Ezekiel is the victim, not his parents

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 28, 2017.

David and Collet Stephan are not victims.

The couple paint themselves as such, following the extensive legal battle in which they were convicted last year of failing to provide the necessities of life for their 19-month-old son Ezekiel who died from bacterial meningitis in 2012.

The pair were convicted by a Lethbridge jury, with David sentenced to four months in jail, and Collet given three months house arrest. And, as is their legal right, they are challenging this. They’ve already lost an appeal to Alberta’s top court, and now seeking to take their case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Throughout this, the Stephans have positioned themselves as martyrs, unjustly suffering and targeted by the Crown, media, public and more, with the truth being suppressed.

This is the truth: The Stephans treated their ill 19-month-old child with hot peppers, garlic, onions and horseradish for weeks.

That? That is the start of a recipe for soup. It is not proper medical treatment. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

It reached a point where they had to give him water from an eye dropper.

They didn’t seek professional medical attention when Ezekiel’s body was so stiff he couldn’t sit in his car seat, and he had to lie on a mattress as his mother drove him to a naturopathic clinic in Lethbridge. Nor when a friend and nurse suggested the illness could be meningitis, which for any parent would have sounded the alarm bells that professional medical assistance was needed.

They only, finally, called 911 because Ezekiel stopped breathing.

It was too late. Ezekiel died a death that was absolutely preventable.

In his most recent statements, the father has said the Crown has in “times past have been excessively cruel and inhumane towards us”

You know what’s excessively cruel and inhumane? Dying from meningitis. It’s a horrific, extremely painful illness.

If it hadn’t been for his death, how long would the Stephans have let Ezekiel suffer, due to a stubborn pride and ideology that pits them against actual proven medicine?

And what kind of person doesn’t admit that they were wrong, that still stands by their horrific decisions that lead to their child being dead?

The argument has been made that this conviction opens up the floodgates so parents will be arrested over every little mistake they make in caring for their child. That’s absolute hogwash and fearmongering.

There is an enormous difference between not rushing your child off to the ER because they have the sniffles for a few days, and then realizing —and getting — help they need, and doing what the Stephans did to Ezekiel.

They made horrendous unjustifiable decisions, and don’t want to be held accountable for them.

Never forget that the victim here is Ezekiel, that beautiful curly-haired child, who should still be alive, laughing, learning and growing up in this world.