A mother refusing to take her sick newborn to hospital.
Police breaking down a door to assist the 12-day-old baby.
It’s almost unbelievable – but it took place this week in the US.
And you won’t want to believe the reason why: it was all because the mother wanted the tiny baby to be a vegan, and was afraid the hospital would feed her newborn formula made with animal products.
According to WKMG-TV, 23-year-old Sarah Anne Markham took her baby boy to a pediatrician when her baby was failing to put on weight.
The doctor insisted she take the sick baby to hospital for rehydration and tried to give the baby medicine.
But according to police, Sarah Markham refused to give the medicine to her baby because it contained “non-vegan ingredients”.
The doctor then ordered her to take her baby straight to emergency, where a bed was waiting for the sick infant. But Sarah Markham refused to do this, instead returning to her home.
The young mother, from Florida, is a strict vegan in accordance with her religion and allegedly was concerned the hospital would give her baby formula made from animal products.
WKMG-TV reports that when police arrived at her home, Sarah Markham refused to answer the door and police were forced to call a locksmith to get inside and speak with her.
She told police she was waiting to get a second opinion and was interested in a “religious-based treatment.”
It is reported she “did not believe her child was dehydrated because it was still having regular bowel movements.”
Sarah Markham – a Seventh Day Adventist – told Police she would feed her baby an organic soy formulainstead.
ClickOrlando.com reports:
“Markham said she purchased organic soy formula, and when asked if she confirmed with a doctor if it was safe for a newborn, she said that if Whole Foods Market sells it then the formula doesn’t contain any animal parts and, therefore, must be safe, according to police.”
The police report says police finally convinced her to go to the hospital, but that an hour later she still had not gone.
Police arrested the young mother.
Yesterday she was released from jail on bond, but will not be able to see her child until a court hearing.
Top Comments
Its very tiring when a mother seeks medical advice and doesn't like what she is advised. I had a friend crack the biggest shit because she was advised that her child was not growing (this was after a second opinion), blaming the issues on the world and the medical profession, if you dont want to be told the honest opinion of a doctor, trained to make decisions based on knowledge, practice and duty of care then just go to dr google and see how that goes. If you can breast feed I support that, however, sometimes breast is not best when our babies are becoming sick and or underweight. We may not be producing enough milk, not everything is black and white. Dont feel like a failure if it just doesn't work, that is why the world had wet nurses and now eventually formula. (And some children cant take breast milk surprisingly!) In terms of this situation, I have never met a 7th day Adventist that was a vegan, also the only thing that I can think of was that other vegan woman that wanted her baby to be vegan and only fed it breast milk and mung beans until it became malnourished and died.
Sometimes, a decision has to me made to ensure the health of a baby.There is more to this story I am sure, its never as black and white as these are reported. Again, its the Drs duty of care to make that decision to call the police - they never want to be slapped with malpractice, as I am sure that they would have been had they sent the mother away
I applaud anyone who can survive as a vegan but I'm too lazy to be bothered and I know I'd fuss & stress too much about whether my kids were getting enough. I do however source happy meat from different farms. Meat from stressed animals isn't good for your body anyway and if anyone thinks we don't have cruelty to animals in our Aussie abbatoirs, they are sadly mistaken. There are some sick sick human beings on this planet!