"Parents Know Best!" Health Nuts Try to Cure Baby's Meningitis with Maple Syrup - It Doesn't Work.

What it says on the tin; a toddler is dead because these two anti-vaxxers thought they could cure meningitis with woo-woo.

Linky.

Two Mormon parents who own a nutritional supplement company are accused of letting their toddler son die from meningitis because they tried to treat him with home remedies instead of medicine.

David and Collet Stephan have pleaded not guilty to charges that they failed to provide the necessities of life to their 19-month-old son Ezekiel, reported CBC News.

Prosecutors in Alberta, Canada, say the couple did not call an ambulance until the boy stopped breathing and instead fed him supplements with an eye dropper and lay down with him.

Collet Stephan, 35, told police that a friend told the couple their son had meningitis — inflammation caused by an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

She said they tried to boost the boy’s immune system by feeding him with olive leaf extract, whey protein, water with maple syrup and juice with frozen berries.

They finally fed the boy, who was becoming stiff and lethargic after two weeks of illness, a mixture of apple cider vinegar, horseradish root, hot peppers, onion, garlic and ginger root.

The child was airlifted to a hospital after he stopped breathing, and doctors removed him from life support after five days.

Was that "Mormom parents" or "moron parents"?

I bet that made him feel really good to be deathly ill and on top of that his ding-a-ling parents are trying to force odd tasting concoctions containing things like hot peppers and onions down his throat. How would THEY like to be dying and probably unconscious or semi-conscious - IOW not capable of swallowing - and have some idiot come by and start dropping weird mixtures down their throats? Maybe "treat others the way you'd like to be treated" would be a better motto to live by than "pray away dire illnesses" and "choke unconscious relatives with homemade homeopathic concoctions."

At least it wasn't someone else's child who caught a disease from their baby

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Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

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These people are just fucking stupid. The whole faith healing/holism/home remedies thing can work for very minor sicknesses and ailments (and most of the time, you just get better on your own anyway, so the "remedies" really didn't do shit), but some infections cannot be fended off even by the most robust immune system. Meningitis is one of those things that requires medical attention, and all the onions and vinegar in the world isn't going to cure it. Here's one big huge important detail that I've read in every single home remedies book I've opened: "if these methods don't work after a few days or you get worse, go see a real doctor." I've also never seen a home remedy for meningitis anywhere either, which is another big clue that a cure for it does not exist in the produce section or the spice aisle.

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Health Canada unsuccessfully tried in 2004 to stop the company from distributing its supplement Empowerplus, which the couple claims can manage mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder.

So not only did these assholes kill their own child with their dumbassery, they were also trying to pass off their hippie medicine as a treatment for bipolar disorder (and they fed the supplement to the late toddler for whatever reason too). And they also threatened to sue someone who said mean things about their shitty supplement after taking it (and, I assume, having a bad experience). These two sure are a couple of gems. Doesn't surprise me that they're pleading not guilty because obviously they didn't do anything wrong by letting their child slowly die while shoving horseradish and ginger down the poor kid's throat.

And really, only five years for neglecting their child to death if they're sentenced?

I am in a ton of exmormon groups and one other person swears she is a friend and neighbor of these idiots. She's following this story around insisting that nobody, especially the parents, knew this was meningitis, sooo honest mistake. Ugh! I'm liking every comment calling it neglect.
Nobody lets a baby stay sick for two weeks without a checkup. There's just so many things that can go wrong with babies, 3 days is typically the max "wait and see" period that I've ever heard of.
But then again, I'm not a parent, so moooo!
My parents were very medically neglectful, and I get to deal with the consequences for the rest of my life. I could easily be biased, lol! But mine often summoned the head dicks of the family for blessings instead of doctors, and I know that also happened in this case.

Interested in the comment above in the OP that they were told it was meningitis. Wtf, slam dunk neglect if so!
When did they know, and why did they not immediately call an ambulance and drive to meet it? Why go to "immune support" bullshit?
This idiot "friend/neighbor" on my groups is full of so many excuses it's ridiculous. Should be evaluated herself, PNA to come in the future! "I'd like to see you do better!" Piece of cake, don't have one to begin with!

Maple syrup?

Cures (serious) illness?

Then this -

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They finally fed the boy, who was becoming stiff and lethargic after two weeks of illness, a mixture of apple cider vinegar, horseradish root, hot peppers, onion, garlic and ginger root.

