Sarah Anne Markham, 23, is facing charges of child neglect after she allegedly refused to take her newborn baby to a hospital despite the child being dehydrated and underweight. The police reported that the reason was that Markham is a vegan and objected to the formula prescribed by the doctors.
The arrest was triggered by a report from a pediatrician who told Markham that her baby needed to be hospitalized for treatment to address the low weight and dehydration issues. Markham instead went home and then refused to open the door when police arrived. According to the police report, the officers proceeded to call a locksmith to enter the apartment where they found Markham who insisted that she wanted to get a second opinion form a “vegan doctor.” Police also report that Markham said that she would not give the formula/medicine that the doctor provided because she believed that some of ingredients came from animals. She is also quoted as saying that she purchased organic soy formula and, when asked by the officers how she knew that it was safe for a newborn, she allegedly said that if Whole Foods Market sells it then the formula doesn’t contain any animal parts and, therefore, must be safe.
While she agreed to take the baby to the hospital, police said that she waited an hour and was then placed under arrest. Her baby was placed into state custody.
The case could raise the question of where to draw the line between parental authority over nutrition and child welfare. Presumably, a child can be raised on a vegan diet and develop in a perfectly healthy way. The courts tend to accept the view of doctors when they concluded that a child is at risk. However, vegans insist that babies can be raised on a vegan diet. I would think that vegan parents have a legitimate objection for prescribed formula on the grounds that the product contains animal residue or ingredients — just as religious diets are given accommodation. In this case, the report of the hospital will be key to any prosecution and there could be a contest of experts on the degree of dehydration and underweight readings.
Source: ClickOrlando
Whoa, *NOT infallible*
A word about doctors here also. They are extremely busy and tend to take on too many patients and sometimes with a very insistent mother they ‘give in’ and take her cues a bit too quickly. While listening to the mom is great, when the mom is correct, the opposite can be devastating for baby. Doctors are infallible.
Here’s a good idea of how a healthy baby gains weight in the first weeks. My grandson was born at 9lbs. 8oz, he lost around 12 ounces in the hospital. A week later at his first appointment he had gained back the lost ounces and was up to 10lbs. Then at one month he was already 12.5 ounces. This is a 100% breast fed baby. Nature knows what she is doing. He has a fussy tummy, even with breast feeding and while he does not have diarrhea he does spit up often after a feeding, he gets fed every two to two and a half hours, naturally during the day and at night he sleeps for as long as 6 hours intervals, now at almost 6 weeks old. Moms just have to power through the fussy tummy issues sometimes.
Paul – the same way he knows that antibiotics treat strep better than garlic does. It’s called evidence-based medicine. That’s what doctors spend all those years in school studying. It’s not just the doctor’s personal opinion.
Oxa – the doctor has the formula from some manufacturer that he was given and it’s properties explained to him. How well he listened is another matter. What he does not know about is Whole Foods supplement. My solution is that both mother and child are hospitalized.
This is obviously a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” situation. All those who are decrying the authorities’ actions here would be the first to blame them if they just sat by and watched the child deteriorate (die?) because they deemed it the parent’s right to choose a diet for her child.
While parents may have a “legitimate objection for [sic] prescribed formula,” ideology does not give them the right to starve their children. Malnutrition (underweight and dehydration) interferes with brain development, and when it results from parental choices, is clearly child neglect. Not all children can thrive on soy formula, and when parents’ failure to recognize that is willful, action must be taken to protect the child. This is a no-brainer.
Oxa – if doctors were actually god there would be no medical malpractice. How does the doctor know the formula he has prescribed is better than the one the woman is giving?
http://www.babycenter.com/0_lactose-intolerance_1201464.bc
Lactose intolerance.
In nature, mammal babies drink milk, not liquified beans.
Yes Saucy I understood it all. However there are young mothers out there who are overly concerned with fussy babies and tummy issues and jump to conclusions, as do DOCTORS (who take cues from the moms) and switch to soy instead of waiting to see if the baby develops the enzymes necessary to digest lactose. If the baby gains weight, the baby is thriving. In the case of THIS mother she was UNDER concerned about the lack of weight gain and perhaps her baby’s diarrhea or vomiting. As far as the minimal concern evaluation, I think they’re wrong, or don’t have enough info yet to raise the alert level.
