The case is pretty egregious. I can't even imagine the circumstances that led to it. But, my question is this: The parents may spend the rest of their lives in jail. Do you think the punishment fits the crime?
I could possibly understand if their daughter had not been previously diagnosed... no wait... I can't. What parent lets their child suffer that long? Neglect seems acceptable to this family if there are animal feces all over the place. It enrages me that the family was more concerned with the current state of their household or rather how other people would perceive their household than their daughter being so sick that she couldn't stand.
I realize that they may not fully understand the signs of DKA but I think when your child is so sick she's wetting herself that it may be time to call 9-1-1. Even if she thought she had the flu why didn't the call their CDE/Endo? Why weren't they checking her blood sugars and giving her insulin around the clock? It's so shady and it IS neglect.
OMG! I can not even imagine. my mother took care of me and still to this day worries and attempts to take care of me haha. like..sounds like the poor girl was living in horrible living conditions.. thats so sad but im glad justice was served.. even though it does not bring the girl back.
Is this the same family that there was a thread about on here a week or two ago? As a parent, I can't even imagine how this could happen!!!!!!!!!!! No matter how desperate your situation, how could you not call 911 for your child?
Here's a local newspaper article on this story. http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_diabetes25.1de0c66df.html Not sure how to do a link, so just copy and paste in your browser address bar and hit go or enter.
That is just disgusting... absolutely they should be tried for murder.. neglect to that extent couldn't be considered any less, especially considering they knew she had diabetes, and that the father has diabetes as well
I can't get over that BG level... 1,295!!! Of course they had to know something was going on with her diabetes. They absolutely got what they deserved. I feel bad for the sister.
In one hand yes stupidity should be punishable by law but in the other it cant always. Yes the parents are at fault for the girls death but at the same time I have to think they both have mental problems of some kind to let their daughter just die. Not to mention live in those conditions but then again if the mom was embarrassed by the condition of the home then she is there enough to know her daughter was in a bad way. Its just hard for me to believe the parents would just not do something I mean if she needed to be in a diaper at 17 something is wrong. So yeah I guess jail is the right place for them but honestly I think they will in like it in there compared to home.
As for not knowing before the dx well I have to say its not always cut and dry. With Ri she came close to dieing. We didnt have a clue. I am not a oh my kid sneezed they need medical attention type parent. There was a lot going on that could have been from other things. I wasnt to worried about it until well she was in a coma like state. She was still kinda waking up but not much. I then knew for sure something was wrong. I had brought her to the urgent care the day before and they said strep and gave her liquid antibiotics. Her blood sugar was in the 500's but her body had been eating itself for a couple of months. I thought she has lost 10 lbs but she lost 20 my scale was wrong. She is going through puberty I just thought her body was changing. So yeah I can see it happening before a dx it almost did to us.
I brought this up in the previous thread from a couple weeks ago.
I agree the parents should be held accountable, but I still wonder why, at 17, the daughter wasn't taking care of herself? Why wouldn't she taker her own insulin and check her own blood sugars?
Regardless, the parents should have intervened. I think the verdict is fair.
I have to wonder what their financial position was. As we all know, T1 can be a very expensive disease to manage, sometimes even WITH health insurance. What if they had to buy insulin out of pocket, and couldn't afford her dosage? I'm not taking the parents' side, or saying they couldn't have done more/ANYTHING, but I think there may be more to the story to explain why she was left in that state.
that's absolutely insane. i mean, seriously, what's more important: keeping the condition of your house hidden or keeping your daughter alive?
what's even crazier is that they knew she was diabetic and the doctor told them to keep an eye on her. if the doctor told my mom to keep a closer eye on me she would never leave me, haha
this is rediculous how could a parent just let their child die in fronna them? this is disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! these parents deserve ta rot in prison, and suffer just as bad, more like worse than they caused theis daughter too!!!!!
During the trial, three of the Lathams' other children testified to the poor conditions of the home and watching their sister die. The daughters did not show sympathy for their parents, having been in foster care for the past three years, Magno said.
This quote from the article says alot ! I think that jail is probably to good for the parents( way cleaner and healthier than where they were living). It makes me sad that someone outside of the family didn't/ couldn't do anything -- three girls in foster care already and no one was watching the teen that was still living at home with diabetes? A neighbor offers to take them to the hospital and they decline...so if you were that concerned would you as a neighbor call social services to check on them?