Parents Can Be Charged With Murder For Not Seeking Medical Attention for the Children in a Timely Manner
Many people may not realize that parents have a very high legal obligation to their children when they are ill. If a parent fails to seek medical attention for their child and the child dies they can be prosecuted and even convicted of second degree murder. That is exactly what happened to the parents of a 17 year old girl who suffered from a form of diabetes. The minor was first diagnosed with the disease almost ten years prior to her death. She had several serious medical emergencies over the years. She was suffering from symptoms for five days prior to her parents making the decision to take her to the hospital. She died soon after being taken to the hospital. Despite the best efforts of their murder defense lawyers, the parent were both sentenced to prison.
The prosecution argued that the parents were guilty of second degree murder due to the child’s death. The father was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison. The mother was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. On appeal the court of appeals upheld the conviction and the prison sentences. The court of appeal concluded that the parents failed to act when their daughter became ill.
They found the parents received training on recognizing the symptoms of their daughter’s disease.
The tragedy of seeing your child die is unbearable. However, can you imagine being found criminally responsible for your child’s death and being sent to prison for a possible life sentence?
This is a clear wake up call to every parent in California.
If your child is ill and you fail to seek medical attention you could face criminal charges. The state of California can look at your actions and decide if you were too slow to act if your child dies or becomes otherwise injured due to a delay.
We would love to hear your comments on this decision and the sentence imposed by the court.
AUTHOR: Paul Wallin
Paul Wallin is one of the most highly respected attorneys in Southern California. His vast experience, zealous advocacy for his clients and extensive knowledge of many areas of the law make Mr. Wallin a premiere Southern California attorney.
Mr. Wallin founded Wallin & Klarich in 1981. As the senior partner of Wallin & Klarich, Mr. Wallin has been successfully representing clients for more than 30 years. Clients come to him for help in matters involving assault and battery, drug crimes, juvenile crimes, theft, manslaughter, sex offenses, murder, violent crimes, misdemeanors and felonies. Mr. Wallin also helps clients with family law matters such as divorce and child custody.
The government has progressively been taking away parental rights. For the longest time I could not understand why. Then one day it dawned on me. It is mostly due to the high divorce rate. One parent does not like the way another parent is raising a child so the government has to get involved. Unfortunately those of us who have never been divorced get caught in the crossfire. The hi divorce rate has actually given the government substantial power and control over our family lives. The problem is that the government makes a lousy parent and lousy parenting decisions. It’s not my fault that some people get divorced. Yet I and my family are being punished for it. The government is extremely poor at in stilling corrective behavior in its citizens. But it is very good at punishing them. We are using a system that is designed for punishing to try to instill corrective behavior. The system is not designed for that. Corrective behavior is learned through discipline by people who care, not by punishment by aheartless government. The irony is that the more control the government takes the worse the problems it is trying to correct become.
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The government has progressively been taking away parental rights. For the longest time I could not understand why. Then one day it dawned on me. It is mostly due to the high divorce rate. One parent does not like the way another parent is raising a child so the government has to get involved. Unfortunately those of us who have never been divorced get caught in the crossfire. The hi divorce rate has actually given the government substantial power and control over our family lives. The problem is that the government makes a lousy parent and lousy parenting decisions. It’s not my fault that some people get divorced. Yet I and my family are being punished for it. The government is extremely poor at in stilling corrective behavior in its citizens. But it is very good at punishing them. We are using a system that is designed for punishing to try to instill corrective behavior. The system is not designed for that. Corrective behavior is learned through discipline by people who care, not by punishment by aheartless government. The irony is that the more control the government takes the worse the problems it is trying to correct become.