In these parts a sim *flamin hot* mixture is called Giardiniera. Which is probably not suitable for little kids. Especially sick ones.

Nota Bene - You wanna order this stuff on a sammich, you pronounce it Jardin Air. And you will get the hot stuff unless you specify 'mild'. (Which is uncommon and may not be available.) Ask for this stuff and you will likely get 'the hot stuff'.

It has been awhile but this meningitis cure reminds me of a recipe I read as a little kid for freckle juice.

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coco uk
Was that "Mormom parents" or "moron parents"?

What's the difference?

Surprised they didn't feed him a hot tottie and wrap him up and call it a day .

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addiea raine
Surprised they didn't feed him a hot tottie and wrap him up and call it a day .

Well they're Mormon so nothing stronger than Postem allowed.

Presto, do you think these parents are involved in that DoTerra MLM (I think its a Mormon version of Amway where they sell essential oils that are supposed to heal everything) and they just had too much faith in their shitty product?

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"[GFG's pregnancy is] kind of like at the stables where that one dumb, ugly-ass mare broke out of her corral one day and got herself screwed by the equally fugly colt that was due to be gelded the same afternoon."- Shiny

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Cambion
And really, only five years for neglecting their child to death if they're sentenced?

But don't you know they've suffered enough? /s

One thing I have always noticed about these types who do not believe in modern medicine, Its OK for their kids but when they "The parents" get sick, they will embrace modern medicine in a heart beat. Like they say its expected to suffer for Jesus as long as it aint me doing the suffering. And if the kid dies, then its the will of the lord and let the sympathy roll. Oh and lets not forget the pity $$.

And now they're trying to solicit donations in the dead kid's name to fund their court case! YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS SHIT UP.

As soon as you said DoTerra and Mormon I could smell Young Living in the background. The name just smacks of MLM and sure enough, they both are. I've been buying and using essential oils since college and was astonished at what they charge for the oils and knew is must be MLM as the driving force behind it and the unexplained markup in cost. Some of the best brands in the world that are therapeutic quality and organic sell for less than the Young Living crap.

I don't think this is neglect; sounds more to me like murder.

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Cambion
And really, only five years for neglecting their child to death if they're sentenced?

Wonder how much time they'd get if they'd killed someone else's kid?

I remember years ago reading an article about the disparity of punishment for molesting someone else's kid as opposed to your own. If you rape the neighbor's toddler, you're a pedophile and rapist. Rape your own, and you're sick and need help. The article said the sentences are much lighter for pedophiles who "grow their own victims." I'd say the same for child murders.

I'm pretty sure it's a PNA.
First off, look how happy they are that it's dead. Sure that might have been taken beforehand... but there's no "stunned and horrified" shots provided, which is usually the typical for actual instances of breeders who give a fuck about their spawn, and even "regretting being caught" photos for the ones who didn't care for the sprog.

Secondly, I know a little bit about herbal and folk remedies, and forcing flaming hot and repulsively smelling things into its mouth is NOT a remedy for meningitis in any way shape or form. This was flat-out torture. In fact lily-family plants (onions) are considered semi-poisonous and really not good to cure anything. They're one of the first things you make sure a sick person is NOT taking. whilst the spicy items might be apt for other illnesses, swelling of any kind (especially the brain) is NOT something you want to apply heat to cure. That will make it much worse as it will increase blood flow and flood the tissue with even more fluid. If anything you'd want something cooling and soothing coupled with lymphatic drainage to flush out the excess tissue, and that's almost a layman's level of understanding. These two were not trying to help their sprog, they were deliberately torturing it to death. They must have REALLY hated it.

Charge them with murder. Get the rest of the spawn out of their care before they do it again. Those two both need their breeding privileges revoked. Coming from a psychotic religious family myself, typically these poorly executed PNAs are done because the child in question didn't follow the life script according to the psychosis that was followed by the cult of choice. My parents repeatedly botched my death enough to require multiple moves and a LOT of paid-off doctors.

Who wants to bet Jr. was "not following 'gods' will" before falling ill?

Bunny, that is just sick! I'm sorry you had such shitty parents.

My parental units were far from perfect, but at least they were not religious fanatics and they had the sense to get real medical help when I was sick. When I was 3 I has spinal meningitis. I can remember being in the hospital. As far as I can tell there was no permanent damage done.

These two ass-bags should definitely be charged with murder.