Bailey O'Neill: Bullied Boy Dies After Induced Coma

Impact

On Saturday, Bailey O'Neill of Philadelphia, Penn., turned 12. The following day, he died.

The Darby Township School sixth grader was taken off life support Sunday after being in a medically-induced coma for more than a month. O'Neill was taken to the hospital after a Jan. 10 schoolyard attack, which left him with a broken nose, concussions, and seizures so severe he had to be placed in a coma. 

According to family members, two students were harassing O'Neill when one of them socked him in the face. He was taken to a hospital in Delaware and released shortly afterward, but forced to return after suffering violent seizures. NBC reports that O'Neill got pneumonia while comatose and was given a blood transfusion.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the local police department is investigating the case but that "[n]o charges were ever filed, and officials never released details of the altercation, nor directly connected the seizures with the schoolyard incident ... [and it] is not clear whether the death could alter that."

It's impossible to say whether the schoolyard fight contributed to the seizures, but this story should make you very, very angry and disgusted, and the kid who went after the late O'Neill should be tried for murder if it's discovered that he contributed to this poor boy's demise in any way at all. He deserves hell.