Okay, my bad - there is more than one religion.......but does the article say anything about it being a religious decision? Seems kind of shortsighted to derive that as a reason when it's not even given.
I think he was making a comparison between the two saying this case is similar to those cases where followers of a certain religion may refuse healthcare due to their beliefs.
No, I think these people were just ignorant. They are real vegans like redefined is a real Rocket fan.
I've known quite a few vegans. They all understood nutritional needs. In fact, most of them were more well versed on nutrition than the average doctor. Doctors, by the way, receive no mandatory training on nutrition in medical school. That is why, for those issues, seeking their advice won't help much. You should see a nutritionist or dietician. Anyway, this is really surprising and a little disturbing to me. I don't know whether this rises to the level of malice or not. I'm not even sure the punishment is appropriate given the fact that couple has little or no chance of harming someone else. BUT, this was an incredibly stupid and negligent thing to do. I may question the harshness of the penalty, but there is no question that punishment was in order.
It would be horrendously ironic if they had spent the entire time the baby was alive fighting to keep some r****ded seal on another continent with 3 eyes from dying. These people were obviously just ignorant, most Vegans know way more than you and sure as hell love to tell you just how much more enlightened they are.
If they started eating meat though wouldn't that be compromising their beliefs? What if they aren't idiots but true believers and from the article it sounds like they were standing by their beliefs not that they didn't know any better.
^as i said, the baby is, or should be priority #1 and from the article: “No matter how many times they want to say, ‘We’re vegans, we’re vegetarians,’ that’s not the issue in this case,” said prosecutor Chuck Boring. “The child died because he was not fed. Period.”
I've met a few vegans and some seem to be very well versed on nutrition some though don't. I've known a few true believers who would fit the description of this couple and if they or one of their family was starving to death and their was a steak infront of them they wouldn't eat it.
Obviously that's the opinion of the prosecutor whose hardly in the position to speak on behalf of the defendents. From the article: Defense lawyers said the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans, who typically use no animal products. They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.
nvm i re-read the article. gary is right, it isn't that they got jailtime for feeding the baby a vegan diet. they just simply didn't feed him, period. that's definetely deserving of a harsh sentence, if I read it correctly. I don't care if your diet consists of berries and tree bark, you gotta atleast feed it to the kid when he's hungry.
i don't know if courts have dealt with this issue before. and of course, it could be dealt with differently from state to state. but i agree with you. we don't afford special protection for people who make certain dietary choices the way we provide it for those who follow a religion. but 3.5 pounds at 6 weeks? wow.
Vegans are against cosuming animal products that includes honey, eggs, human/cow milk, etc. The problem is that non-animal products has no Vitamin B12 and if you only eat a small variety of veggie, then you might not get enough variety amino acids (the components of a protein) to keep you healthy.
so either vegans don't feed their baby on a regular basis...or a vegan mother cannot produce adequate milk for the baby...or a vegan is not allowed to feed the baby the mother's milk?
Well, that's what a vegan is all about. Therefore they will have to take Vitamin B12 pills if they want to stay alive.
That's not clear from the article. The prosecutor says that was the case but the prosecutor isn't the determiner of that. Baby dietary needs are very different from adults and its possible that they tried to feed the baby adult vegan food which it couldn't digest. Without knowing more about it I wouldn't say that they didn't feed the baby. They just fed it the wrong things.
