Courtesy of Raw Story:
A 15-year-old Canadian boy suffering from severe effects of insulin-dependent diabetes died because his religious parents refused to seek proper medical care, the CBC reports.
Emil and Rodica Radita are on trial for first-degree murder after their son, Alex, died in 2013 from what prosecutors say were the effects of his parents’ refusal to seek medical care and rely on prayer and home treatment instead.
Alex was diagnosed with diabetes as a 3 year old. The condition can be controlled by monitoring blood glucose levels and giving insulin. But his parents believed that doctors caused the condition by treating him for it and left his diabetes untreated.
The result was that by the time Alex was 15, he weighed no more than a 4-year-old.
The boy weighed only 37 pounds at the time of his death. Which is a fact so upsetting that I just had to take a break while typing this.
As if all of this were not troubling enough, the parents of the boy also believe that he was resurrected by their God.
Courtesy of the New York Daily News:
Alex Radita, a diabetic Calgary teenager, was lying dead in his family home for up to 36 hours before his parents called 911, investigators say.
But his parents — who are now on trial for their son’s murder — allegedly told a very different story to friends: Their boy died and was resurrected by God one day before paramedics arrived at their house, and found his emaciated body in a bed.
That bizarre claim surfaced last week, days into the trial of Rodica and Emil Radita, who are charged with first-degree murder in the death of their 15-year-old son.
I often get people here who are upset with the fact that I refer to religion as a "superstition" or that I do not differentiate between the one that they believe in and all of the ones that they themselves "know" are bullshit.
"Stop attacking my religion, it doesn't hurt for people to have faith."
But the fact is that yes quite often it actually DOES hurt somebody.
In fact I would argue that it causes far more harm than people would like to admit, in the form of dumbing down our school systems, forcing their morality onto the communities around them, and selectively choosing certain groups of people for abuse and denial of their basic human rights.
It is superstition, simply put. Right in there with everything else that goes bump in th night. We do love our boogeymen as we ignore the true vampires in our midst.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Nancy French feels so gleeful about palin's sanctioned trump attacks on her family? On her child? See Politico.com
ReplyDeleteWelcome to reality Nancy.
Your last paragraph is spot-on. Thank you, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteSome humans have evolved further than others. Unfortunately for this poor child, his parents belong to the later group.
ReplyDeleteAnd it always boggles my mind when people think our freedom OF(meaning freedom from) religion means religious freedom. Our founding fathers made darn sure we wouldn't be controlled by a state run religion.
ReplyDeleteIt's heartbreaking. I had not realized until recently the harm that religion has caused and continues to inflict. Thank you Gryphen for speaking up on behalf of reason, sanity and true morality. As it was for me, more and more people are now opening their eyes to the harm that religion had caused and we will all be better human beings for it.
ReplyDeleteSadly there are hundreds of dead children in Idaho due to this same mentality.
DeleteWhat happened to that child is indeed heartbreaking. It is also unfathomable to me that parents could watch their child's body wither away like that over a period of years without seeking medical help.
ReplyDeleteWere there no outsiders who could have intervened? No saner relatives or neighbors?
It is fitting that the parents be charged with first-degree murder. I hope they are also being charged for having tortured their child for years before his death.
Beaglemom
What these people did had nothing to do with God. God has no problem with mankind using medicine to treat illness. After-all He is the author of all medical science.
ReplyDeleteSO don't blame God for people stupidity.
P.S. believing in God is NOT religion.
You can be religious in anything.
You can be religious in evil doing.
You can be religious in a hobby.
You can be religious in stupidity, as these parents are.
Nothing but a bunch of BS.
DeleteP.S. You can be religious in atheism.
ReplyDeleteIs there a contest for the dumbest thing that somebody can say today?
DeleteBecause if there is I think you just won.
I am a diabetic and I can only imagine how horrible the poor child felt with uncontrolled diabetes, the kidney damage, the nerve damage, they eye damage he was suffering, etc. These parents are idiots and monsters for not properly caring for their sick son. They should be as harshly punished as someone starving their children because they are no different. How can you watch your child suffer for years, knowing doctors and insulin could save his life? They aren't Christians they are insane. I was told by some crazy nuts that I was sinning by using insulin. Morons.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine refused thyroid medication believing humans can heal themselves from everything due to the Christian Scientist religion. At one phase she felt angry believing her doctor said things (medical consequences of low thyroid) just so she buy unecessary medicine for their profit.
ReplyDeleteI have no use for religions that do not believe in science.
This is beyond cruel and the worse form of child abuse. I doubt any God condones the parent's behavior. I'm against the death sentence, and cases like this really test me on this.
ReplyDeleteHow do you punish someone who believes God will take their souls to heaven? Diabetes is a manageable illness, and it's still deadly if not monitored.