Negligence charges laid against Calgary mom who used holistic treatment before son d

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
3
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London, Ontario
Negligence charges laid against Calgary mom who used holistic treatment before son died

Police say son died from what would have been a treatable illness


The Calgary Police Service lead 44-year-old Tamara Lovett, charged in connection with the death of her son, in Calgary, Alta November 22, 2013. On Saturday, March 2, 2013, emergency crews were called to a basement suite in the 900 block of 17 Avenue S.W., for a report of a seven-year-old boy having a seizure. The child was transported to hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Due to the boy’s condition when he arrived at hospital, the Service’s Homicide Unit was called to investigate. Jim Wells/Calgary Sun/QMI Agency


Police say a woman gave her bedridden seven-year-old son holistic treatment before he succumbed to what would have been a treatable illness.
Friday, 44-year-old Tamara Lovett was arrested, later charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life in connection with the death of Ryan Lovett.
It is a legal requirement for a parent or guardian to provide food, shelter, care and medical attention necessary to sustain life and protect children from harm.
But in this case, Staff Sgt. Mike Cavilla said the mother opted for alternative medicine, like herbal remedies, despite numerous friends and family urging her to take the boy to a doctor.
“There was a belief system in homeopathic treatments,” he said.
“There were a couple of friends in that ten days who did urge her to seek medical help ... the mother refused to take the child.
“Under the Criminal Code ... if you do not provide medical attention to a sick child you could be held accountable.”
Lovett called EMS to her basement suite in the 900 block of 17 Ave. S.W. on March 2, 2013, saying her child, Ryan, was having a seizure.
Emergency crews arrived to find the boy in cardiac arrest.
Police allege the Grade 2 student was at home, bedridden for 10 days prior to that with what was later identified as a strep infection.
Strep infections are often treatable with medication such as penicillin.
Although it was not only the single mother who saw him deteriorating, no one contacted authorities.
“I think there is a moral responsibility, if you see a child in medical (or any other distress) to make a phone call to police or child and family services to notify people there may be a problem,” Cavilla said.
Paul Hughes, friends with Lovett for more than 20 years and whose son was friends with Ryan, said the allegations are shocking.
“That kid was so full of life and Tamara was an amazing mom,” he said Friday.
“This woman is not a monster. She was a loving mother.
“She was already in prison in her own mind.”
He said the allegations are upsetting.
“It’s a tough one,” he said.
“Hindsight is 20/20. Oh, man, I just wish we could turn back the clock.”
Cavilla said police found no evidence the child in his seven years had ever had medical attention.
“Speaking to medical professionals, they said if treated this could have been prevented,” Cavilla said, adding he hopes the case serves as warning for others who might deny their children medical care.
“The simple message is, if your child is sick take them to a doctor.”
Ryan, who had been home-schooled by his mother for years, was enrolled in school about two months before his death.

Negligence charges laid against Calgary mom who used holistic treatment before son died | Calgary | News | Calgary Sun

So very sad and tragic. I feel both deep sorrow for this woman but also incredible anger at her too.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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How many children die at the hands of doctors every year? The medical professionals are not gods (like some people seem to think). Doctors have their place but they are not the be all and end all for everything. They can misdiagnose just as easily as this woman did. Arresting her is nothing more than the allopathic and pharmaceutical companies trying to discredit alternative medicine. They don't have all the answers and more and more doctors are moving toward multiple medical disciplines. What they are doing to this poor mother is no less cruel and insensitive as what they are accusing her if. This is just plain stupid.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
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What is just plain stupid is dying from strep throat. This is commonly treated with no lasting ill effects whatsoever. I've had strep throat, my kids have had it.

I'm all for avoiding pills and medical treatment, for utilizing natural remedies, when it makes sense. But having a 7 year old die from something like this is beyond nonsense.
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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How many children die at the hands of doctors every year? The medical professionals are not gods (like some people seem to think). Doctors have their place but they are not the be all and end all for everything. They can misdiagnose just as easily as this woman did. Arresting her is nothing more than the allopathic and pharmaceutical companies trying to discredit alternative medicine. They don't have all the answers and more and more doctors are moving toward multiple medical disciplines. What they are doing to this poor mother is no less cruel and insensitive as what they are accusing her if. This is just plain stupid.
I think you have a point here Cliffy doctors do make mistakes and people die as a result but the kid died due to her ignorance and lack of ability to diagnose correctly. I don't know what should be done to her since she was attempting to do the best for her child and due to her lack of ability the child died. No punishment given in a court of law will ever equate to the guilt she will have to endure on a daily basis.

