Herbalist gets four months in jail after 13-year-old boy who went without insulin dies

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

A self-proclaimed “master herbalist” is heading to jail for his role in the death of a 13-year-old boy with Type 1 diabetes after he allegedly told the boy's parents to not use insulin.

According to The Washington Post, Timothy Morrow was sentenced to a total of four months in jail and four years of probation on Monday for child abuse and practicing medicine without a license following the death of Edgar Lopez in August 2014.

The parents of Lopez, who weighed just 68 pounds at the time of his death, reportedly said that they were told by Morrow that if they took their son to the hospital, he would be killed there.

They claimed that Morrow told them to instead rub lavender oil on their son’s spine and prescribed herbal medication that he claimed would cure their son of diabetes for the rest of his life.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/431638-herbalist-heads-to-prison-after-allegedly-telling-parents-of-13

[LongtimeAZDem]

1. Four months for depraved indifference murder :(

[SunSeeker]

2. Fucking snake oil murderer only gets 4 months?! I am so sick of this anti-science shit.

Timothy Morrow should be in jail for murder, and Edgar Lopez' parents should be in jail as well. This is just so disgusting.

[oldsoftie]

4. Totally agree. nt

[erronis]

3. Anti-science, anti-truth. Same types in charge of the US executive branch.

Are they trying to kill us all?

Rhetorical question. I do think they would like everyone else to drop dead.

[elias7]

5. An MD would have been sued for millions and lost their license

The whole herbal medicine industry is a giant snake oil scheme not accountable to anyone. Luckily for most, the herbal meds have pretty much neither therapeutic nor toxic value, so it’s hard to hurt anyone prescribing a placebo.

And don’t get me started on the garbage bloodwork they order. Thousands of dollars of useless testing with invented interpretations. As much non-science as the anti-vaxxers...

[Honeycombe8]

8. Some herbs do have an effect.

Some modern pharmaceuticals are based on the old-world use of herbs. The problem w/herbal treatments, to my understanding, is that they aren't exactly dosed, so you don't measure exactly how much to take for what, and the specific effects may not all be known. It's kinda iffy.

But there are herbs that have a mild calming effect, or help you relax to go to sleep, or speed up your metabolism, or settle your stomach. But they are not medicine and don't have the strong or pointed effect of modern medicine, where you know how much to take for which effect.

The Chinese started using herbs quite effectively centuries ago.

[The Wandering Harper]

10. quacks like this make it harder for good folks who know what they're doing

my herbalist is studied in traditional Chinese medicine among other things and his preparations have helped me immensely, but I seriously doubt he'd tell a diabetic not to go to the hospital or take insulin.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Agreed. That has nothing to do w/my post, though.

I was responding to a "herbs don't do anything" post.

[3catwoman3]

6. 4 months. What a joke.

I have thought for a long time that parenting should be a licensed profession. The simple ablity to juxtapose genitalia is a woefully inadequate qualification.

I'll hand out the licenses, and I wouldn't lose any sleep over the people I said "No" to.

[Honeycombe8]

7. The parents should be locked up, too.

They were the primary caretakers of their child and chose to follow a "herbalist's" recommendation, even after their son stopped breathing properly.

It's like those Holy Rollers who decide not to treat their children for serious conditions with modern medicine, choosing instead to "pray it away."

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Four months? SMDH

[EarthFirst]

11. How aren't the parents complicit; thus criminally responsible in this death?

JFC!