I'm a strong believer in parental rights...

[makattak]

But these morons got exactly what they deserved:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-court-upholds-conviction-sentence-against-vegan-couple-144819095.html

You want to feed your child in a "vegan" way? Fine. But find out how to get him the nutrients he needs rather than just guessing you can give him soy milk and assuming it'll be fine.

Also, this article gives an answer to any liberal strawmen that conservatives don't think government should do anything. This is definitely a legitimate use for the government.

[Devonai]

"No matter how many times they want to say, 'We're vegans, we're vegetarians,' that's not the issue in this case," prosecutor Chuck Boring said during the trial. "The child died because he was not fed. Period."

So in addition to winning the prize for worst parents ever, they can be nominated for worst vegans ever.  I'm not sure but I would have to guess that there are volumes upon volumes on how to raise a healthy baby with a vegan diet*.

*I make no claim to the controversy about long term health, nor am I an advocate of the lifestyle.  I gots to have my meat-chunks.

[Perd Hapley]

Also, this article gives an answer to any liberal strawmen that conservatives don't think government should do anything. This is definitely a legitimate use for the government.

I just point out that conservatism is not anarchism.

[Viking]

6 weeks. Aren't they normally exclusively breastfed at that age?

[41magsnub]

6 weeks. Aren't they normally exclusively breastfed at that age?

Is breastfeeding "vegan"?   

[grampster]

Is breastfeeding "vegan"?   

No, it's a Happy Meal.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

some folks are real stupid.  i had a friend who went vegan, got sicker and sicker.  was finally diagnosed as suffering from malnutrition

[Balog]

Some women are unwilling or unable to breastfeed. Sounds like they used soy milk instead of formula? Poor poor little baby. It's hard not to be bitter. We did everything we could and had to watch our son die. These godd###ed useless bastards had a healthy child and starved him to death. I hope they die as painfully as their helpless infant.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Ok, first of all, is can newborns/infants tolerate apple juice?

Babys drink milk, and for those who can't breast feed, we have formula. And I.m sure theres some form of vegen formula.

But in my mind, the daming evidence isn't as much what they supposedly fed the baby, but rather, the FILTHY BABY BOTTLE!

I can buy it that there are folks stupid enough to think that they can feed a baby soy milk and apple juice. I don't buy that they are so stupid to think they should use an unwashed and obvioulsy dirty bottle.
That's not well intentioned stupidity, thats neglect.

[French G.]

No, it's a Happy Meal.

What's the world coming to, an old guy wins the internets.

[vaskidmark]

I have got to ask.

Did nobody else see the kid before he showed up in the ER?  No relatives/friends of the parents?

Those two deserve not only everything they have gotten but everything they are going to get.

So where the [expletive deleted] was the village?  A newborn kid does not normally go 6 weeks in insolation.

stay safe.

[makattak]

I have got to ask.

Did nobody else see the kid before he showed up in the ER?  No relatives/friends of the parents?

Those two deserve not only everything they have gotten but everything they are going to get.

So where the [expletive deleted] was the village?  A newborn kid does not normally go 6 weeks in insolation.

stay safe.

I was rather curious about that as well. Our little one had a doctor's appointment 4 weeks after birth.

Of course, the fact that no one else noticed anything is likely more evidence of neglect.

[T.O.M.]

I'll see if I can do a little digging, but these idiots sound a lot like a group we had come through our court system about 10 years back.  Not only was it a vegan lifestyle, but doctors are bad.  Delivery was by midwife (not trained type, but Ms. Judy who lives down yonder.)  Vaccines are bad.  Pretty much anything modern medicine is wrong.  I was prosecuting when they got hit with child endangering charges.  Turns out that the child in the case here was blessed to have grandmother do the right thing, even though it meant watching her daughter get locked up.

