Tamara Lovett a Calgary, Canada mother is sentenced three years jail after being found guilty of criminal negligence after failing to take her sick son to a doctor.
Tamara Lovett an Alberta, Calgary, Canada mother was on Saturday sentenced to three years prison after her seven year old son, Ryan Lovett died due to a severe strep infection.
The woman’s sentencing follows the mother being convicted in January of criminal negligence causing death, according to CTV News, after the mother had insisted on treating her ill son’s condition with oregano oil and dandelion tea rather than with medicine.
‘Ryan suffered terribly from this inaction,’ Justice Kristine Eidsvik said during her ruling. ‘He died an excruciating, unnecessary death.’
Though she did not blame Lovett for the initial sickness, the court found that ‘her failure to bring him to a medical doctor caused his death.’
The woman’s seven year old son fell ill and was bed ridden at home for 10 days in 2013, at which time Lovett gave him dandelion tea and oil of oregano to treat his infection.
Rather than improving the boy’s condition, Ryan’s condition continued to worsen, by then exhibiting symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes, oozing ears and jaundiced eyes.
An autopsy showed that Ryan’s body was riddled with group A streptococcus bacteria, which caused most of his major organs to fail reported the Calgary Herald.
Tamara Lovett sentencing: ‘I hope others learn from my ignorance.’
Lovett admitted during the proceeding that what she did was wrong, and the court acknowledged her grief and suffering.
‘Her remorse, I believe, is genuine,’ said Eidsvik.
The justice, however, remained skeptical that Lovett’s beliefs about the medical system had shifted.
Following the sentencing, prosecutor Jonathan Hak said that the ruling sent a clear message to the public.
‘If your child is not getting better, you are legally and morally bound to take that child to an actual doctor for actual medical care.’
Lovett’s lawyer, Alain Hepner, had asked the court to throw out the case, arguing that the time of her arrest to her conviction exceeded her right to a speedy trial.
In all, Lovett’s case spanned over 38 months, with an additional six-month extension granted to the defense to prepare for the trial.
Lovett said during court proceedings that she believed Ryan merely had a cold or the flu, and thought his symptoms could be managed with home remedies.
Lovett has been out on bail until Saturday.
Told the mother during her sentencing, ‘[I] can’t begin to forgive myself,’
Adding, ‘I hope others learn from my ignorance.’
To date it remains unclear why the mother had such a distrust/antipathy of the medical establishment and why she continued to decline to seek medical treatment as the boy’s condition only continued to degenerate ….
