Vaxxed's Polly Tommey and Del Bigtree Support Parents Convicted of Medical Neglect

Photo: Facebook/Prayers for Ezekiel

When two people become parents, they take on a responsibility to care for and do what is best for their children. It is, by no means, an easy task. There are no handbooks, no guidelines that describe in detail what parents should do in every given situation. Parents make mistakes sometimes, even though they may mean well. Generally, those mistakes are minor, and the incident passes on without lasting impact. Sometimes, they make a bad call that results in something more serious. Again, they may have meant well, and they may have acted as any reasonable person would have done. Hopefully, they learn from their mistake and move on. These types of mistakes can, for the most part, be forgiven. Parents are granted a great deal of latitude in how to raise their children.

But sometimes, sometimes they make an error that is so egregious, so far beyond what any rational, reasonable person would do, that they end up inflicting unforgivable harm upon their children. They stumble into the realm of medical neglect and child abuse. They may still believe that they are not doing anything wrong, that they actually are doing what is best for their child. But those beliefs, nonetheless, result in serious, or even fatal, harm.

Such is the case of David Robert Stephan and his wife, Collet Dawn Stephan, whose negligence resulted in the death of their 18-month-old son, Ezekiel.

Measles Doesn't Kill, Except When It Does

There are quite a number of things that people take for granted today, regarding their health, at least in developed nations, like the United States. The majority of the population doesn't think much about the possibility of starving or being malnourished. If we suffer an injury, we can find treatment at a nearby pharmacy or convenience store. For something more serious, medical care is generally not too far away along roads that are kept in good repair. The same thing if we get sick.

There are diseases that we may never see in our lives, anymore, thanks in large part to vaccines. While these diseases may ravage poorer countries that lack the resources and infrastructure to provide a high level of immunization, such as the Philippines, those who live in affluent countries seldom see diseases that were once a common occurrence, let alone deaths from those diseases. This leads to a measure of complacency. Those of us who suffered through vaccine-preventable diseases all too easily think that it was nothing. After all, we made it. We forget, however, those who weren't so lucky, those who are no longer here to tell their story. So it is that we think of diseases like measles as no big deal. We think that it's only dangerous for people "over there".

Unfortunately, measles does not care what we think. It doesn't recognize borders. It doesn't care if you're from the United States, Germany, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil. It will infect wherever it can. And it will kill without a care about who you are or what you believe.