# Girl, 5, chews off all her fingers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 26, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912 "2003-09-26T04:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/21 "2003-09-26T12:24:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Is this pain-insensitivity permanent? Most likely. > [@](#): > > If so, devoting more care and attention to this girl is probably a waste of resources. Such people almost always die before or soon after maturity – without the ability to sense injury, even seemingly trivial damage can quickly become life-threatening. Not true. There are Leprosy therapy and survival programs, which works almost identically. Although this poor section of China may not have one. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/22 "2003-09-26T13:06:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by missing\_link \* > \*\*mmmmh…finger…biscuits > /probably going straight to hell for this one \*\* A brain damaged child mutilates herself - this is some really funny source material. There’s no going to hell. Ignorant people carry hell with them, like uninvited guests bearing sour wine. ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/23 "2003-09-26T14:55:16Z")
Now she can’t even count to 1. Sad. Seriously, just because she can’t feel pain doesn’t mean she’s immune to infection… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/24 "2003-09-26T15:29:30Z")
Beatings would not stop this behavior. They would only cruelly torment a severely impaired child. Nice plan, **cletus**. Might as well beat a child for having diabetes or seizures. Everyone knows if you just beat them enough they’ll stop having those high sugar comas and episodes of convusions. (\<===irony) This type of behavior is **NOT** amenable to such interventions. Other than physically binding her so her hands could _never_ reach her mouth, the only sort of thing that would interrupt such behavior would be to drug her into insensibility or do psychosurgery (lobotomy). QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/25 "2003-09-26T15:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > (\<===irony) Good point. Lest someone think I was joining in on the laugh-riot that is disabled children, I was being ironic as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/26 "2003-09-26T16:02:59Z")
Wow. OCD at its worst. How sad. I don’t think anything can be done, and yes, she’ll probably die young due to infection. How horrible. ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/27 "2003-09-26T17:04:52Z")
I’m thinking that someone is missing something here (besides the kid). If she is not feeling pain then what the HELL is beating her going to do? If she can’t feel pain then why waste the energy? Even if she’s brain damaged there are other adversions they could have used. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/28 "2003-09-26T17:32:59Z")
Wow. That’s a horrible story! One can only hope that she hasn’t started in on her toes yet. She hasn’t has she? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/29 "2003-09-26T21:04:02Z")
First, a guy [cuts off his own tongue and penis in a hallucinogenic haze](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_822069.html?menu=news.latestheadlines), and now this. Gruesome week. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/30 "2003-09-26T22:10:08Z")
[Updated fingers story link](http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,211224,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/31 "2003-09-26T23:01:01Z")
I find it hard to blame her grandparents without knowing more about the situation. It sounds like the poor girl had an obsession – what were the grandparents supposed to do? Muzzle her? Sleep in shifts so that one would always be watching the child? Never stray more than arm’s reach away from her so they could yank her hands away from her mouth at a moment’s notice? Take her to a hospital they could not possibly afford? Just a sad, sad situation. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/32 "2003-09-26T23:55:11Z")
Sad. Though keeping in mind that many more horrible things happen in the PRC than this, it just had a good hook, so to speak, for the newswires. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/33 "2003-09-27T00:24:03Z")
**QGG** , I defer to **Qadgop** ’s explanation. It seems beating the tar out of this girl would be not only useless, but very cruel. ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/34 "2003-09-27T00:24:47Z")
This is just plain horrible. And beating a child with obvious and uncontrollable problems is unforgivably cruel and stupid. Even if your intentions are misguidedly good, she can’t feel pain- what do you think hitting her is going to do? If anything, it’ll only teach her to hide from you when she starts chewing, thereby causing you even bigger problems. Awful as it sounds, physically restraining her would have been the only effective method. Putting mittens on her that she couldn’t remove, or tying her hands behind her back or at her sides might have prevented this tragedy. However, since she can’t feel pain, caretakers would have to continually monitor her restraints to make sure they weren’t cutting into her skin or cutting off circulation. In a rural Chinese village, I’m guessing such measures would be impossible. I can’t imagine how this poor child’s life will turn out. As others have mentioned, she’s unlikely to live long with