Mother Jailed For Using Home Remedies, Causing Son’s Strep Throat Death
A Canadian woman whose son died after she treated his strep throat with dandelion tea and oregano oil was sentenced to three years in prison Friday.
Tamara Lovett, 48, attempted to treat her son Ryan at home for strep throat and did not bring him to a doctor. He died in 2013 at the age of 7 due to sepsis caused by a severe strep throat infection, according to the Calgary Herald. The infection caused his organs to fail. The boy's symptoms included swollen lymph nodes, oozing ears and jaundiced eyes, according to the Daily Mail.
“Basically every internal organ was affected,” said Justice Kristine Eidsvik during sentencing Friday. “He died an excruciating, unnecessary death.”
Lovett did not bring her son to a doctor because she distrusted the medical system.
“Her failure to bring him to a medical doctor caused his death,” said the judge. “Her behavior absolutely met the test for criminal negligence.”
Lovett said that she hopes people will learn from he ignorance. The government’s prosecutor, Jonathan Hak, sought five years in prison for Lovett, but said that he hopes the sentencing will serve as a lesson to other parents.
“I think going to a federal penitentiary is a pretty significant wake-up call and I would think whether it was three, or four years it wouldn’t make a difference with how the public will view that,” said Hak to the Calgary Herald. “The message is so clear and that is that if your child is not getting better you are legally and morally bound to take that child to an actual doctor for actual medical care.”
Defense Lawyer Alain Hepner attempted to get the case thrown out because of the lengthy trial. It took 38 months from the time Lovett was arrested until she was convicted. Last year the Canadian Supreme Court set a 30 month limit on court cases, but the judge ruled that the standard would not apply in this case since the trial began before the new rule.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.