Mother of boy killed on sidewalk: 'My head is still spinning'
ALOHA, Ore. – A woman drove her car onto the sidewalk, striking and killing a 17-year-old boy in Aloha on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue spokeswoman.
Karen Eubanks with TVF&R said the driver continued driving for about 60-70 yards before running into a fence and a house.
Paramedics said they tried to save the boy -- later identified as Maxwell McGregor -- but he died at the scene, a block from his front door on the sidewalk.
Police said McGregor was walking north on the west side of the road when he was hit.
Maureen Wheeler of the Beaverton School District said McGregor was an 11th grade student at Health and Science School, a grades 6-12 option school in the district. School district officials will have a tragedy response team in place Wednesday morning to help students and staff.
“I want everyone to know Max was an excellent student,” said Peggy McGregor, the mother of Maxwell. “My head is still spinning.”
Peggy McGregor said her son wanted to work in aviation engineering. She wanted her son to be remembered as someone who never gave her any problems.
Sandie Abbott said she was inside her house when she heard the loud crash. She ran outside and saw the car that had crashed into her porch.
Abbott said the driver, a middle-aged woman, was having a seizure. She tried to comfort the woman for about five minutes until the seizure ended.
"We went out immediately and I knew she was seizing because I've had seizures in the past," Abbott said. "I went up to the car and she was still pushing on the gas. I reached over her and turned the key off. I kept patting her arm, telling her it's going to be alright, what's your name ... stuff like that. Finally, about five minutes later, she came out of it."
The two women talked for about 10 minutes, waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
"She didn't really know what happened," Abbott said. "I didn't want to tell her."
The crash happened on 185th Avenue near Johnson Street around 2:30 p.m., according to Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Bob Ray.
Paramedics also treated the driver. Investigators have yet to officially determine the reason why the driver's vehicle left the road. The completed investigation will be forwarded to the Washington County District Attorney's Office for review, police said.
Traffic was completely stopped at the intersection as deputies investigated the crash.
its sad when things happen like this and if she would had stayed in the hospital or had let someone else drive this 17yr old would had not been killed if it wasn't wasn't for her being out that day driving while having a seizure they need to be more careful what they do or not think about getting into the driver seat because she could had called a taxi cab to take her but her not thinking she cost this boy life shame on her and now she will have to live with it the rest of of her life and hope no one has to see her behind the wheel every again
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All the facts of this event are not stated here in this news report to determine how this will play out. So hopefully more info will soon be released by the Police. I feel so sorry for this young man and his family, what they are going through, Death of a Loved one and a Funeral to prepare for. Â
Here's to hoping if I ever have a bout with seizures that I am intelligent enough to not drive until I know they are under control.
Heres hoping that you lead the perfect life that you expect from others
 @Portlander29 That is why MAX exists. Or the Trimet bus system. Or a friend to drive seizure documented people from point A to point B. But the ethnicists at this hospital - I wonder - what were they thinking - discharging her - behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle? They had to have known. They had to have GREEN LIGHTED her driving awya - with her hospital bracelet still on. That is so expressly and horribly indefensible of any hospital in the year 2012. But this driver also - should have ethically KNOWN BETTER. First and foremost. Really.Â
 @englishdaisy We're just presuming that she went from admission to discharge. But when you're in an ER, you're not in custody. You're technically free to leave at any time, even if it's a bad idea. They make you sign a form saying you are leaving against medical advice, but you're free to walk out at any time. You can also leave without telling anyone -- that's called eloping.
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But you have no idea whether either of those happened or not, and neither do I.
 @englishdaisy  @nonpartisan I agree with nonpartisan and think you & anyone else blaming the hospital for anything at this point (9/12/12 2pm) is out of line. There is nothing in this article to state she was released from the hospital. Unless a patient is under arrest or being restrained in some way, a hospital cannot keep someone without their consent. Also, the only people at this point who know the truth about that is the hospital and the police. HIPAA will not allow release of info to anyone else without the patient's permission. So to jump to any conclusion and lay blame without the truth is irresponsible.
 @englishdaisy All the stories I see says that she was being treated at a hospital. None of them say "discharged". You're reading things into this that may or may not be facts.
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I have worked in an ER and in pre-hospital emergency services. Refusing treatment/leaving against medical advice/elopement is not uncommon in either situation.
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My wife was in the ER a few months ago for chest pain. When we left, they did not take her bracelet off. Having a bracelet on means she was there and nothing more.
