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Vegan Parents Found Guilty Of Malnourishing Child

  
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:39 / 05.04.03
Full story here.

The couple fed their toddler daughter, Ice, a homemade soy bean and herb infant formula that left the little girl with the appearance of a Third World famine victim and the developmental abilities of a newborn. At 15 months, Ice had no teeth and could not sit up, crawl or walk.


The Swintons will face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced at a later date by Judge Richard Buchter.


With their verdict, which came after two days of deliberations, the jury rejected arguments of the Swintons' attorneys, who said the couple wanted only the best for their baby and did not realize the harm the diet was causing her.


The felony assault and reckless endangerment convictions indicate the panel found the couple acted with "depraved indifference," or recklessness "so wanton" that it is equivalent to purposefully starving Ice. If the jury had found the Swintons simply reckless, they could have convicted them on misdemeanor charges that carry no mandatory jail time.


So, I can't imagine that anyone could argue that these people didn't do an incredibly stupid thing, but what do you think of the potential of a penalty as severe as 25 years in jail? Is that possibly a bit harsh considering that these people just seem to be very uninformed and misguided people who probably had the best of intentions?

I am personally glad to see that they are being punished, mind you.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
20:47 / 05.04.03
Will the effects of the malnourishing be permanant?
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
20:53 / 05.04.03
Yes, 25 years is too harsh. Surely the child is better off with it's own newly chastised and educated parents rather than a foster family?
 
 
fluid_state
21:52 / 05.04.03
I agrre 25 years is a bit much, and I'd like to think that the "newly chastised and educated" parents would, say question the previous certainty of their views, but christ, why didn't they research the potential harmful effects of their diet plan BEFORE feeding it to the kid for 15 months?

Oh, and when I say, "a bit much", I mean "ludicrously insane over-compensation". Is it possible they're being made a vicious example? "Eat meat, vegan screwheads, or we'll ram it down your throat, San Quentin style!"
 
 
Cailín
04:56 / 06.04.03
I dunno... Remember that mother in Toronto who watered down her son's formaula too much because she couldn't be bothered to read the directions? When he died he was two or three pounds lighter than he had been at birth, and she had noticed the weight loss, and a lack of energy, but claimed she didn't know he was really in trouble. I wanted her to rot in jail. (Didn't happen.) The bond between a parent and a child should be the strongest we ever experience in our lives, and lots of children are pretty much vegan for the first year or so of their lives (lactose intolerant children who consume soy formula), and they are fine. The parents had to have known that there was something terribly wrong with their daughter, and they did nothing - I mean, she was toothless, underweight, and well behind in the standard of development. They seem more caught up in their beliefs than in the well-being of their child. I can't say for sure that a 25 year sentence is appropriate, but if it will keep them from doing this sort of harm again (they also have an infant son), well, I can live with that. People don't tend to change their behaviour when it comes to their personal beliefs just because you tell them that it's harmful. The mother doesn't trust traditional medicine, so until social services intervened, the child was never seen by a doctor. And she only spoke to a nutritionist about her homemade formula after her daughter was taken away. Everything points to complete and utter negligence, coupled with indifference. If she had left her daughter out in the cold every night and claimed she didn't know it was harmful, there would be no debate about the degree of guilt - why would she assume that a concoction of "coconut milk, pecans, hazelnuts, ground soybeans and 16 herbs" would sustain a child, without maybe trying it out on herself for a week or two first to see how it made her feel? Or maybe consulting a textbook - she has taken science courses at college. Suffice it to say I'm more than a little angry about the actions of these parents (particularly the mother, since the father is bordering on mental retardation). And as a strict vegetarian, I'd like to point out that I plan to leave the decision about consuming meat and animal products up to my future kids; it's not really up to me to deny them food.
 
 
A
05:26 / 06.04.03
What's really annoying about this is that it's quite easy to raise a healthy infant on a vegan diet. I know people who've done it. The problem here is that the parents in question seem to have been fucking morons, not simply that they were vegans. But of course, this makes it seem as though rasing a vegan child is child abuse in and of itself. Fucking hippies.
 
 
Naked Flame
14:46 / 06.04.03
What's even more annoying is that actually they weren't vegan.