Even doctors are not allowed to treat family and this is why.

Although it was not only the single mother who saw him deteriorating, no one contacted authorities.
“I think there is a moral responsibility, if you see a child in medical (or any other distress) to make a phone call to police or child and family services to notify people there may be a problem,”
yup, any suspicion at all must be reported, better to be wrong than have to live with this...some people are going to struggle with "what if I"....
 

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
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Ottawa
When Doctors screw up this badly they can be charged and lose their jobs in malpractice suits. Look at what happened to Michael Jackson's doctor. Even if they didnt face consequences that isnt relevant in this particular story.

I'm fine with adults choosing to not see a doctor or get treatment for themselves. They are old enough to make their own decisions and know the risks. I have a problem with it when they do it to children who get no say and have no recourse. This kid was neglected to death and I have absolutely no sympathy for the mother or the parents of any other kids who have died in this senseless way. Far too many children die because their parents chose not to seek treatment.
 

BornRuff

Time Out
Nov 17, 2013
3,175
0
36
How many children die at the hands of doctors every year? The medical professionals are not gods (like some people seem to think). Doctors have their place but they are not the be all and end all for everything. They can misdiagnose just as easily as this woman did. Arresting her is nothing more than the allopathic and pharmaceutical companies trying to discredit alternative medicine. They don't have all the answers and more and more doctors are moving toward multiple medical disciplines. What they are doing to this poor mother is no less cruel and insensitive as what they are accusing her if. This is just plain stupid.

If a doctor kills someone due to negligence they can also be charged.

Doctors can't save everyone, but the diagnoses and treatment they provide is based on firm scientific evidence.

A kid dying do to an infection like this is dark ages stuff.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
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What is just plain stupid is dying from strep throat. This is commonly treated with no lasting ill effects whatsoever. I've had strep throat, my kids have had it.

I'm all for avoiding pills and medical treatment, for utilizing natural remedies, when it makes sense. But having a 7 year old die from something like this is beyond nonsense.



Antibiotics can have health complications of their own, and strep is an illness that people can, and do, recover from on their own, without medical intervention. I've been through numerous bouts of it, without treatment or any ill effect.


On the flip side, my brother got sick once, started running a fever, and despite being an independent bad *** 20+ year old at the time, called mom to take him to the hospital when his chest started hurting. He had a case of strep that had attacked the lining of his heart, and was killing him. It took a week in the hospital on antibiotics to bring him around.


We make it a rule in our home to not worry about what a person might have, and worry instead about how they are acting. Simply saying that the boy was sick for a week doesn't tell the whole story.... my daughter was recently sick for three, and when I finally broke down and took her to the doc after two weeks, his response was the same as my initial thought.... wait it out, it's just a virus.


I've seen people lose kids that they thought were just sick. A friend had a teenager, one of their children's friends, die at their house in the night due to pneumonia. Another friend lost her brother, when he spiked a fever and mom gave him Tylenol and sent him to bed. It happens, so while I think it's good that it's being looked into, I'm not about to blame the mom for being negligent just yet.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
3
36
London, Ontario
Antibiotics can have health complications of their own, and strep is an illness that people can, and do, recover from on their own, without medical intervention. I've been through numerous bouts of it, without treatment or any ill effect.


On the flip side, my brother got sick once, started running a fever, and despite being an independent bad *** 20+ year old at the time, called mom to take him to the hospital when his chest started hurting. He had a case of strep that had attacked the lining of his heart, and was killing him. It took a week in the hospital on antibiotics to bring him around.


We make it a rule in our home to not worry about what a person might have, and worry instead about how they are acting. Simply saying that the boy was sick for a week doesn't tell the whole story.... my daughter was recently sick for three, and when I finally broke down and took her to the doc after two weeks, his response was the same as my initial thought.... wait it out, it's just a virus.


I've seen people lose kids that they thought were just sick. A friend had a teenager, one of their children's friends, die at their house in the night due to pneumonia. Another friend lost her brother, when he spiked a fever and mom gave him Tylenol and sent him to bed. It happens, so while I think it's good that it's being looked into, I'm not about to blame the mom for being negligent just yet.

Fair enough and I do take your point, something we think is nothing could very easily turn out to be something very life threatening.

But I keep getting stuck on this,

despite numerous friends and family urging her to take the boy to a doctor.
I'm sorry but that does strike me as negligent, on the face of it. Not that I think she should be spend years in jail or anything like that, in fact sometimes I think in these circumstances a sentence of no time to be served is the best option, but a conviction would be there. That would be the deterrent so hopefully we can avoid such trials in the future.