In my many years on this Earth I have live around and among a lot of pregnant and nursing women. One of the truism i have learned is that some women are nuts with their first child. There is nothing in the article to tell us if she was nursing or not. And there is nothing that says the Whole Foods supplement was not all she said it was.
I would rather they had both been hospitalized and monitored. Then her regime could have been evaluated to see if it was effective.
Annie, what part of “using a soy formula my doctor recommended” did you not understand? And the last part of a sentence from that link you provided says it all: “According to the AAP, the only real indications for soy formula use are for infants with congenital galactosemia, for use by families who are strict vegans, or infants who are truly lactose intolerant.”
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/sya-soy-formula/
Sorry Saucy, I can’t agree with you that soy formula is harmless. I understand that there are grown ups that had it as a baby and are fine, but we know more about it now. I would do anything to avoid soy formula if I was a parent of an infant with this info about soy.
marko:
Holy cats! 12 days after birth and the infant was still losing weight instead of gaining it! I’m surprised she survived.
Amy – thanks for posting the link. Loved the NY Times article.
It is true – we evolved to be omnivores. There are so many interesting discussions about grass-fed vs grain-finished beef, modern gluten, and an American-diet too heavy on grains.
But we are not herbivores. We at least need the complete protein in eggs.
Amy – forcing infants to be vegan (vs vegetarian) reminds me of those folks who buy carnivorous pets, like kittens, and then feed them vegan. Then the kitty either dies or gets rushed to the vet with severe malnutrition.
bettykath:
I agree that there may be an issue with ignorance of what her new baby needs.
In your example, the babysitter took the infant to the hospital. The mother then got educated.
Who was going to take this newborn to the hospital except for the police?
If this was truly an issue of complete ignorance, and the will to care for her baby is there, then I hope they go with educating the mother rather than imprisonment.
But the police tried to get her to take her baby to the hospital for an hour, and she still dithered. Many babies cannot survive for days and days being dehydrated and malnourished. They just slip away. The baby was already so dehydrated that the pediatrician recommended hospitalization. That’s serious. And yet this mom let hours more slip by. When they get this dry they need an IV. Even if a miracle occurred and the perfect can of formula appeared in her hands, it would still have to go through her system before she’d become hydrated.
That is what troubles me. Because a mom that just wasn’t informed on how much her baby needs to nurse would not fight for hours against sending her baby to the hospital. She’d freak out and blame herself and frantically get to the ER.
I agree with Nick – that when a mom fights for hours against taking her dehydrated newborn to the ER because she demands a vegan formula, she sounds like a zealot.
Here’s more from Kresser: http://chriskresser.com/b12-deficiency-a-silent-epidemic-with-serious-consequences
Having a baby be vegan is wildly irresponsible, as is posting suggesting it’s okay when you clearly don’t know the science or good sources of it.
Chris Kresser is an excellent source on this and Nina Planck quotes him here.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/17/is-veganism-good-for-everyone/a-choice-with-definite-risks
Denise Minger, who did a massive vetting of the terrible methodology behind The China Study, was also vegan and realized the scientific reasons for why this is terrible and writes about them in her recent book.
Your post says newborn. Checking some other reports I found additional allegations:
“During an appointment with a pediatrician for her newborn baby, Sarah Anne Markham, 23, was told that her 12-day-old child was dehydrated and needed to be admitted to the Florida Hospital South within one hour. The doctor also provided medicine for the child.
The newborn was also losing weight instead of gaining weight. ” http://www.wesh.com/news/police-mom-refuses-to-treat-infant-with-nonvegan-medicine/26657318#!4iolZ
also allegedly:
Police said Markham told them that she wanted to pursue a religious-based treatment and did not believe that her baby was dehydrated because the child was having bowel movements.
Markham said she had contacted a “natural” or “vegan” doctor but was unable to provide any information about him, other than a name.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/casselberry-mom-refused-to-take-child-to-hospital-over-vegan-beliefs/26657244
If these allegations are true then infant was likely in extremis absent medical intervention whether the mother believed it or not. Wondering if someone is practicing medicine without a license.
Annie wrote “There are formulas for lactose intolerant babies that are better than soy”
I am lactose intolerant and drank soy formula as a little mugwump. I was told I loved it. I have never found a lactose intolerant milk that does not bother me (yes, I know about Lactate tablets), but maybe I have multiple allergies. I use Silk for my breakfast cereal. If I had a child who had smelly poop after drinking milk, I would have no problem using a soy formula my doctor recommended.