Vegans convicted of starving baby to death

[karrie]

Vegans get life sentences in baby's starving death

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2007 | 12:42 PM ET

The Associated Press


A vegan couple in Atlanta have been sentenced to life in prison for the death of their malnourished six-week-old boy, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.
Superior Court Judge L.A. McConnell imposed the automatic life sentences Tuesday on 27-year-old Jade Sanders and 31-year-old Lamont Thomas.
Their son, Crown Shakur, weighed only 3½ pounds when he died of starvation on April 25, 2004.
Sanders and Thomas were convicted on May 2 of charges of murder and cruelty to children.
Defence lawyers said the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans, who typically don't consume or use any animal products.
They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

But the prosecution persuaded the jury that the couple had deliberately underfed and neglected their baby, then tried to use veganism as an excuse.
"The vegan diet is fine," prosecutor Chuck Boring told the jury during the trial. "These parents lied about what they fed him. He just was not fed enough."
He added: "They’re not vegans. They’re baby-killers."
The Canadian Pediatric Society says a vegan diet may compromise the growth of infants and children. The group suggests a less restrictive lacto-ovo diet of non-animal foods plus eggs and dairy products for children to meet their nutrition needs.

 

[gopher]

God punishes.

 

[Libra Girl]

They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

The baby weighed 3 and a half pounds at six weeks old, and they didn't know he was in danger?? I mean, they may have been first time parents, but these were no teenagers without a clue, they were close to, and in their thirties... But, what happened to the post natal checks? Why wasn't it spotted by the professionals that this baby was seriously underweight?

One would think that if one was to become a vegan, then it would be prudent to research what that means, especially since it would be a lifelong commitment. So, presumably they must have known that soy milk and apple juice wouldn't sustain the poor little thing. But, in any event, who in their right minds would put a new born on a vegan diet, especially if they only 'think' that it would be nutritional.

 

[eh1eh]

Well L I don't thinking was their forte.:-|

 

[El Barto]

Well L I don't thinking was their forte.:-|

You can say the parents are a bunch of meat heads

 

[karrie]

But, in any event, who in their right minds would put a new born on a vegan diet, especially if they only 'think' that it would be nutritional.

What the courts are saying, is that on soy milk and apple juice, a baby should be able to live. Not thrive perhaps, but live. They've based the life sentence on the assumption that the baby wasn't actually fed anything at all, let alone soy milk and apple juice.

It sounds to me like, if these people didn't give birth in hospital, they may not have had any postnatal care either. I know of one commune in Alberta where the babies were born, died, and were buried, all without ever seeing a doctor.

 

[Libra Girl]

What the courts are saying, is that on soy milk and apple juice, a baby should be able to live. Not thrive perhaps, but live. They've based the life sentence on the assumption that the baby wasn't actually fed anything at all, let alone soy milk and apple juice.

Yes, I took that on board karrie, but, the thought that a parent could deliberately abstain from actually feeding a new born baby, heck, starve a child at any age, is simply too frightening to even think about. I'm trying hard to give them the benefit of the doubt. Where are these people coming from? They're not even in a league with humanity, surely. There are some real sicko's out there...

 

[TenPenny]

Vegans get life sentences in baby's starving death

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2007 | 12:42 PM ET

The Associated Press


A vegan couple in Atlanta have been sentenced to life in prison for the death of their malnourished six-week-old boy, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.

Some people are so stupid they shouldn't be allowed to breed.

I hope they only get apple juice in prison, dumb ****s.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

This ain't a vegan thing. It was plain stupidity and cruelty. A vegan diet for small children may not be the best for development but it won't kill them.

Do vegans breast feed?

 

[eh1eh]

Do vegans breast feed? Good question. I would think not as human breast milk is the product of an animal.:-|

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

But there is no ethical issues and how much more natural can you get. Unless there is something to being vegan I am missing.

 

[eh1eh]

T]he word "veganism" denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.


Source

Not sure Rom. But this is what wiki says.

 

[able]

If I were a vegan, I would kick those murderous morons in the a*s. Not only did they kill their child, they also discredited a way of life that may or may not be good. It also doesn't speak well for the intelligence of the practitioners.

