former patients was indicted by a grand jury on rape charges.
Dr. Derrick Todd allegedly assaulted two women during examinations in December 2022 and June 2023 at the Charles River Medical Associates in Framingham, Mass., the Middlesex County District Attorney announced Thursday.
Todd, a rheumatologist, appeared in Middlesex Superior Court Friday after he handed himself over to police the previous night.
Dr. Derrick Todd is arraigned in Middlesex County Superior Court after he was indicted on rape charges on Jan. 17, 2025. AP
The two women had either a pelvic exam or pap smear with the doctor when the alleged assault occurred, NBC Boston reported.
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The patients alleged the exams went beyond “normal.”
One of the women endured enough pain for her to scream at Todd to stop but the doctor didn’t listen and continued the exam.
The second patient alleged she didn’t give Todd consent to perform the specific examination but the doctor went ahead despite the rejection, the outlet reported.
Todd pleaded not guilty to the two rape charges.
He was held on a $10,000 bail.
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Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston, where Todd worked for 14 years. Google Maps
A judge ordered Todd to surrender his passport, not have any contact with his alleged victims, and give up all medical licenses.
Claims of abuse from Todd date back to 2010 but only surfaced in 2023 after Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital received anonymous complaints.
Todd is the former chief of clinical rheumatology at the Boston hospital but resigned after 14 years in 2023 when two other physicians questioned the appropriateness of pelvis exams for his rheumatology patients, the Boston Globe reported.
Over 200 of Todd’s former patients accused him of performing unnecessary pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations, and rectal examinations.
The accusers include over 200 women and several men between teenagers and 60-year-olds.
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Attorneys for 180 of the former patients say the two rape charges are just the start of the doctor’s legal battle.
“It’s just the beginning of the criminal case against Dr. Todd, but it does help validate the civil claims that Lubin & Meyer is pursuing on behalf of so many of his former patients,” Attorney William Thompson said. “Fundamentally, it’s about a doctor abusing his position. And taking advantage of patients who put their trust in him for his own personal sexual gratification.”
Over 200 of Todd’s former patients accused him of performing unnecessary pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations, and rectal examinations. LinkedIn
Todd voluntarily ceased his medical practice in Massachusetts in September 2023.
The announcement was made in a letter to the Board of Registration in Medicine.
The class-action lawsuit against Todd also listed the hospital as a defendant for allegedly knowing about the abuse and failing to stop it.
O’shae Brissett, who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in June but hasn’t played professionally since, has reportedly signed an NBA G-League level contract with the Brooklyn Nets G League team, the Long Island Nets.
Bobby Manning was first with the news Friday morning…
Sources tell me Oshae Brissett signed a G-League contract with the Long Island Nets
The 6’7” 26-year-old Brissett, a defensive specialist, will join Long Island having last played for the Boston Celtics as a part of the NBA Championship squad last year.
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In his defining moment of the title run, Brissett was inserted as a small ball center by Boston coach Joe Mazzulla in Game 2 of the Celtics-Pacers conference title series. It was his first playoff minutes, but he played a critical role defensively, picking up three steals and finishing a +15 in his 12 minutes on the court.
“Just his presence, his energy, his athleticism,” Mazzulla said after that game. “Just gave us, I think he had a dunk, got a steal, got us out in transition with a couple [of] rebounds. So just, he plays with such a high level of intensity and energy. It’s big for us.”
In his 55 games with the Celtics in the 2023-24 season, Brissett started just one and played roughly 11.5 minutes per game. He averaged 3.7 points per game, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.8 assists. He shot 44.4% from the field, 27.3% from beyond the arc. He adds yet another NBA veteran presence to the young Long Island Nets team with .
Brissett played three years with the Indiana Pacers, his best year coming in 2021-22 when he played 67 games, 25 starts, averaging 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds.
However, he hasn’t played since the NBA Finals. Brissett, who turned 26 years old in June, declined a $2.5 million dollar player option with Boston at the end of June. He hoped that he could get more by testing the free-agent market. Similarly, the Toronto native dropped out of the Canadian national team, coached by Jordi Fernandez, to focus his free agency. However, offers or at least offers he liked never materialized and he remained a free agent until Friday.
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Brissett’s rebounding and size will give Long Island some added depth, and in Long Island’s case, a potential starter. Brissett always intended to pursue a return to the NBA, and his signing with the Long Island Nets is a first step to getting back to that dream.
Brissett also re-unites with Kendall Brown who had been his Indiana Pacers teammate two years ago.
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