Mother denies negligence in baby case

The Toronto Star - October 2, 2008

Charged with obstructing peace officer at hospital, mom of underweight infant talks about her ordeal

by Isabel Teotonio| Star reporter

An empty stroller, an unused tricycle and a pile of toys that haven't moved out of the corner in nearly two weeks.
They are painful reminders for a young mother who lost custody of her two sons after a standoff with officials at a hospital, where she reportedly denied treatment for her severely malnourished 9-month-old, who weighed just 11 pounds.
But, she says, contrary to media reports, she never refused medical attention and insists that belonging to an obscure Moorish-American religious sect that promotes a holistic lifestyle played no role in the events that culminated with her being charged.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster," she said this week, after a visit at the Children's Aid Society with her boys, who are in foster homes. "When I see them it's great, but the reality is I don't get to bring them home where they belong," she said, adding the baby is doing well and gaining weight.
In her first interview since her arrest at the Hospital for Sick Children, the 22-year-old woman said she's been unfairly portrayed as a negligent mother. Neither she nor her boyfriend can be named to protect the identities of their baby and 2-year-old son.
"Why would I have taken my son to the hospital if I was against treatment? It doesn't make sense," she said, while looking at photos of her baby stored in a digital camera, and trying to figure out why her life has unravelled over the past few weeks.
The mother, who describes herself as a fish-eating vegan, said a homeopathic doctor diagnosed her infant with eczema and advised her to cut various foods from her already restrictive diet. But the baby's rash didn't disappear, so she weaned him off breast milk and on to different baby formulas, with little success.
"I could see he was losing weight because he was refusing food," she recalled, adding she took the baby to the hospital to determine what he was deficient in.
She says she allowed staff to run a battery of tests and keep him overnight. But when she learned they wanted to call CAS, she panicked and fled, setting off a police search that garnered headlines.
When pressed about why she fled, given her baby had been diagnosed with severe malnutrition, she said: "Technically, everyone's malnourished, no one is getting their full nutritional requirements."
She says she returned to the hospital, accompanied by her boyfriend and a friend, four days later because the media was reporting the baby had only days to live.
Again, she permitted the baby to be examined and said that while the doctor was determining the next plan of action, police moved in to arrest her for obstructing a peace officer. She claims she did nothing to provoke the arrest and it was never explained to her why she was being charged.
Her boyfriend and friend were also charged. The three are out on bail and scheduled to return to court on Oct. 16.
The detective in charge of the case could not be reached for comment yesterday but during the arrests, authorities said the couple was reluctant to hand the baby over to staff. Hospital spokesperson Judith John said staff acted appropriately.
The story took on a religious dimension when the boyfriend told a reporter he was refusing intrusive treatment for religious reasons. And it intensified when the grand sheik of the Moorish Science Temple of America spoke out in defence of the couple and of homeopathic remedies.
"This isn't a religious thing," said the mother, who insisted she's not devout, despite sporting a button on her lapel in support of Moorish-Americans.
"I do not oppose conventional medical treatments – both of my sons were born in a hospital and I have a family doctor," she said. "I brought him to the (hospital). There's no way I could refuse treatment if I'm bringing him there.
"I want my sons back, I need my sons back and I'll do whatever it takes to get them back."
This article was found at:
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/510125

Sect believes in the mind over illnesses

Toronto Sun - September 16, 2008

by Sharon Lem | Sun Media

The parents who were arrested in a dispute over their malnourished infant are members of a sect that believes illness is all in the mind, which can be used to cure the body.
The 9-month-old's parents were charged with obstruction of justice after a dispute at Sick Kids when the 22-year-old mom refused to hand over the infant to doctors and left the hospital with the baby.
The Moorish Science Temple of America was founded in 1913 by Timothy Drew in Newark, N.J. Many of its practices were derived from Muslim observances and the group was a forerunner of the Black Muslim movement.
Drew's central teaching is that blacks were Moorish, of Muslim origin. He advocated a return to Islam as the only means of redemption from racial oppression. The sect also believes African Americans are sovereign Moroccan nationals.
"It's not strange because you have to understand black people in America did not have full citizenship rights until 1965," said Prof. Edward Curtis, of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
He's published books on African American Islam among blacks and the Moorish Science Temple.
"They believe in herbs and healing techniques through natural means. They also believe sickness is the matter of the mind and the mind can be used to heal the body," Curtis said.
"Often why this person would not be a monster or hate their baby is because they sincerely believe other forms of healing are possible," he said.
"They don't believe they have to adhere by the laws of Canada because they are citizens of another country -- Morocco," Curtis said.
"You have to understand the distrust is part of a deep history of a lack of political rights for people of African American descent, but it is also of abuse of black bodies by the medical establishment," he said.
This article was found at:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2008/09/16/6777361-sun.html

