“I didn’t see any health concerns warranting me going to see a doctor sooner,” testifies Collet Stephan

David answered both he and Collet made the decision.

Asked also whether he believed natural supplements worked, David answered “from online research I’ve done, they do have some anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties,” however he also agreed that he did not have any medical background training.

Stephan also testified that bacterial meningitis was not on the couple’s radar, and that if they’d thought his son Ezekiel had a fatal infection, they would have brought him to see a doctor right away.

While at Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Stephan also told the court he and Collet weren’t ready or willing to let Ezekiel go without trying whatever they could, including giving the toddler more supplements, even after the child was declared brain dead twice by doctors.

“There was no way I could go home and leave without trying everything,” he said. “It was one of our ways of, I guess, buying more time in the hospital.”

As Collet took the stand, she told the court her job and purpose in life was to be a stay at home mother and to take care of her five children (four are living). She also said she was the parent who had the most contact with Ezekiel before and after he became ill.

The night Ezekiel stopped breathing, she told the court she has some distinct memories that are engrained, but there are also periods she has blacked out and has no memory of at all.

She described how she had gone to a church function on March 13, 2012 but was called home by her husband, after Ezekiel’s breathing became irregular. After arriving at home, she sat the child on her lap and listened to his breathing.

“I remember him (sic) just stopped breathing.”

The child was taken to a bedroom and placed on his side, then on his back as he intermittently stopped and started breathing. 9-1-1 was called, but called off, and a decision was then made to take the child to the hospital in Cardston.

A mattress was then put in the back seat of the family vehicle and a bag was packed for their child Ezra.

“Was that the first time he (Ezekiel) had gone to the hospital? asked her lawyer Jason Demers. “Why not sooner?”

“I didn’t see any health concerns warranting me going to see a doctor sooner,” said Collet.

She spoke of “a mother’s intuition,” in the time period between Feb. 27 and March 12; looking into the eyes of her son – to see whether anything was concerning or out of the ordinary.

“Was it mother’s intuition to take him to the doctor’s?” asked Demers.

“No,” said Collet.

At the Cardston hospital, she said the couple was told to go home, pack a bag and to meet an air ambulance in Calgary. A snowstorm that evening prevented the STARS helicopter from landing in Cardston.

Contrary to earlier testimony from Dr. Shauna Burkholder, Collet told the court they arrived at Children’s Hospital in Calgary prior to Ezekiel. She said she found it odd that they had arrived earlier, given that the toddler was being flown to the medical facility.

Asked whether she recalled telling Dr. Gamble, Dr. Burkholder and Dr. D’Mello that Ezekiel at one point was so stiff that his back was arched, Collet replied that she either did not remember saying it or that she had not. She also did not recall performing any tests in the days before he stopped breathing, to determine whether meningitis may have been responsible for her son’s illness; nor did she recall performing any internet search for meningitis.

In fact, Stephan testified that while the child had suffered croup-like symptoms for several days, he seemed to get better for a while, and up to March 11, 2012 the toddler was running around on his own.

“I didn’t see anything urgent to go in and see a doctor. He didn’t have any symptoms to prompt me to go and see a doctor. He’d had a cold and fly symptoms before.”

The trial continues Wednesday.

by Lara Fominoff

“I didn’t see any health concerns warranting me going to see a doctor sooner,” testifies Collet Stephan

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