But of course, as per usual, we are all commenting out of one newspaper article which is never the same thing as being there.
 

Retired_Can_Soldier

The End of the Dog is Coming!
Mar 19, 2006
11,282
479
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Alberta
How many children die at the hands of doctors every year? The medical professionals are not gods (like some people seem to think). Doctors have their place but they are not the be all and end all for everything. They can misdiagnose just as easily as this woman did. Arresting her is nothing more than the allopathic and pharmaceutical companies trying to discredit alternative medicine. They don't have all the answers and more and more doctors are moving toward multiple medical disciplines. What they are doing to this poor mother is no less cruel and insensitive as what they are accusing her if. This is just plain stupid.

Wow, this post is too stupid even for a thumbs down. Grab a friggin brain Cliffy.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
But I keep getting stuck on this,

I'm sorry but that does strike me as negligent, on the face of it. Not that I think she should be spend years in jail or anything like that, in fact sometimes I think in these circumstances a sentence of no time to be served is the best option, but a conviction would be there. That would be the deterrent so hopefully we can avoid such trials in the future.

But of course, as per usual, we are all commenting out of one newspaper article which is never the same thing as being there.


Yeah, on the face of it, I agree. BUT, they also didn't deem him sick enough to intervene, apparently.
 

tay

Hall of Fame Member
May 20, 2012
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Ryan Lovett was dying for days, pathologist testifies at mother's trial


For 14 minutes, doctors and nurses at the Alberta Children's Hospital tried to revive a cold, yellowed boy who had no signs of life b
ut Ryan Lovett was already dead.

The seven-year-old had developed an "overwhelming blood infection," according to medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Brooks-Lim, who testified in a Calgary court on Tuesday.

His mother, Tamara Lovett, is on trial for failing to provide the necessaries of life and criminal negligence causing death, for Ryan's death on March 3, 2013.

The boy ultimately died of a Group A strep infection, doctors say.

The next day, Brooks-Lim performed an autopsy on the boy.

There was no evidence of Tylenol or Advil in his body, said Brooks-Lim.

Instead, Lovett treated him with dandelion tea and oil of oregano, according to Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak.

Hak said the child was deteriorating for 10 days, until the day before his death when he was "in considerable pain." He had slurred speech, and his organs had begun to shut down.

Brooks-Lim said those symptoms aligned with her findings, and suggested that Ryan was deteriorating for days leading up to his death.

"This is not something that occurred in minutes or hours," said Brooks-Lim.

"It was my opinion that this child died from an overwhelming sepsis due to a Group A streptococcus and parainfluenza virus infection."
She said Ryan also had meningitis infecting the covering of his brain.

In his last two weeks of life, Ryan lost nearly 10 pounds, according his mother, who gave a statement to police. He weighed 46 pounds, placing him in the 25th percentile for boys his age at the time of death.

The child's weight loss alone should have been alarming enough to bring him to a doctor, said Jadavji.

"If somebody cannot recognize that, well then there is a problem there."

Ryan Lovett was dying for days, pathologist testifies at mother's trial - Calgary - CBC News
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
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if i trusted doctors, id be a year dead now
so where do you draw the line?

Wow, this post is too stupid even for a thumbs down. Grab a friggin brain Cliffy.

Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Killing 225,000 People Every Year
Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Killing 225,000 People Every Year
maybe you should learn to be less judgmental?

...and if doctors knew what repairs heart muscles, doctors would be number two not number three
BTW
yarrow stops strep throat, tooth ache, fleasheating disease, ecoli, and gangrene

and while you are mulling this over
you also got to axe yo self " how many people really die of the actual flu every year?"

"The typical estimate is 36,000 [deaths] a year in the United States," reports NBC, citing the Centers for Disease Control. "Somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians a year die of influenza and its related complications, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada," the Globe and Mail says, adding that "Those numbers are controversial because they are estimates."

According to the National Vital Statistics System in the U.S., for example, annual flu deaths in 2010 amounted to just 500 per year -- fewer than deaths from ulcers (2,977), hernias (1,832) and pregnancy and childbirth (825), and a far cry from the big killers such as heart disease (597,689) and cancers (574,743). The story is similar in Canada, where unlikely killers likewise dwarf Statistics Canada's count of flu deaths.
Don't Believe Everything You Read About Flu DeathsÂ*|Â*Lawrence Solomon

gotta get THAT vaccine!
yeah, trust your doctor and likely die broke
 
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