Unnecessary death: Calgary woman given 3 years for not getting help for sick son
CALGARY — A woman who failed to take her son to the doctor for a strep infection has been sentenced to three years in prison — a punishment a Calgary judge says fits the grave crime that resulted in the seven-year-old boy’s painful death.
Tamara Lovett, 48, was convicted in January of criminal negligence causing death.
Justice Kristine Eidsvik said it wasn’t Lovett’s fault her son Ryan got sick, but she had several days to get him proper medical care. The trial heard Lovett gave Ryan dandelion tea and oil of oregano when he developed the infection that kept him bedridden in their Calgary home for 10 days in 2013.
“Ryan suffered terribly from this inaction.” she said in her sentencing decision Friday. “He died an excruciating, unnecessary death.