 @nonpartisan Ah, nonpartisan - it takes a doctor to discharge a patient. She had on a hospital bracelet - which puts the HOSPITAL at legal and ethical risk. Doctors, NP, PA's as well as nurses are well versed in liability protocol - ESPECIALLY IN REGARD TO HIGH RISK PATIENTS WHO ARE DOCUMENTED TO HAVE BEEN HOSPITALIZED FOR UNCONTROLLED SEIZURE DISORDERS.Â
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Take a deep breath, nonpartisan. It is what it is. The documented path of criminal as well as civil culpability for an entire public being put wrongfully at risk, resulting almost predictably in this case with a innocent young man being wrongfully KILLED - lies with the name of the hospital and the name of the discharging physician - on this woman's hospital bracelet.Â
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This hospital failed this woman too - failed to keep her safe from harming herself by her own actions - as well as this young man. This woman also AGREED to the terms of her hospital discharge - inclusive of agreeing to the full liability, along with the hospital, Â of getting behind the wheel of a car and actually driving away.Â
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Lessons to be learned all around - on how to NOT ethically, morally or legally act. And none of that will bring this innocent young man back to the life he deserved to still be living. No one thought one bit about his safety. His RIGHTS. At all. When the terms of that hospital discharge were being wrongfully dictated. And agreed upon. By hospital and patient.Â
So process this if you can - a young man's life is snuffed out - indefensibly. And why is that?Â
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Because medical ethnicists at a local hospital in the Portland Metropolitan area - determined a woman who had just been hospitalized for seizures should be allowed to drive away from the hospital - and emperil an entire highly populated metropolitan area. Explain that again, please. Â
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Two and two do not add up. But most of all - a person who suffers seizures - and who was just hospitalized for having uncontrollable seizures, should have the reasoning ability to know better than to get behind the wheel of any piece of machinery. Really. And head out on any public roadway.Â
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This simply did not have to occur. And a young man - who had every right to a full life ahead of him. Is no more. An innocent undeserving human being paid with his life - and why was that again?Â
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Senseless. Senseless. SENSELESS. And oh, so cruel an act - against this young man.
 @englishdaisy I went to school with Max, I'm a year below him and knew him casually.  He was awesome.  I didn't talk to him much because of our class differences, but when I did talk to him, I knew we could've been friends.  Just didn't talk enough.  He was a fun kid, we had a more or less similar sense of humor, we played similar video games, he was cool.  But when I heard that he passed yesterday, I couldn't believe it.  And I didn't think there was anyone to blame, because of the lack of credible information that people gave out.  But watching this video and reading these comments, this makes me think.  Be it the fault of her, or the hospital, I can't get much of a grip on the fact that he's gone.  He had plans, he was going to do things. He had dreams.  Thinking that all those are now lost and without a reason hurts me.  I just want something to be done, because even being so far from being a good friend of his, it still pains to think that this was second handedly allowed to happen.
 @uxie22 Hi uxie22,
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First of all, my deepest condolences for your loss. Â The whole incident is tragic for everyone involved -- Max's family, friends, and schoolmates.
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One important thing you need to realize is that we don't have all of the information. Â We don't know what happened at the hospital. Â We don't know what her medical history is. Â As a former EMT, I can tell you that there are many, many causes of seizures. Â She may have had seizures in the past -- or she made not have. Â We don't know, so please don't jump to conclusions.
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Take care of yourself. Â Take care of your fellow students. Â A tragedy like this tends to bring people together. Â Most important is to make sure that you don't bottle up your emotions. Â Make sure you talk and let them out -- to parents, to friends, to a counselor. Â Learn from this -- understand that driving is a very serious activity, and only when you are fully alert and attentive should you be out on the road.
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There are people out there thinking about and praying for you and your classmates. Â We do care. Â Again, please take care of yourself.
You know, I don't know exactly what went down at the hospital, but I am fairly certain she knew she had seizures and could have been halfway intelligent and decided herself not to drive.
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Would you let a drunk who did something like this off the hook because the bar let them leave too?
Life events can be terribly terribly tragic and they are not all explainable or understandable..
This is one of them.
My condolances to the family in their time of grief !
On a side note: why do spokes models exist ?? ..."Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue spokeswoman. Karen Eubanks"
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 It used to be that someone from upper management would be the "talking head" when needed ?? Would make since, in this economy, to cut some "peripheral" positions.
 @sargeratorÂ
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Spokesperson is often the PIO (Public Information Officer) and does a number of activities that relate to the public, one of those is speaking on behalf of the agency.
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It used to be a store would be run by one person, the owner. A farm would have a farmer and some sons. Few of those business models exist anymore as an agency now gets between 100 and 200 requests for information a day. They range from credible news organizations, to bloggers to individual citizens. Some of which can be dealt with quickly, some take more time.
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This means most agencies need someone to be the PIO. Sometimes if the agency is small or the requests are few, this person can also double as someone else. But when they talk in front of cameras or to the news, they are the spokesperson.
I feel so bad for the boy's family. I hope you eventually find peace.
