On March 2012, Ezekiel Stephan, a toddler from Alberta died a painful death from viral meningitis. One of the primary reasons for the toddler’s death is the fact that the parents refused to take the kid to a proper doctor. What they chose instead possibly brought the sad demise of the 19 month old kid.
Ezekiel Stephan, a 19 month toddler back in the year 2012, was suffering from viral meningitis. If the kid was taken to a conventional doctor and not a naturopath, he might have been alive now. The situation was so bad that the toddler could not even sit up straight in the car while he was being taken to a naturopath.
Currently the parents are facing a charge of falling to provide their ill child the basic necessities of life like a proper doctor. Bioethicists believe that the fate that the parents of Ezekiel Stephan are facing now might just be the final warning to the parents in Canada, who go to natural cures and homemade remedies for serious diseases like meningitis.
A renowned medical ethicist, Arthur Caplan believes that the sad demise of Ezekiel Stephan due to meningitis is an example of what harm alternative medicines can do to you. Caplan also added, “I think the parents, sadly, were neglectful of their child, even though I don’t doubt they loved the child. But, when you have a little kid who is sick, seriously sick, and a nurse tells you that it might be meningitis and you continue to pursue interventions that clearly aren’t working, you’ve got to bring that kid into a mainstream health facility.”
Ezekiel Stephan’s parents David and Collet have pleaded ‘not guilty’ for the death of their son, who has been seriously ill of meningitis for several weeks. In their defense, they have stated they were treating Ezekiel Stephan for Croup. Thus, they provided him with natural remedies containing hot pepper, horseradish, etc. The couple is facing a charge under Section 215, which makes every parent, legal guardian responsible for providing any kid below 16 years with the basic necessities of life, including a doctor.
