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Original poster

Parents charged with killing 16-year-old daughter by allowing her to become morbidly obese

43 replies

TibetanTerrah · 22/03/2022 15:46

Apologies if this is posted elsewhere, and for the Daily Mail link...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10640031/Parents-charged-killing-obese-16-year-old-daughter-dead-bed.html

I know childhood obesity is a huge problem, but the girl had spina bifida and hydrocephalus... I don't think 'ensuring she had enough exercise' was high on their agenda!

This seems ridiculously harsh from the info in the article.

OP posts:
Fridafever · 22/03/2022 15:50

Sounds like she died from infected ulcers so I suspect the charge is to do with not getting her medical help rather than “just” letting her get obese.

LoseLooseLucy · 22/03/2022 15:51

The charge also states 'nor did they ensure she got enough exercise, was in a hygienic condition, had a safe and hygienic environment, her physical health was maintained, or that reasonable medical help was sought.'

Sounds pretty neglectful. Poor girl.

fairgame84 · 22/03/2022 15:52

I don't know. I used to be a school nurse and there was a child that was disabled and taken into care for obesity. No he couldn't exercise but all the parents fed him was takeaway food. He lived on kebabs and burgers. They made no effort to feed him anything healthy. He ate fruit, veg salads etc at school so it wasn't that he wouldn't eat it, he just wasn't given the opportunity at home.
He was constantly out of breath due to his weight and it was impacting on his physical health.

CarbonelCat · 22/03/2022 15:53

We need to know much more about this case to be able to comment really

I wonder how much help and support this family were offered, and which services and professionals education, health and social care, interacted with this child and family.

HermioneWeasley · 22/03/2022 15:53

Are we reading the same article? It sounds like she was grossly neglected.

And good news if childhood obesity is being treated as neglect - it absolutely is. We wouldn’t tolerate children being starved

Midlifemusings · 22/03/2022 15:55

It soudns more like general neglect led to her death. She is obese but based on the pictures in the article, not so obese that the obesity would cause her death.

Turningpurple · 22/03/2022 15:58

They have been charged because they, allegedly failed to get her medical care and basically neglected her.

If you read the article, your op doesn't actually match the full story.

Original poster
TibetanTerrah · 22/03/2022 16:01

@HermioneWeasley

Are we reading the same article? It sounds like she was grossly neglected.

And good news if childhood obesity is being treated as neglect - it absolutely is. We wouldn’t tolerate children being starved

14.4% of reception age children (age 4-5) are obese, with a further 13.3% overweight. At age 10-11 (year 6), 25.5% are obese and 15.4% overweight. This data is from 2020/21 and is gathered as part of the National Child Measurement Programme.

I just think the CPS are going to be very busy if 'allowing' child obesity is deemed neglect.

She was immobile, so couldn't exercise. I think most of us who put on weight in lockdown and WFH can appreciate that you pile on the weight when not moving and eating the wrong things. It doesn't say how big she got I dont think but I can imagine it was quite a task trying to keep her clean and treat her ulcers.

I'm not on their side at all. I just think there were probably a lot of extenuating circumstances. I watched a Michael Mosley show on Channel 4 the other day, children as young as three years old needing overnight ventilation from obstructive sleep apnoea due to their weight, a significant proportion of them will need liver transplants by the time they reach adulthood. Where's the neglect charges for those parents?

OP posts:
Cocomarine · 22/03/2022 16:02

Did you even read the article? 🙄

SandysMam · 22/03/2022 16:03

It also needs to be asked why no one stopped this? Sounds like it would have been a very slow decline. She was obviously completely off the radar. Covid will be blamed for lack of intervention no doubt!

Turningpurple · 22/03/2022 16:04

You haven't bothered reading it have you?

110APiccadilly · 22/03/2022 16:05

We don't know enough to comment, but it seems the obesity is a bit of a red herring and it's more that they didn't look after her adequately in general.

But there could be more to it again. Looking at the dates, did the Covid messaging scare her parents so that they delayed getting help for her, for instance? Were they not getting help (either formally or informally) that they had been getting before the lockdowns?

It's entirely possible that these are terrible people and neglectful parents. It's also possible that their entire support network was withdrawn, the message they were given was that if their daughter interacted with people (including medical staff) she'd catch Covid and die, and they simply couldn't cope. That's why these things go through the courts - to establish what did happen.

