Anti-vaxxers have compassion - just for the wrong people

Recently, a legal case started being heard in an Alberta court.  The defendants are David Stephan and Collet Stephan.  The parents of 19-month-old Ezekiel Stephan who died in March, 2012 of meningitis. 

Why are the parents being charged?  What have they been charged with?  Well, quite simply, they have been charged with failing to "provide the necessities of life". 

David worked at "Truehope Nutritional Support", a nutritional supplement company.  They did not vaccinate their children and sought "natural remedies" for any ailments their children or themselves came down with.

Which meant when Ezekiel started showing symptoms of meningitis, they chose natural supplements over medical care. Even after they were told he might have meningitis, they forewent conventional medical care and went to what many of us in the pro-science pro-medicine community like to call "NotaDoctor". 

Ezekiel suffered for a week, getting weaker, sicker and stiffer.  He had a fever. He couldn't eat, because he felt so ill.  According to his parents, he just wanted to "sit and snuggle" with them.  He got stiffer over the course of the last week of his conscious life. He was so stiff that when they took him to Nota Doctor, they had to put him on a mattress in the back of the car. And even after NotaDoctor told them it might be meningitis and that they should take him to the hospital, they still chose to treat him at home with their natural remedies. 

Then he stopped breathing.

And that is when his parents decided it might be a good time to call an ambulance. 

The parents choice to wait for an ambulance, which they claim was 30 minutes away, and then claim wasn't equipped, is not only false, but to have the audacity to claim the people you called after you failed to take care of your child, didn't have the equipment, I can't even...

Ambulances are leveled as ALS or BLS.  Advanced Life Support or Basic Life Support.  The ambulance station closest to the Stephans had both ALS and BLS.  The BLS has much of the same equipment as the ALS ambulance, which was already out on a call that night. 

I'm not sure how familiar you are with anatomy, physiology and biology, but one thing I know without a doubt - it doesn't matter what the ambulance has on it, a kid that isn't breathing on his own is a dead kid.  And no matter what is done or isn't done, it's impossible to make someone more dead than.. well.. dead.  And Ezekiel was, essentially, dead.  He was no longer breathing and the parents had yet to call a doctor.

Reports vary as to whether the Stephans drove to meet the "unequipped" ambulance or not, but either way - they had already delayed care for over a week.

The outcome, without going into all the details of who and what, is that their 19-month-old is dead because they chose to ignore the glaring evidence that he was dying.

And instead of taking responsibility for their actions, and admitting they waited too long, they are blaming the EMTs for not having the proper equipment to resuscitate their dead child.  They are blaming the hospital and its staff for not being able to raise the dead.  They're blaming the LifeFlite team for being unable to revive their dead son, and they are blaming Alberta Children's Hospital for not being able to use life support to make their dead kid alive.

They have blamed EVERYONE but themselves - the true cause of their child's death.

They, and the anti-vaxx community, are using their case as an example of how the government is cracking down on those who choose not to vaccinate.  Except that this case has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Ezekiel had been vaccinated.  Meningitis vaccines aren't even mandatory vaccines.  As a matter of fact, Banana and Squish aren't vaccinated for meningitis (yet - I have to take them in to the doctor where the vaccine is waiting for us). 

The Crown isn't charging David and Collet with "failure to vaccinate".  This case has absolutely NOTHING to do with a Canadian parent's right not to vaccinate.  As far as I can tell, the Crown doesn't give a rat's ass as to whether or not Ezekiel was vaccinated.  What the Crown cares about, and what they are pursuing, is that David and Collet withheld life-saving treatment by their own refusal to take their son to a doctor or a hospital where he would have received life-saving medications.  That their actions are a direct cause to their son's death.  That Ezekiel's death could have been prevented had they simply GONE TO THE DOCTOR.  Had they gone to a doctor's office any time in that week when Ezekiel got stiffer and more miserable, they would not be sitting in an Alberta courthouse while the Crown argues for them to be punished for their hand in their son's death. They are playing the victim.

Had they taken Ezekiel to the doctor, they would very likely have a 4-nearly-5-year-old, who may or may not have had some lasting effects of battling meningitis, but he would be alive.

And of course, the anti-vaxxers have taken up the cause.  They are siding with David and Collet.  They are saying we should have "compassion" and be "understanding" of their religious beliefs (their religion does not play a part in this.  Not at all).  They are saying this case is to vilify them and other parents who choose not to vaccinate their children.  They are trying to make this an "us" against "them" case.  They are trying to say that this case is trying to make an example out of parents who should have the right to choose to not vaccinate their kids.

Do you know who they should have compassion for?  Have compassion for David and Collet's surviving children.  They didn't get to choose their parents, and if the Stephans Parents wind up both going to jail, those children are going into the foster care system, and they will likely be split up.  If they're lucky, they'll get a decent foster family. The odds are against them in general.

Have compassion for Ezekiel.  He lived his remaining days in pain and misery because of the decisions of his parents - the people who he relied on to keep him safe.

The Fifth Commandment (if you believe in Gd and the Bible) is "honour thy father and thy mother".  We need a Commandment 5.5.  "Honour thy child and keep him or her safe from harm, even from your own hand".