Condolences to family, friends, and community on this preventable tragedy. Â Â
According to the CDC: Â Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among those age 5-34 in the U.S. with over 30,000 people killed each year. In 2005, the lifetime costs of crash-related deaths and injuries among drivers and passengers in the US (not including peds, cyclists, pets) were $70 billion, plus $41 billion in medical and work loss costs related to the toll on victimsâ family and friends. Total cost of crash DEATHS in OR alone is $422 million. Emotional cost to survivors: a lifetime of sorrow. Is driving really worth it?
 @Annee von Borg Driving is as safe as drivers ensure it to be. In this case I I have heard evidence to suggest express negligence on the part of this driver.Â
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Ahnee - you know, we all know unlicensed, unregulated cyclists make indefensible decisions each and every day on the side of our roadways, on our sidewalks, blazing through intersections, on the white line, outside of the white line, Â mowing down pedestrians, etc. So why suggest cycling a bike - and never proving by virtue of passing a licensing process or paying for the privilege of cycling - that cycling is worth it - "really".
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Human negligence occurs as long as human beings freely operate bikes, drive cars, or beat their feet on any road, But you knew all of that.Â
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If that is the case, perhaps people who have seizures should not be allowed to operate motor vehicles on public roadways. If someone has a condition that makes them lose control and that condition can not be 100% controlled then I don't think that is out of order. I know if I had a condition where I didn't know if/when I would seize I would be fine with that rule. My vehicular mobility is not more important than public safety.
 @Annee von BorgÂ
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It's all about the money for you isn't it? Â And, how is this preventable in your eyes? You didn't explain.?!?Â
A lot of very dumb, ignorant comments on this story, even after the updates.
This is so sad, I feel like crying. My heart goes out to this boy's family. I read at the Oregonian that the driver had just been released from the hospital and still had her hospital bracelet on. I feel sorry for her, too, I imagine she'll be devastated when she learns what happened.
 @QuandoQuandoQuando Really? Don't you want to hold the hospital accountable for allowing her to drive away - when someone, anyone else should have been driving her home. Driving her anywhere else, too. Come on. What decision process or lack of being competent to make any - was this woman possessed with - just released from the hospital after suffering from documented uncontrollable seizures.Â
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I want serious answers from the medical ethnicists at the hospital that treated and RELEASED her to drive on the streets of the highly populated Portland Metropolitan area. But most of all - I want accountable from the hospital and from this driver - to this young man's grieving family. No one should be faced with a life SNUFFED out indefensibly and cruelly like this. It simply and unequiovocally have to happen - this boy being visciously mowed down and killed. If ethical people had been COLLECTIVELY thinking.Â
The driver's vehicle left the road because the driver was (supposed to be) in control of it!
I thought people with a history of seizures or epileptic episodes weren't allowed to drive? Has something changed?
 @jpkÂ
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As one who suffers from unexplained seizures if you haven't had a seizure for over year after having one you are allowed to drive again. Personally, I gave up driving myself, because you just never know when an unexplained seizure will occur. It is better to be safe than sorry. For example, my doctor wants to take me off of my seizure medication, because i haven't had one in nearly eight years. However, out of fear of the unknown I refuse to not to be taken off of the medication just because I hate having these unexplained seizures.
 @jallard  @jpk jallard - you really want to go there? When this out of control driver still had her hospital bracelet on - and clearly the medical ethnicists/professionals at the hospital that chose to discharge her - did not have a handle on her being safe to operate any motorized piece of equipment, either.Â
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Jallard. Just think about the facts here. And the LIFE of this young man who was indefensibly slaughtered. He did not have to be a cruel collateral victim of her uncontrolled seizure condition. Not one bit.Â
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But then I hold this woman accountable most of all - she clearly was not thinking about the safety of the public. One bit.Â
 @jpk Why are you all assuming she had a "history of seizures"??
because she still had the hospital bracelet on from having a seizure that day. Even if she hadn't had a single other seizure before that day, having had a prior seizure IS a history of seizures (maybe not a long history, but a history none the less)
 @JMi That wasn't in the original article before the updates and you know that.
@Freckled_Girl @jpk jpk gets exercise by jumping to conclusions.
To all the people passing judgement on the woman who was driving: My sister is 41 years old and just found out recently she has been epileptic her whole life. She never once had a seizure until last year. Also a person can have something else going on medically that cause a one time seizure. But of course, why would you do any research on the subject before opening your moronic mouths?
 @Freckled_Girl If she found out that she was epileptic a year ago,the law states that folks that can , or have had, or will have, seizures,are prohibited from operating a motor vehicle.I think by your own statement. that you have now placed a timeline on your sisters medical history, which will not bode well for her in the future, and shows culpability in this situation
 @Whitehawk To be clear, this woman is not my sister. I think that is how you are interpreting my statement.
 @Whitehawk Check the facts Whitehawk . . .
