For four years, two babies suffering from extreme malnutrition found themselves in the emergency room of a hospital in the Montreal region. The undernutrition of the two infants, aged 11 and 15 months, was such that their bones were completely demineralized and could fracture at the slightest shock.
In the most recent case, which occurred last October, the baby had more than 20 fractures and was lifeless when he arrived at the hospital. The child literally starved to death.
The paramedics who intervened in the parents’ home, in Montreal North, were “shaken” by what they saw, admits lawyer Michel Valotaire, head of access to information at Urgences-santé, who declined to provide further details and declined our interview request.
The family with four other children was gathered in the living room around the body of the baby.
It was a really strange sort of ceremony that was taking place after the baby had been dead for several hours.
A source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity as she is not authorized to speak to the media
The child was taken to Cité-de-la-Santé in Laval, where he was pronounced dead. The child’s body was later transferred to Montreal for a coroner’s inquest. Coroner Richard Boisvert’s report has still not been made public.
The pathologist who examined the small body diagnosed more than twenty fractures, according to our information. The baby was so malnourished that his bones were demineralised, and could easily fracture. The pathologist, we are told, had never seen such a case of malnutrition in his career.
The four other children of the siblings, the youngest of whom was 3 years old, were taken in charge by the Department of Youth Protection (DPJ). At the time of publication, almost nine months after the events, “the police investigation is still ongoing,” said spokesperson Anik de Repentigny at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
According to the information we were able to gather, some of the other children of the siblings also suffered from developmental delays, in particular due to malnutrition. The children’s diet was very low in nutrients and the family did not consult a doctor.
The family attended the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “They went to our family support services, they went to church, but they weren’t church members,” says Pastor Marc Bouzy, secretary of the Quebec Federation of Adventists. According to him, the family had had a difficult migratory journey, coming from Haiti, and had recently arrived in Quebec.
The Adventist Church, which asks its faithful to adopt a healthy eating behavior, “does not impose anything” in food matters, specifies Gabriel Monet, dean of the Adventist Faculty of Theology of Collonges-sous-Salève, in France. “Each person makes their own health choices. About half of Adventists are vegetarians, Monet estimates, and 10 percent, a small minority, are vegans.
The case of the malnourished baby that we report is deplorable and reprehensible, wishes to specify Mr. Monet. “I can only regret that families choose such strict food standards. This family has probably taken these positions with hardline interpretations, but the Adventist Church does not advocate this at all. Adventists have 51 churches in Quebec. In Montreal, they are particularly frequented by the Haitian community. Worldwide, the Adventist Church has 20 million followers.
A similar case in 2019
But the most disturbing thing is that the case of this infant was the second to occur in three years in the Montreal region. Another baby, 15 months old, ended up at Sainte-Justine hospital in May 2019 with an almost identical clinical picture. The parents ended up in the emergency room because their child had a bump in the collarbone.
“Staff found the child in a rickety state and found a broken collarbone, indicates the police denunciation, written in July 2019. The child suffers from deficiency in everything. His bones are demineralized, making them so brittle that a simple shock can cause a fracture. »
In total, the child has four broken arms and legs. When he arrived at the hospital, he was at risk of cardiovascular arrest because of the very low level of calcium in his blood.
He is seen by the pediatrician Karine Pépin, who establishes that he suffers from “rickets”, with a weight of 6 kg whereas the norm, at this age, is rather 10 or 11 kg. Her condition, she believes, “can only be due to malnutrition”. Rickets is accentuated by the black skin of the baby, which absorbs less vitamin D, notes the pediatrician.
The two SPVM investigators in charge of the case go to the hospital. They note the serious condition in which the child is. “He is lying in a stretcher, his two arms and both legs immobilized in casts. He is very thin, amorphous, and his skin wrinkled. »
When told of their infant’s diagnosis, the parents seem detached, indifferent. “The mother is not worried about the weight of her child,” notes the pediatrician.
The infant did not die despite his condition. The two other children of the siblings are placed by the DPJ.
Again, the medical report establishes that the parents are on a restrictive vegan, gluten-free, and chemical-free diet. The mother eats only fruit. One of the siblings, who attends school, frequently complains of being hungry. “The mother quibbled with the school, because they gave her an apple”, specifies the police denunciation. As for him, the baby consumes breast milk, vegetable milks and a few bites of fruit every day.
We tried to find out if these parents were also Adventists, but no one was able to give us this information.
In this case, however, the police investigation was concluded. “We submitted the file to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) at the end of our investigation. He refused to authorize it and to lay charges,” says Anik de Repentigny.
For what ? “Following the analysis of the investigation file submitted by the police, the DPCP concluded that no charges could be brought in relation to this event, not having the conviction of a reasonable prospect of conviction”, responds the spokesperson for the DPCP, Audrey Roy-Cloutier.