I read with interest the article and the comments. Why engage in such bitterness towards a young woman born cyanotic whose mother searched endlessly for medical help which was not available in their state nor was it affordable for anyone but very wealthy people......this family was made up of two hardworking parents who received an education and earned their right to make a decent salary. Some of you speak of Nancy as a "middle class spoiled brat who got everything she wanted". I see through some of this hatred - it's anti- American, anti- Jewish, and seething with garden variety socialism. Unless you were there, there is no way of knowing how and why they became drug addicts. I think the availability of these drugs was a crime....alcohol is a drug, causes fatal car accidents and uncontrolled behavior. Yet it is easily available. Deborah Spungeon, even as an educated woman, did not have resources available to her after Nancy's birth - the medical community was not ready to treat someone with Nancy's problems.
I don't believe Sid killed her. There was money and drugs floating around and all kinds of people on the take - let's not forget the "nice" people who lived there who knew something was terribly wrong yet didn't bother to even call the desk. Nancy might have lived if someone who heard her moan in pain had made a phone call. Someday they might need that phone call. Stop blaming the parents. The problem was the availability of drugs. Those are the people you should be trashing.

You are so right. I relate to Nancy in some ways..