Our tolerance has lethal consequences
Re Parents guilty in meningitis death, April 27
The fact that, after being found guilty by a jury, the father of this little boy still has the nerve to blame everyone else except himself for this avoidable tragedy makes it evident he and his wife have not learned their lesson.
They embody a new kind of dangerous criminal: the one at risk of reoffending by putting others’ lives at risk because of their political agenda and personal beliefs. Add to this the fact that they run a business based on these (backward) beliefs, and are pushing for others to do exactly the same thing they did, and this makes them twice as dangerous.
If they want to pretend this is the Middle Ages then, by all means, go ahead, but don’t drag innocent children into the medical risks associated with using medieval kinds of remedies.
These parents should lose custody of all their children, at the very least. They are convinced that letting their boy die was the right thing to do, and won’t hesitate to “lovingly” feed herbs and spices to anyone else in their care who is critically ill.
As a civilized society we must protect vulnerable human beings from good intentions that become murderous actions. Martha Batiz, Richmond Hill
Modern medicine has made a huge difference in tackling both age-old diseases and new ones. It’s a major part of why people now live twice as long as they did decades ago. Our law allows people access to these “alternative” medicines under the presumption that rational adults can make up their own minds.
In this case, the family watched their son’s condition deteriorate for 2 1/2 weeks using natural remedies. They only took him to the hospital, not when he could no longer eat, but when he stopped breathing. There are many words that could describe David and Collet Stephan, but rational is not one of them.
While many consider “alternative” medicines to be “mostly harmless,” as this case demonstrates our tolerance of such quackery has lethal consequences. Gary Dale, West Hill