David and Collet Stephan have appeared in court in Alberta, Canada, today regarding the death of their 19-month-old son Ezekiel.
The couple is on trial for allegedly not giving their son, who died from viral meningitis in March 2012, adequate medical care when he was ill. According to CBC News, they pleaded not guilty to failing to provide the necessities of life.
It is alleged that the Stephans turned to home remedies – maple syrup is named as one – to treat the disease and only called for medical help when Ezekiel stopped breathing (there are conflicting reports concerning how long he was sick before this happened). Five days later, he passed away in hospital.
The Huffington Post reports that prosecutors played a police interview in which Collet said that she and her husband obtained a treatment for meningitis from a “naturopathic doctor” after a nurse friend said the child could have the infection.
Posted by Prayers for Ezekiel on Sunday, 31 January 2016
A social worker, Sheila Thompson, apparently told the courtroom that she was under the impression that the parents were attentive of Ezekiel, providing him with as much nutrition and hydration as possible while they tried to figure out what was wrong with him.
When the couple was first charged in February 2013, David released a statement to the Calgary Herald which said: “Like any other good parents, we attended to the matter and treated him accordingly to standard practices and recommendations like millions of parents do each year.”
He added: “It took approx. 40 minutes from the initial 911 call before he was in the care of the attending EMTs… When EMT finally arrived, the ambulance was not equipped with the correct intubation equipment for our son, who could not breathe on his own.”
The case continues.
Top image: Facebook/Prayers For Ezekiel
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