Unless someone changed what they put in cod liver oil without telling me.
 
 
gingerbop
19:41 / 06.04.03
Why dont they make compulsory post-natal classes, including dietary stuff. Or do they already? That is atrocious, though 25 years, perhaps a bit much.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
22:22 / 06.04.03
Well, they might not get 25 years. They haven't been sentenced yet, 25 years is just the maximum sentence hanging over their heads.
 
 
w1rebaby
00:34 / 07.04.03
But of course, this makes it seem as though rasing a vegan child is child abuse in and of itself.

Whatever happens, if this becomes more widely publicised it will be used as a stick to beat vegans with. Imagine the right-wing columnists on this one. (I can already imagine this appearing on some blogs in the same way.)
 
 
Naked Flame
07:04 / 07.04.03
We do not fear the stick. Vegans are mighty.

But veganism shouldn't take the rap. Raarrrrgh.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:54 / 07.04.03
Right, veganism shouldn't take the fall for this. If this case indicates anything, it is that there are a lot of people who don't fully understand the science behind nutrition and need to be educated about strict diets before subjecting them to children. Though it is certainly possible to raise a healthy child as a vegan, it can only be done when the parents are responsible and informed, and willing to admit when they are fucking up horribly and placing a child in grave danger.

It also suggests that perhaps the choice to be vegan should be something that a person should make themselves rather than have thrust upon them by overzealous parents.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:57 / 07.04.03
Count Adam this makes it seem as though rasing a vegan child is child abuse in and of itself.

I didn't read that into it at all. You might as well say it was because they were black, or the husband has special educational needs or the wife used to be fat. I think it's more a 'blinkered unwillingness to accept that sometimes you don't know what's best' is to blame.
 
 
Ariadne
13:22 / 07.04.03
It's hard to imagine how they watched the child sicken and did nothing about it - there must be vegan-friendly nutritionists they could have spoken to, who might have been able to get them back on the right track.

Inevitably there will be a some anti-vegan hassle from this, because people skim read the story and come away with 'veganism = dead children'. Not to mention veganism = barmy.

It also suggests that perhaps the choice to be vegan should be something that a person should make themselves rather than have thrust upon them by overzealous parents.

You could say the same about being raised religious, or right-wing, or paranoid about getting fat. If parents believe something strongly then they're going to want to do the best -- from their perspective -- for their child, whether that's feeding them vegan food or raising them to believe in the devil. Who decides who's overzealous? And if you believe killing animals to be wrong, how are you going to bring yourself to feed flesh to your baby?
 
 
Ariadne
13:29 / 07.04.03
Just read it again and she did see a nutritionist. Not soon enough, from the sound of things.
 
 
fluid_state
23:40 / 07.04.03
From the other side of the fence.
 
 
Salamander
05:03 / 08.04.03
i think the judgement was too harsh, the parents should have been given a year in jail, and then subjected to a year of community service consisting of nutrition courses, and then be given back there baby, thats if society is intrested in making them reformed and better people.
 
 
Punji Steak
09:00 / 08.04.03
"You could say the same about being raised religious, or right-wing, or paranoid about getting fat. If parents believe something strongly..."

Exactly, you've got it right there. In my humble opinion, parents don't have the right to enforce any strongly held views on their children, otherwise we end up with a generation of blinkered fucking conservatives like we have now. See, it works both ways? It is a parent's responsibility to try and ensure that their kids get the most broad and open minded upbringing possible. I distrust anyone with strongly held views, especially when they ram them down their kid's throats. I guess at the end of the day it's all about choice.

(Christ, this sounds like a pretty strongly held view of mine, but I hope you get the point....)
 
 
Ariadne
09:10 / 08.04.03
A strongly held view is a strongly held view, and if someone's deeply conservative, for instance, you're going to have a hard time persuading them not to tell their children what they think. So, I see your point but it's not particularly workable. Open minded people will try to raise their children in an open minded way - just as Christians will rasie their kids as Christian and so on...
 
 
Ariadne
09:13 / 08.04.03
Eeep, and I don't mean to suggest for one moment that Christians aren't open-minded! That was just an unfortunate juxtaposition of 'viewpoints one might pass on'.
 
 
Punji Steak
09:24 / 08.04.03
Totally true Ariadne, if somewhat frustrating. Now that I've had my first coffee of the day you'll be glad to know I've calmed down somewhat...
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
12:42 / 08.04.03
I think anyone who deliberately prevents their child from eating things like spotted dick, fish & chips, and wine gums is right on the brink of cruelty anyway.
 
  
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