her condition. The only chance she may have is life in an institution, which I doubt her family could afford, and state-run institutions in the PRC are probably no safe havens. It’s too sad. The grandparents are at fault here, but I’m not sure how far. Seems like this girl had an uncontrollable compulsion to injure herself, and most people would have no idea how to handle such a situation, let alone elderly villagers in an impoverished rural area. They should certainly have taken better care of her and watched her more closely, restraining her if needed, but again, if someone has these compulsions to injure theselves, it takes dedicated, professional, and round-the-clock care to prevent them from doing so. The best private institutions in the west are continually struggling with issues like this: how to humanely restrain someone and yet allow them as much of a “normal life” as possible. If you have no access to this level of care, and no training, what can you reasonably be expected to do? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/35 "2003-09-27T02:28:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVAA \* > \*\*Is this pain-insensitivity permanent? > > If so, devoting more care and attention to this girl is probably a waste of resources. Such people almost always die before or soon after maturity – without the ability to sense injury, even seemingly trivial damage can quickly become life-threatening. > > If the girl is also retarded, she’ll have virtually no defense against injury, as she won’t be able to use caution and self-awareness to prevent and identify injury. > > Considering that this is in a relatively poor area of China… the costs associated with keeping her alive are prohibitive. \*\* Please tell me I got whooshed here. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/36 "2003-09-27T03:04:35Z")
Please don’t get me wrong – it’s not so much the severity of the spanking I was talking about, but the fright. Putting a complex in place, if you will, so that she doesn’t chew her fingers. I know it sounds horrid, but for all of our talk of institutions and doctors and fucking LOBOTOMIES (!!!), I don’t exactly think any of those were choices for her grandparents. I don’t know if, in fact, putting a complex in place with the little girl would have been possible – she may have a mental illness that would have negated it anyway. I just have to agree with the ‘knee-jerk’ of the OP: I would have done damn near anything to prevent the poor kid from chewing through her damn hands like that. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/37 "2003-09-27T05:05:21Z")
Good lord! It’s 1:15 am here, and I am now committed to staying up all night. That story is going to give me some awful nightmares! ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/38 "2003-09-27T05:29:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > **Beatings would not stop this behavior. They would only cruelly torment a severely impaired child. Nice plan, cletus. Might as well beat a child for having diabetes or seizures. Everyone knows if you just beat them enough they’ll stop having those high sugar comas and episodes of convusions. (\<===irony)** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\ ***QGG** , I defer to **Qadgop** ’s explanation. It seems beating the tar out of this girl would be not only useless, but very cruel. \*\* Look at her hands. Just look at her goddamn hands. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/39 "2003-09-27T05:38:25Z")
Qadgop - how rare is her condition? Would it have progressed to this extremity in America? ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/40 "2003-09-27T07:22:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cletus \* > \*\*Look at her hands. Just look at her goddamn hands. ☹ \*\* Yes, it’s terrible, I agree with you. But you don’t seem to understand the problem here: leaving aside the cruelty aspect, beating someone who can’t feel pain **does not work**. Someone who can’t feel pain cannot associate that pain with their behavior. They can’t come to the conlusion that “every time I do this it hurts”. They can’t reason out that “if I stop doing this, it’ll stop hurting”. With this in mind, I don’t understand why you keep coming back to the beating solution. Is it just because you can’t think of anything else to do in such a situation, and doing something useless is at least doing _something_? I guess that’s understandable for a knee-jerk reaction, but you keep coming back to it, and your above comment seems to imply that even though the cruelty and futility of beating such a child has been pointed out to you, you’d still prefer to knock the kid senseless. Why is this, may I ask? Obviously this child has problems. Serious problems- this is not a phase, this is not a kid being stupid or willful. It is not something you can just “beat out of them”. She is brain-damaged for Christ’s sake! If you hit a developmentally-disabled person hard enough, will their IQ eventually go up? Throughout history, the mentally ill were often brutally tortured in an attempt to “cure” them. While their caretakers may have had the best of intentions, they frequently did more damage to their patients than the disease itself. Yet somehow you still feel that hitting this poor girl would have solved something. Is this how serious mental and physical disabilities are dealt with on Planet **cletus**? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912.md?page=3)