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http://cms.oregon.gov/odot/dmv/pages/faqs/mandatory_reporting.aspx
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My patient had a loss of consciousness and control. Am I required to report? No, under the mandatory reporting system a person would only be reported if the patient has recurring losses of consciousness which are severe and cannot be controlled. To illustrate, under the previous mandatory âloss of consciousness and controlâ reporting system, a person diagnosed with epileptic seizures would be reported to DMV. Under the new mandatory reporting rules effective statewide June 1, 2004, the person would only be reported if the seizures cannot be controlled.
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My wife is on anti-seizure meds. She hasn't had a seizure for years. She's completely legal to drive. A history of seizures does not automatically make you ineligible to drive.
 @Whitehawk  @Freckled_Girl Well, I guess it is good that she has never driven nor held a driver's license then, eh? But you are incorrect about never driving again after having had seizures. If you go without a seizure within a set amount of time, you are indeed allowed to drive again. When is determined by the state who issued your DL.
 @Freckled_Girl I feel for your sister, and it's honorable of you to stand up for her, but instead of attacking the posters here, maybe you could try expressing compassion for the young man who just lost his life.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this young man. I lost my 18 yo daughter in a pedestrian/car accident. I so feel for them. I wish I could be there for you, even though you dont know me. I wish I could embrace you and let you just cry on my shoulder. There is nothing I could ever say or do at this point to take away the pain. I wish I had something wise and helpful to say but I dont and even if I did it probably wouldnt help. My whole heart goes out to you.
@Liseybee www.angelmoms.com It's a great support group for all of us moms who have had to see our Children gone before us. Please join us. My heart and my hand goes out to you.
There is a big difference between driving legally and driving illegally. Â That is why we are forced to buy uninsured motorist insurance. Â Some people just don't care because nothing is done to punish them. Â So they don't buy insurance or will drive when they shouldn't. Â Until these potential killers are put behind bars, nothing will change.
 @boomer Who the hell said she was uninsured? Way to assume there. She might not have even known she was epileptic or had something else going on that would cause a seizure.
@Freckled_Girl @boomer  the report on KGW says the driver was returning home from the hospital where she was being treated for seizures, so she knew she could have a seziure.
 @englishdaisy Not everyone knows they're going to have a seizure. There are some people that have service animals that have the ability to detect seizure activity even when the patient doesn't know it's going to happen. The animal (I've only heard of dogs) acts in a manner to get the patient to sit down or lie down before the seizure starts. But she may not have known another seizure was on its way.
 @Portlander29 Oh yeah - a life depending on them ethically and morally acting in regard to protecting the public's safety. And they failed to do so - driver and this hospital - equally and inexcusably LEGALLY CULPABLE. Whether or not the intent was criminal it certainly was societally wrong of both parties. And a young man's life was cruelly and horrifically ended as a result.Â
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What were the professionals at the hospital "thinking'? And this woman - she had to have reasonably thought another seizure was imminently going to occur. If she was incapable of reasonably putting two and two together she certainly was not competent to drive. How could she get behind any motorized vehicle - on the way home from the hospital especially?Â
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I'm a little shocked that the hospital allowed her to drive away on her own. I mean, they generally wheel patients to the door after a stay. They had to know she was driving herself. Why did they allow it?Â
Not saying they are to blame because she too knows she had just had seizures and could not possibly have known she would not have another one at any time, but really...it seems that the hospital and the driver were negligent to some extent.
Ew, at 8:07 there is more info on kgw, identity and a little background on driver.
I once had seizures. Â It was due to GMO foods, sugar, alcohol, processed foods, and grains such as wheat, rye, barley, etc.Â
What you have to do is repair your inner neural membrane which gets eroded by the poisons in our lifestyles.Â
But then there are the other type of seizures that one has all their life and that is what I am talking about. When one has that kind of a medical problem, they should not be driving at all.I had a co worker who had 2 seizures in two days at work and no, she never drove.
 @Mazda84 My sister didn't know she was epileptic until she was 40 years old. Not every knows until you're diagnosed after having a seizure.
 @nonpartisan She had it her entire life. Never had a seizure until last year so was never tested for it. I'm not sure how to make that any clearer...
 @Freckled_Girl  @Mazda84 So driving home with her bracelet still on - and beside her on the car seat was probably some discharge paperwork that fully stated the obvious - that she indeed does have a seizure disorder  - what was this woman "thinking"? As well as the publicly accountable doctors or discharging personnel at the hospital that supposedly ethically determined she could be discharged, could drive herself home - and emperil thousands and thousands of innocent persons - not just this young man's life that she cruelly ended. On her way "home" from the hospital.Â
 @Freckled_Girl As someone who had epilepsy as a child and grew out of it . . . how you could have it for 40 years and not know? There's a difference between "having it for 40 years and not knowing" vs "having an onset of epilepsy at 40."