{"id":21493,"date":"2016-03-18T14:23:39","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T21:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=21493"},"modified":"2016-03-18T14:25:51","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T21:25:51","slug":"toddler-got-meningitis-anti-vac-parents-gave-herbal-remedy-toddler-died-now-parents-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=21493","title":{"rendered":"A toddler got meningitis. His anti-vac parents gave him an herbal remedy. The toddler died. Now his parents are on trial."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael E. Miller<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

Miller is a foreign affairs reporter for The Washington Post. He writes for the Morning Mix news blog. Tweet him: @MikeMillerDC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

March 18 at 8:22 AM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"EZEKIEL-STEPHAN\"
19-month-old Ezekiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David and Collet Stephan have a beautiful family. On that, at least, there is little debate. In the many photos they have posted online, the devout couple\u2019s children are blond and brightly smiling and often dressed in matching outfits. Collet is pretty with a graceful posture and almond-shaped eyes. David is tall and handsome with a mane and a beard, like a classical painting of Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canadian Rockies surrounding their home in rural Alberta complete the picturesque family portraits.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the comments under their photos, however, there are hints that something is amiss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a poor excuse as parents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cQUIT SMILING.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBaby killers!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There may be little doubt about the Stephan family\u2019s good looks, but there is a major debate over their beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 5, the Canadian government opened its trial against David and Collet. The charge: failing to provide their 19-month-old son, Ezekiel, the necessaries of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, David and Collet stubbornly refused to take their sick son to see a doctor, instead giving him home remedies such as smoothies containing hot pepper, ginger root, horseradish, onion and apple cider vinegar. Even after warnings from a family friend who is a nurse, the anti-vaccine couple took him to a naturopath for echinacea \u2014 an herb believed to stimulate the immune system \u2014 instead of to a doctor for an exam.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was only when Ezekiel began to have trouble breathing that they rushed him to a hospital, prosecutors said.<\/span><\/p>\n

By then, it was too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel died from bacterial meningitis and empyema, two conditions routinely cured with antibiotics, a medical examiner told the court last week, according to the Lethbridge Herald.<\/span><\/p>\n

If convicted, the parents could spend up to five years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Mark Zuckerberg gets his baby vaccinated. Anti-vaxxers go nuts.]<\/span><\/p>\n

The case has stirred outrage across Canada and the United States. It comes at a time when belief in natural and homeopathic remedies is on the rise in North America. More controversially, anti-vaccine sentiment is also surging, leading to a resurgence of once vanquished diseases like measles and whooping cough.<\/span>
\nHere are some of the most common arguments for and against vaccination. (The Washington Post)<\/span>
\nThe toddler\u2019s tragic death raises questions of whether and when parents have a duty to take their children to the hospital, despite their personal or religious beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel Stephan wasn\u2019t old enough to speak for himself when he died. Nonetheless, he has become a lightning rod for a raging debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his death, some see dangerous medical quackery. In his parents\u2019 trial, however, others see a witch hunt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t losing their child punishment enough?\u201d one local wrote in the Lethbridge Herald.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChildren have a right to evidence-based medical care, not just prayer and useless folk remedies,\u201d shot back a commenter.<\/span>
\nThat debate has dominated the lead up to and duration of the trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until a year after Ezekiel\u2019s death that the Stephans were charged.<\/span><\/p>\n

The couple was shocked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing in the world that will bring him back,\u201d David told the Calgary Herald. \u201cWhat good could possibly come out of this?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could possibly be worse than the suffering we\u2019ve endured for the past year?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[Here\u2019s how many Americans are actually anti-vaxxers]<\/span><\/p>\n

Several Stephan family members suggested the family was being singled out for its beliefs. David\u2019s father, Anthony Stephan, founded a company called TrueHope that sells a natural supplement that claims to fight bipolar disorder.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnthony Stephan, a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alberta, Canada, was away on business when his wife took her life by asphyxiation after affixing a hose to the exhaust pipe of the family minivan,\u201d the Salt Lake City Weekly reported in 2013.\u201d Stephan\u2019s wife had been diagnosed with bipolar-affective disorder, the same ailment that had afflicted her father, who had also taken his life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When two of Anthony\u2019s kids were also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he \u201cfelt that traditional medication didn\u2019t save his wife and wouldn\u2019t help his children,\u201d according to the alt-weekly. He and a friend devised a nutritional supplement, TrueHope, that they tested out on the two kids. According to a promotional video, the kids felt an effect and were able to quit their medications.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2004, the Canadian government\u2019s health department, called Health Canada, pressed charges against TrueHope, claiming the company did not have the scientific evidence to back its claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

TrueHope won two years later, but the case left the Stephan family feeling persecuted.<\/span>
\n\u201cWhatever\u2019s going on here stinks,\u201d Brad Stephan told the Huffington Post shortly after the child neglect charges were filed against his brother and sister-in-law. \u201cI don\u2019t see anybody else getting charged for having meningitis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI almost have to wonder if we don\u2019t have an officer somewhere or someone just acting overzealous \u2026 We just feel this is just really over the top and we\u2019re not understanding why.\u201d<\/span>
\nAnthony Stephan insisted that the family is not anti-medicine, despite their criticism of pharmaceutical companies and vaccines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t always go to the doctor immediately. If it persists we do, absolutely,\u201d he told the Calgary Herald.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s any insinuation that they were withholding care from the child, it\u2019s absolutely wrong,\u201d he said, saying medical records showed his family visited doctors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that the family missed, no question,\u201d he admitted, adding: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a question of avoidance at all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[There\u2019s a surprisingly simple way to convince vaccine skeptics to reconsider]<\/span><\/p>\n