 

[mabudon]

I've been vegetarian for almost 15 years
Tried the vegan thing a few times, but a combo of late night partying and beer always led me down the Pizza Path and "off the wagon" back to plain ol' vegetarian- I still can't handle milk and refuse to eat plain eggs, but I am not so strict as to utterly avoid such things- if someone made a fine cheesecake that has eggs in it, I would likely eat a piece, but such occasions hardly translate to what I would call my "diet", which is devoid of eggs and milk on a day to day basis

That being said (gotta have full disclosure) I find it kind of quaint how some folks take their eating habits so "religiously"- I only eat the way I do cos I CAN choose it- if it came down to breaking my own basically made-up "rules" or dying, well, the "rules" were there for me to live better, and if I can't both live AND keep to it, then it's got to go

These people sound like first-rate idiots. I know of a person who lost a baby cos they were "let's do everything natural, meeyaoun" ("meeyaoun" is how the most annoying west-coast hippies seem to pronounce "man", just FYI) brain-dead hippie-types and lived in a a hovel with no facilities, refused the "unnatural" healthcare professionals advice and/or involvement and magically managed to actually keep the poor kid alive for almost 5 years before the reaper paid the visit- can't recall cause of death, but I mentally chalked it up to absolute stupidity. And sorry, I can't even recall off the top of my head who it was so I don't know the outcome, just remember hearing the news and being completely not surprised... that was also around the time that I started HATING HIPPIES- (the somehow pretentious, "mega natural" phoney ones, not the Cheech and Chong holdout types so much)

WHEW sorry back on track here- them folks deserve possibly more than what they got for what they did here. "Vegan" is NOT a bad word or a bad idea at all. Being stupid is usually fatal tho.

 

[AmberEyes]

It's such a sad thing to hear, and yet I don't find it impossible that people like that exist - I've seen many stupid things in my life.

On the good side though, I know of an extreme vegan couple that, despite the criticisms they receive, have done a wonderful job of raising their children. They've made a few mistakes, I can assure you... like not carrying tylenol when their 2 year old had a fever, began having seizures and relied on my mothers nursing training to survive. Needless to say, they carry even the most basic drugs now... if not for them, for their children. They have allowed their kids to eat eggs from the chickens they keep, and milk from the local freerange dairy cows.

 

[Pangloss]

It's such a sad thing to hear, and yet I don't find it impossible that people like that exist - I've seen many stupid things in my life.

On the good side though, I know of an extreme vegan couple that, despite the criticisms they receive, have done a wonderful job of raising their children. They've made a few mistakes, I can assure you... like not carrying tylenol when their 2 year old had a fever, began having seizures and relied on my mothers nursing training to survive. Needless to say, they carry even the most basic drugs now... if not for them, for their children. They have allowed their kids to eat eggs from the chickens they keep, and milk from the local freerange dairy cows.

A vegan couple keeping chickens? Sounds a little odd - are you sure they aren't vegetarians?

Also - a six week old baby should be getting nothing but breast milk - the development of the immune system, for a start, depends on it.

At what point does stupid behaviour become criminal? When it hurts someone else.

Pangloss

 

[karrie]

A vegan couple keeping chickens? Sounds a little odd - are you sure they aren't vegetarians?

Also - a six week old baby should be getting nothing but breast milk - the development of the immune system, for a start, depends on it.

At what point does stupid behaviour become criminal? When it hurts someone else.

Pangloss

Lots of vegans rescue farm animals and keep them free range. It doesn't necessarily mean they 'exploit' them for food. They just let them live their lives, and if food happens to appear, such as an egg laid here or there, it gets tossed or given to someone who can use it. I've seen this sort of thing before with vegans I've known.

Perhaps I shouldn't have put 'vegan' in the thread title, since it apparently didn't factor into this baby's death, yet everyone's hung up on it.

 

[mabudon]

S'okay, Karrie, after all it IS part of what makes the story- neglect is one thing, but neglect with some sort of goofy "purpose" is kinda WAY worse in my book, and so I had to make my post reflect my own experiences- if this were a thread trashing vegans in general, well that would be a problem, but everyone participating so far has been real good about discussing it proper

Tho if you'd used "idiots" it would have been appropriate too, but I would likely not have chimed in were that the case , whatever that's worth

 

[Libra Girl]

But karrie, how could you not have included 'vegan' in the title? The article makes use of the word 'vegan' or 'veganism' six times...

 

[tracy]

I've worked with vegans and they do breastfeed. They can even use soy based infant formulas if they don't want to do that. Isomil is one formula made with soy, we often use it for kids with strong family histories of milk allergies who don't tolerate our other formulas. These parents were clearly negligent. There is no way you could think a 3.5 lb baby was healthy at 6 weeks. We wouldn't even let a kid that weight go home because they would likely have trouble even maintaining their own temperature.

Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of kids who were malnourished at home. In my experience, it's almost always first time parents who were given bad information about breastfeeding and just don't use common sense. Some post partum nurses will tell parents they should NEVER supplement breast feeding with formula. That's not true in all cases. I've seen kids come to our hospital so jaundiced and dehydrated because they didn't get enough to eat that they practically glow yellow. We used to call those families the Simpsons.