[sumpnz]

I'll see if I can do a little digging, but these idiots sound a lot like a group we had come through our court system about 10 years back.  Not only was it a vegan lifestyle, but doctors are bad.  Delivery was by midwife (not trained type, but Ms. Judy who lives down yonder.)  Vaccines are bad.  Pretty much anything modern medicine is wrong.  I was prosecuting when they got hit with child endangering charges.  Turns out that the child in the case here was blessed to have grandmother do the right thing, even though it meant watching her daughter get locked up.

I have nothing against MD's, but midwives are a perfectly acceptable (and in some cases preferable) alternative for low risk pregnancies.  We've used midwives exclusivley for all 3 kids.  Not becuase we have some objection to Ob's but it is our preference and what we are most comfortable with.  Mind you, they were all CNM's, not Ms Judy from down yonder.  But don't confuse a preference for midwives with a nutty rejection of medicine and propensity for neglect/abuse.

[KD5NRH]

I was rather curious about that as well. Our little one had a doctor's appointment 4 weeks after birth.

IIRC, ours both had one, two and four week checkups, and both were relatively normal.  (One was underweight and the other over, but both within the healthy range with no other issues.) 

You can't claim to be a caring parent and not notice the kid getting down to less than four pounds; that's well under a lot of preemies' birth weight, and if it had been anywhere near that small at birth (looks like anything below 5.5lbs would have gotten special attention) it almost certainly wouldn't have left the hospital for days, and would have had at least weekly followups for several months.  I don't know how much of an infant's body weight is skeleton, but I'd feel pretty safe in saying that kid had to be literally just skin and bones to have been roughly half of normal birth weight.

[Hawkmoon]

6 weeks. Aren't they normally exclusively breastfed at that age?

No. Some babies are never breastfed. In some cases the mothers can't, in others the mother chooses not to.

[erictank]

Is breastfeeding "vegan"?   

Human babies are *DESIGNED* to live and grow on human breast milk - removing one of the main arguments I am aware of for vegan/vegetarian types.  These parents deserve their life sentence, and I wouldn't have disagreed with the death penalty, personally.

[Jamisjockey]

There are laws on the books already that should have prevented this.  Yet it happened anyway.  Huh. 

[Iain]

And Thomas' lawyer claimed his trial attorney was ineffective because he failed to call an expert to support his theory that his son's death was linked to cystic fibrosis and not starvation.

That's interesting, if the kid actually had CF. Won't mean the kid wouldn't have died anyway, his end would have come sooner more than likely on a diet of soy. There's basically no way to raise a kid with CF on a vegan diet in my opinion. I'd argue it'd be very hard to do it on a vegetarian diet.

There's a few things weird though, as KD5 says, no-one could look at a 3.5lb 6 week old that had had anything near a normal birthweight and not see something wrong. My best mate's kid was taken back into hospital a fortnight after birth merely because she wasn't putting weight on, let alone losing significant amounts of weight (is fine now) There must have been no ante-natal follow-up, and if that's because they rejected it, you have to think they may have done that because they knew their methods were, err, unorthodox.

[Firethorn]

I have to agree with everyone else here.  It's one thing for a kid to die after seeing a dozen doctors, or even for an otherwise healthy baby to die of some unknown cause.  Hell, I feel sorry for those parents that lost a child to a drop-side crib*.

Your baby's losing weight while you're trying to feed it an 'alternative' diet, without consulting a doctor?  Insanity.  Who wants to bet that momma couldn't nurse because she was also malnourished?

*Even though I still think that they can be fine, you just need better construction and care.

[T.O.M.]

I have nothing against MD's, but midwives are a perfectly acceptable (and in some cases preferable) alternative for low risk pregnancies.  We've used midwives exclusivley for all 3 kids.  Not becuase we have some objection to Ob's but it is our preference and what we are most comfortable with.  Mind you, they were all CNM's, not Ms Judy from down yonder.  But don't confuse a preference for midwives with a nutty rejection of medicine and propensity for neglect/abuse.

Just to be clear, the charges had nothing to do with the choice of using a midwife.  It was entirely to do with not feeding the child properly, and then neglecting the ear infection and sinus infection to the point of permanent hearing loss and nasal scarring.  No offense intended, sumpnz.