Baby’s death warning to parents: ethicist
Toddler taken to naturopath, not vaccinated
His body was so r i gi d and stiff f rom meningitis, 19- month- old Ezekiel Stephan reportedly could not even sit up in his car seat the day his parents took him, not to a conventional medical doctor, but to a naturopath.
Now, as the Alberta toddler’s parents stand trial, accused of failing to provide their son with the necessities of life, bioethicists say the case could ultimately serve as a warning to any parent in Canada who spurns potentially life-saving medicine for unproven natural “cures” and home remedies.
Renowned medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said Ezekiel’s slow and tragic death is an example “of the harm alternative medicine does” and that the child suffered for his parents’ beliefs.
“I think the parents, sadly, were neglectful of t heir child, even though I don’t doubt they loved the child,” said Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “But, when you have a little kid who is sick, seriously sick, and a nurse tells you that it might be meningitis and you continue to pursue interventions that clearly aren’t working, you’ve got to bring that kid into a mainstream health facility.
“That should be the expectation of any parent in Canada, whatever their beliefs about medicine.”
The case is also raising troubling questions about whether bystanders should have intervened before Ezekiel died.
His parents, David, 32, and Collet, 35, have pleaded not guilty in the death of their son, who died in March 2012 after having been ill for several weeks.
The jury has heard that in the days leading up to their child’s death, the couple, believing Ezekiel had croup, treated him with natural remedies and homemade smoothies containing hot pepper, ginger root, horseradish and onion.
An employee of a Lethbridge naturopath clinic testified Wednesday that she sold Collet a tincture, after the mother called seeking an immune system boost because she feared her son had viral meningitis.
A family friend and registered nurse testified that after Collet asked her to look at the boy, she suggested his symptoms could be viral meningitis. “I think you should take him to see a doctor,” the nurse said she told the mother.
Instead, the couple drove their son into Lethbridge to visit the naturopath. They did not seek conventional medical help until Ezekiel had stopped breathing, the Crown told court.
The case has roused those opposed to vaccines, who argue the state is trying to go through the back door to force parents to vaccinate their children against such diseases as meningitis.
The boy’s father says he and his wife did their best by the child and that it is morally wrong to prosecute them.
The couple run Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd., which distributes Empower Plus, a vitamin combination the company claims can treat bipolar disorder as well as “the root cause of autism.”
On a recent posting on the Facebook page Prayers for Ezekiel, David Stephan said the Crown is seeking to create a legal precedent that would make any parent who chooses not to vaccinate their child criminally liable, should the child then fall sick.
“If achieved, not only will this be a blow to the rights of Canadians,” the posting reads, “but will likely result in an already overburdened medical system becoming completely bogged down with parents needlessly flooding emergency rooms with mildly sick children out of fear of criminal prosecution.”
Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta, said the case could create policy tensions for Alberta and other provinces. Caulfield said granting naturopaths self- regulation creates the impression their therapies are grounded in science, when his own research has found the vast majority of services advertised by naturopaths are “largely evidence free.”
He worries the growing tolerance and embrace of “pseudo- science” is leading to poor health-care decisions that, in the most tragic cases, “facilitate these kinds of really sad situations.”
University of Calgary bioethicist Juliet Guichon said Ezekiel’s death tragically echoes the case of sevenyear- old Ryan Alexander Lovett, who died in March 2013 after contracting a strep infection. Police allege his mother, Tamara Lovett, chose to treat the infection with homeopathic remedies instead of taking him to a doctor, and that decision likely killed him. Lovett is scheduled to go to trial in November on charges of criminal negligence and failing to provide the necessities of life.
According to police, numerous friends had urged Lovett to take the boy to a doctor. Under Alberta — and other provincial — childwelfare laws, the public has a duty to report if they have reason to believe a child is at risk.
“It’ s the second time where bystanders don’t do anything, they’ re not punished for anything and now we have a second dead child,” Guichon said.
“If you know a child needs your help, you have to do something.”