Caleb Jan Moorhead

Six-month-old Caleb Moorhead died in March 2001 of bronchial pneumonia after his strictly religious parents, Roby Jan Moorhead and Deborah Anne Moorhead, removed him from hospital and attempted to treat his illness with herbal remedies. Caleb had a severe vitamin deficiency brought on by Mrs Moorhead’s vegan diet. After a high-profile trial in 2002, the Moorheads devout Seventh Day Adventists were convicted of manslaughter after claiming God would save their son. They were jailed for 5 years. Source: 4theKids.

On March 29 2001, 6-month-old Caleb Moorhead died from a vitamin deficiency which could have been easily treated. His parents, Deborah Anne Moorhead, 34, and Roby Jan Moorhead, 45, both of Dargaville, are Seventh Day Adventists and vegans. They would not let Caleb have medical treatment for severe malnutrition and anaemia resulting from his mother's diet producing B12-deficient breast milk. Instead of allowing a simple injection of vitamin B12, the couple took the boy from Starship Hospital and went into hiding. They gave him a variety of herbal remedies, later saying they saw the issue as "a test of faith". Caleb, strikingly pale and suffering from severe shrinkage of the brain, eventually died of bronchopneumonia. At the High Court in Auckland the couple were found guilty of manslaughter by failing to provide the necessaries of life. They each received a five-year prison term. Justice Rhys Harrison posed the question: would reasonable and careful parents use a sick child to test their faith in God? Starship paediatrician Dr Patrick Kelly told the court Caleb's life could have been saved up to half an hour before his death if his parents had phoned for an ambulance. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/73700101/four-tragic-cases-of-chil...