Are Parents afraid of the Health System, or are they just crazy?

[mixiboi]

Because one story in the news is weird, two stories is really creepy...


Parents get probation for using prayer to cure ill son, 2, who died | Philadelphia Daily News | 02/03/2011

Herbert Schaible looked relieved yesterday morning after leaving the Philadelphia courtroom where he and his wife, Catherine, had just been sentenced to 10 years of probation rather than to prison for refusing to get medical help to prevent their son's death.

The couple will have to report in person to a probation officer for two years, then by phone for three years, Temin ordered. They will not report for the last five years.

Also each of their children must be examined by a medical professional within a month, followup visits must be scheduled if recommended and, if a child gets sick before age 18, the couple must consult with a doctor and follow all advice, the judge ruled.

"We have no problem letting someone examine our children, because God will show that they are perfectly healthy," Herbert said.

Wrestler’s family grapples with hospital in court | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/03/2011

On Tuesday, Vernell Mitchell got the call from a school wrestling coach: Your son Mazeratti has been injured. He can't move. An ambulance is on the way.

She and her husband, Jack, rejected the advice of doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital that her son needed surgery and medication to repair a spinal injury suffered during a wrestling practice.

On Thursday, the Boothwyn couple was in a Delaware County court, navigating the legal system after 16-year-old Mazeratti was taken into protective custody by Children and Youth Services on the advice of Jefferson doctors. Common Please Judge Mary Alice Brennan continued the hearing until Monday, giving the Mitchells time to retain a lawyer.

The family, which has eight children aged 10 to 29 years, are all vegans and practice naturopathic medicine. Vernell Mitchell, 47, says she is a naturopathic doctor and believes her son's injury can be healed through other methods, including herbs and physical therapy. She wants time to get another medical opinion.

Mazeratti, nicknamed "Mazie," was wrestling during a team practice at Chichester High School when he flipped over and collided heads with his opponent, his mother said. Though he did not lose consciousness, he was dazed, and for a few minutes he could not move.

Doctors at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was initially taken, transferred Mazeratti to Jefferson, Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a "bruised spine," his mother said. Medical records she was given indicate there was no fractures, she said.

The teen is lying flat on his back in a neck brace at the hospital, his mother said. Doctors told the family that any "slip and fall" could further damage his spine, and they want to use rods, screws and plates to stabilize his neck.

"He doesn't want the surgery, he doesn't want steroids either, or medicines that would elevate his blood pressure," said Vernell Mitchell. She said her son is already gaining strength in his legs but has some weakness in his arms.

I understand a slight fear of the medical system and the mistakes they make, but leaving it up to god and herbs?

I didn't know we were back in the 18th century.

[Dayman]

Science education is a joke in this nation. People believe everything that Oprah and the internet tell them. We have no critical thinking ability.

[Eastcoast]

Crazy and stupid!

[Freckles]

Let them all do what they want, but take away their ability to sue if something goes awry.

[mixiboi]

That would work if the government wasn't in the "saving" business..

Sure they can do whatever they want to themselves, but when it comes to their children, that is when you can't just sit by.

[ACG]

Let them all do what they want, but take away their ability to sue if something goes awry.

Because children lack the knowledge or critical thinking to make such adult decisions like making very difficult and scary medical choices, their parents are charged with doing what is in the children's best interest. When the adult in this position fail to do that and place the children in harms way, we need to have something/someone in place to advocate for the children's best interest. And what is in the best interest is not always what they want.

[OKT3]

Sad, because I believe now he's outside the time window for some of the treatment modalities (eg, hi dose steroids) that may have improved his outcome.

[mixiboi]

Sad, because I believe now he's outside the time window for some of the treatment modalities (eg, hi dose steroids) that may have improved his outcome.

All I know is that he better not go back to wrestling, tho I know some wrestlers go on after that, later on in life they have to fuse their vertebrae and live with some pain...