SYDNEY — An Australian couple has been sentenced to jail time after being convicted for the manslaughter of their baby girl.
She died after they chose to use homeopathic remedies instead of conventional medicine to treat her skin disorder.
Thomas
Sam, a college lecturer in homeopathy, has been sentenced to up to
eight years behind bars. His wife is facing a maximum of five years and
four months.
The parents were convicted in
June of the manslaughter of their nine-month-old, who died of
septicemia and malnutrition in 2002. She became malnourished while
battling frequent infections that grew through skin broken by her
severe rashes. Her parents eventually took her to a hospital, where she
died within days.
The judge in the case says her parents' failure to seek proper help for her "may be characterized accurately as cruelty."