Mother of malnourished baby freed

Globe & Mail - Canada
September 16, 2008

by Kate Hammer
The mother of a malnourished infant boy at the centre of a standoff between members of a religious sect and concerned hospital workers was released yesterday on bail, while his father remained in police custody.

The nine-month-old child weighed only 11 pounds when his parents took him to the Hospital for Sick Children and then fled after refusing treatment, according to police reports.
The 22-year-old mother, 36-year-old father and a 24-year-old friend were arrested after they returned and were allegedly combative with hospital staff. They were charged with obstructing police.
Members of the religious sect, the Moorish Science Temple of America, who reject institutionalized medicine and are encouraged to observe a meat- and dairy-free diet, defended the young mother's parenting abilities outside the College Park courtroom where she appeared.
They described a doting mom who placed socks on her baby's hands so that he wouldn't scratch the red and oozing rashes caused by his food allergies, and who observed an increasingly restrictive diet in an attempt to curb the baby's allergic reactions to her breast milk.
"It's not like [she] neglected the baby for nine months," said Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, Grand Sheik of the year-old Toronto chapter, which includes about 30 members.
As she waited in a courthouse hallway for the paperwork to be completed for her daughter's release, the infant's maternal grandmother shook her head with relief.
Allegations that her family hadn't co-operated with police were untrue, she said, and reports that her daughter was involved with a mysterious religious sect, and her grandson was severely malnourished, came as a shock.
"Thank God it's over," she sighed, shortly before her daughter was released from police custody and her lean figure appeared in the hallway.
Wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt, the daughter embraced her mother, who is responsible for ensuring she meets the conditions of her bail. This includes controlled contact with the youngest generation of their family, the malnourished infant and a two-year-old son, who are both in the custody of the Children's Aid Society.
The mother and her 24-year-old friend are scheduled to appear again in court at College Park today at 10 a.m.; the father is scheduled to appear tomorrow.
This article was found at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080916.PARENTS16/TPStory/National

Religious sect at centre of malnourishment case denies medical ban

National Post - Canada
September 15, 2008

by Melissa Leong | National Post

The religious sect at the centre of a case in which a mother was arrested for removing her baby from a hospital does not prohibit members from seeking medical treatment, a local leader said yesterday.
The 22-year-old woman who is accused of refusing treatment for her malnourished baby won release yesterday.
Family members said the woman, who cannot be identified because her 11-pound, nine-month-old son is now in the care of Children’s Aid Society, grew up in a Methodist Christian home. Last year, she began meeting with members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which has about 30 followers in the Toronto area.
The movement was founded in 1913 in Newark, N.J., by Timothy Drew, who took the spiritual name “Prophet Noble Drew Ali.”
Its followers believe that African-Americans were descended from the Moors or northwestern African Muslim people, and say it is a “way of life” rather than a religion. They prefer homeopathic treatments to traditional medicine, but are willing to “compromise.”
“We’re not refusing [the mother] going to the hospital and getting the medical attention that Sick Kids thinks this child should get. The child needs an IV to survive? Give the child an IV,” said Grand Sheik Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, 33.
The mother, who is a vegan, sought advice from a naturopath about how to deal with her baby’s severe eczema and his apparent food allergies.
Friends say the quiet but attentive mother would put socks on her tiny son’s hands to keep him from scratching his blistered and bleeding face.
The naturopath told her to visit a doctor for a diagnosis so he could prescribe treatment, the grand sheik said.
At the Hospital for Sick Children, the mother became frightened when medical staff told her that they were going to call Children’s Aid after examining her son, he said. “[The hospital staff] doesn’t have the authority to say that she was being negligent. That is CAS’s job,” he said.
Police put out an alert on Wednesday after the mother left. She returned to the hospital on Sunday with the child’s 36-year-old father and a 24-year-old friend but would only agree to blood tests, police said.
All three were charged with obstructing justice after officers said they had to wrest the baby from the mother’s arms. Police are investigating the reasons for the baby’s “severe malnutrition” and further charges could be laid, Detective Mike Leone said. He said the child seemed more “like a newborn.”
The child’s father said shortly before his arrest on Sunday that his son was “fine, his eyes are fine. He’s a tad bit underweight. He stands up, he turns over, he’s OK.” The father appeared briefly in court yesterday at College Park and was remanded until tomorrow. As he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, he turned to the gallery and yelled: “It’s illegal. What they’re doing is forcing me to stay in here. They’re trying to break apart my family.”
The mother and her friend were both released on $2,500 bail. The mother, who also has a two-year-old son, is required to stay away from the Hospital for Sick Children and have no contact with the other accused.
With files from Global News
This article was found at:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/09/15/religious-sect-at-centre-of-malnourishment-case-denies-medical-ban.aspx