On Facebook, however, David Stephan has claimed that his family has been targeted by Big Pharma and others opposed to his beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince this court case has begun, there has been a great deal of opposition and outright malicious attacks from various organizations, some having pharmaceutical interests and others just having a very strong opposing agenda,\u201d he wrote on March 8, three days into the trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has said his son was on a TrueHope pill called EMPowerplus \u2014 \u201cthe most powerful daily supplement in the world\u201d \u2014 at the time of Ezekiel\u2019s death, but denied that it was intended as a treatment for his illness, which the family believed was a case of croup.<\/span><\/p>\n

And he has bemoaned being \u201cin the international spotlight\u201d and criticized media for reporting that he and his wife gave the sick toddler \u201cmaple syrup.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in their right mind would see how ridiculous this is, and if it wasn\u2019t such a serious matter, it would be laughable,\u201d he wrote on Facebook. \u201cThe idea of boosting an immune system with maple syrup, juice and frozen fruit is so illogical that I am left here shaking my head. As all of these items contain high amounts of simple sugars, I would suspect that they would serve to feed viruses and bacteria and actually do the opposite of boosting the immune system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David has dubbed the proceedings a \u201cvaccine trial,\u201d claiming the Crown represents the \u201cvaccine agenda.\u201d He says authorities are \u201clooking to create the legal precedent through the court system that when a child falls ill, parents who chose not to vaccinate have a greater onus to seek mainstream medical attention sooner than parents that do vaccinate, and if any harm befalls the non-vaccinated child from an illness that there was a vaccine for, the parents can be held criminally liable.\u201d<\/span>
\nHe also said his family\u2019s fundraising websites had been taken down repeatedly and that they suffered online abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, Facebook photos of his family have been slapped with incendiary labels. Someone tagged David as \u201cBabykiller\u201d and Collet as \u201cMurderer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even the kids, alive and dead, have been targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel has been tagged \u201cI Was Murdered\u201d while his siblings have been labeled \u201cSaveMe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[The chilling case of a teen \u2018horror\u2019 blogger accused of killing her parents]<\/span><\/p>\n

So far in court, prosecutors have tried to avoid this emotional minefield.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not saying the accused killed Ezekiel,\u201d prosecutor Clayton Giles said near the beginning of the trial, according to the Lethbridge Herald. \u201cThey loved him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But, he added, the parents didn\u2019t do enough to help their sick toddler and are responsible for his death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not take Ezekiel to a doctor when they should have.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past two weeks, the jury has heard at times excruciating details about Ezekiel\u2019s demise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim the boy was sick for several weeks before being rushed to the hospital, where he was kept on life support for a week before passing away.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defense insists Ezekiel had shown improvement after being given home remedies, and that it was only when he stopped breathing that he seemed dangerously sick.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 12, 2012, Collet called Terrie Meynders, a family friend and registered nurse who had been Collet\u2019s birth attendant, to come look at the boy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meynders testified that Ezekiel was asleep when she arrived at the Stephans\u2019 home. She listened to his breathing but couldn\u2019t find anything wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt did not jump out at me that he was that seriously ill,\u201d she told the court, according to the Lethbridge Herald.<\/span><\/p>\n

She did suggest, however, that he could have viral meningitis, and told Collet to seek medical help.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you should take him to see a doctor,\u201d Meynders testified, according to CBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly afterwards, Collet called a local naturopath and asked about treatments for viral meningitis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe needed something to build up her baby\u2019s immune system,\u201d Lexie Vataman, a naturopathic clinic employee, testified in court, according to the Lethbridge Herald. \u201cShe said, \u2018My baby might have a form of meningitis and we think it might be viral and not bacterial.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(That hunch was mistaken, according to the medical examiner.)<\/span>
\n\u201cYou need to tell the lady to take the child to emergency right away,\u201d the naturopathic doctor, Tracey Tannis, told Vataman, according to her own testimony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you should see a medical doctor,\u201d Vataman relayed to Collet.<\/span>
\nVataman did prescribe Ezekiel with an echinacea mixture, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

Echinacea is an herb \u201cused for colds, flu, and other infections, based on the idea that it might stimulate the immune system to more effectively fight infection,\u201d according to the National Institutes of Health. \u201cStudy results are mixed\u201d on its usefulness, the NIH says.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time the Stephans drove to the naturopath to pick up the tincture, however, Ezekiel\u2019s body was so stiff from his illness that he couldn\u2019t sit in his car seat, according to an interview \u2014 played in court \u2014 the couple gave to Royal Canadian Mounted Police.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\u2018Seriously flawed\u2019 study linking behavioral problems to Gardasil vaccine has been retracted]<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the couple put a mattress in the back of their vehicle to take him to the naturopath.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days later, on March 14, 2012, Ezekiel suddenly crashed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden his breathing wasn\u2019t normal,\u201d Collet told RCMP.<\/span><\/p>\n

They called 911 and performed CPR on the toddler as they drove to meet an ambulance, but the boy repeatedly stopped breathing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was blue by the time we met up with the ambulance,\u201d Collet said in the recorded interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel was eventually airlifted to Alberta Children\u2019s Hospital in Calgary. By the time he arrived, however, there was little they could do. Doctors testified in court that he had suffered cardiac arrest and was likely already brain dead, according to the Lethbridge Herald.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five days later, Ezekiel was taken off life support.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trial is expected to conclude next week.<\/span>
\nMichael E. Miller is a foreign affairs reporter for The Washington Post. He writes for the Morning Mix news blog. Tweet him: @MikeMillerDC<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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