Malnourished child taken from mother and father who belong to religious sect that does not believe in institutional medicine

Globe & Mail - Canada
September 15, 2008

Parents arrested after hospital standoff over baby

by Colin Freeze

The fugitive mother of a sick infant was arrested at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children yesterday, as her continued refusal to hand over her child prompted officials to take the parents into custody and admit the child to hospital as a ward of the state.

The erratic behaviour of the 22-year-old woman first made headlines across Toronto last week, as police circulated an urgent advisory saying they were looking for the woman and her malnourished nine-month-old. But the surprising scope of the story became clear only during developments yesterday.

After the couple were arrested during their second run-in with hospital authorities, it emerged that both parents belong to a religious sect that doesn't believe in institutionalized medicine and which claims that government agents have no authority over its members.

"She's not an evil person and she's not a bad mother," her spiritual leader, who goes by the title Grand Sheik Brother Kudjo Sut Tekh El, explained late yesterday afternoon while waiting outside a downtown police station for the couple to be booked. Police have signalled they are planning to lay obstruction charges against the couple.

Wearing a burgundy fez, a matching robe and dreadlocks, Mr. Sut Tekh El explained he knew the parents well and was familiar with everything that had led to the arrest.

According to him, the baby has eczema and severe food allergies, which has left him very skinny. But "we have the rights as Moorish-Americans not to succumb to institutionalized ways of healing ourselves," Mr. Sut Tekh El said. He said members of his sect avoid hospitals and pharmaceutical drugs in favour of natural remedies for all ailments, including cancer.

The Canadian government has no jurisdiction over Moorish-Americans, the religious leader argued, adding the baby should not have been seized by the Children's Aid Society. "It basically infringes on his nationality," he said.

For decades, the U.S.-based Nation of Moorish-Americans has espoused that, thanks to a historic treaty, millions of black Americans are actually a divine and sovereign people, and also citizens of Morocco. The Canadian chapter led by Mr. Sut Tekh El is relatively new, but he said he has about 30 members.

He said it has been about a year since the couple joined the sect. That was around the time their child was born. Early last week, the mother took her child to hospital after a naturopathic doctor urged her to do so.

On Wednesday, medical staff at the Hospital for Sick Children raised concerns about malnutrition as they examined the infant. The baby weighed only 11 pounds - close to a newborn's weight - at the time of the visit. "The hospital said they were going to take her baby," Mr. Sut Tekh El said.

Rather than let that happen, the mother took her baby and fled, police said. The hospital then called police. Toronto police issued a rare public advisory on Friday, circulating an image of the mother, and saying they were urgently seeking her. "Without immediate attention, the child's safety is at risk," police said.

Yesterday, the couple returned to Sick Kids, but once again refused to hand over the baby, police said. This led to a two-hour standoff: Police and doctors urged the couple to give up the baby, while the couple refused.

Around noon, the mother used her mobile phone to text her spiritual leader. "They have ETF here," reads the message that remains on Mr. Sut Tekh El's cellphone.

While negotiators with the emergency task force were called in, the matter was resolved peacefully, albeit with the arrests.

The baby and another child belonging to the couple, a toddler, are believed to have been seized by the Children's Aid Society. The infant's condition is not life-threatening, police say.

Before the standoff ended, the father told CP24 News that officials erred in believing the parents were merely of Jamaican stock, and failed to recognize they were "divine, indigenous Moorish Americans."

He added that his baby was in good health. "His eyes are bright," the father said.

Police identified the mother last week, but identities of family members are being shielded now that the infant has been seized by authorities.

This article was found at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080915.MISSING15/TPStory/
National