110APiccadilly · 22/03/2022 16:06

(I haven't read the article but I read the BBC Wales one.)

Original poster
TibetanTerrah · 22/03/2022 16:08

@110APiccadilly all of what you've said crossed my mind too, especially as a morbidly obese person was deemed CEV. I think it's as likely that they struggled to cope rather than being willfully neglectful.

And yes, I did read the article, I even looked up hydrocephalus Wink

OP posts:
BringBackCoffeeCreams · 22/03/2022 16:10

The article says that she was immobile due to her condition, had multiple ulcerations due to lack of movement and that basic hygeine requirements weren't met. It doesn't sound like they're being prosecuted for her being obese but because they were utterly neglecting her basic needs.

If my dad's carers left him wallowing in his own filth, developing bedsores and neglecting him to the point he died I'd expect them to be prosecuted too.

Cocomarine · 22/03/2022 16:11

[quote TibetanTerrah]@110APiccadilly all of what you've said crossed my mind too, especially as a morbidly obese person was deemed CEV. I think it's as likely that they struggled to cope rather than being willfully neglectful.

And yes, I did read the article, I even looked up hydrocephalus Wink[/quote]
All of that crossed your mind, yet you still went for the se sensationalist Daily Mail style title for your own thread? Chinny reckon.

LizDoingTheCanCan · 22/03/2022 16:11

The cause of death is given as 'inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and it's complications in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.' In lay terms, bed sores caused by her immobility.

There's clearly far more to this story than we know. Given her level or disability, you'd expect carers to be supporting the family, along with social care, medical and educational professionals. I expect a fuller version to come out should the case proceed to trial.

ClariceQuiff · 22/03/2022 16:13

Kaylea seems to have had multiple serious health conditions and her obesity sadly exacerbated these - and her immobility due to spina bifida would have made it hard for her to lose weight.

It sounds like a desperately sad situation, whatever the eventual outcome of the legal proceedings.

Original poster
TibetanTerrah · 22/03/2022 16:20

@Cocomarine considering the CPS can barely bring a rape trial to court, I'm unsure how this case has got this far to suggest 'neglect' via obesity or otherwise during the height of covid, expecting parents to presumably lift and sponge bath a morbidly obese, physically and mental disabled teen and treat her ulcers with - probably - little to no outside help.

It raised a number of questions in my head which MN can be useful to get ideas about - when they're not sniping... Like at what point does childhood obesity become neglect? And where is the line between 'failure to cope' and 'wilful neglect'?

They obviously think they have enough evidence to prosecute successfully. It was the wider implications I was thinking about really.

OP posts:
Samcro · 22/03/2022 16:24

from reading it sounds like it wasn't just weight that was a problem. more like lack of care.
trouble is parents get very little help. I know of someone who has all care stopped with little notice. that is for an adult child with profound disabilities.

Tonya345 · 22/03/2022 16:30

@Midlifemusings

It soudns more like general neglect led to her death. She is obese but based on the pictures in the article, not so obese that the obesity would cause her death.
This. If people died when they are as obese as she appears to have been, there would be a lot more deaths. There has to be more to this case.
dadadeedadada · 22/03/2022 16:40

My adult DD is disabled, she's also morbidly obese. She is under the 'care' of the bariatric team, I say 'care' because they've literally thrown tablets at her and said 'change your diet'. I enquired about gym membership for her, she would need assistance at the gym and gyms won't let me pay for her and me go in for free, I have to have a membership even though medically I'm barred from high intensity workouts and as a carer I wouldn't be able to workout because she'd be unsafe. Turns out gym membership on the nhs isn't a thing. She won't exercise in public because of the public (the nasty thoughtless ones anyway). She has however lost two stone on the medication so we're headed in the right direction.
As for support, there is none.
DD sees the gp twice a year, we call it her mot, where they do bloods, weight, any problems etc. I was told every disabled adult does this, we've never missed an appointment but I would hope that if we did a flag would go up as it does for babies who miss appointments.
She has a social worker, she has met her once, for 20 minutes, under a mask, and the sw didn't even want to do a face to face meeting. Sw last contacted me in September, I was at work and couldn't speak so I asked if she could phone back when DD was with me the following Monday. I'm still waiting.
I don't think this is as simple as 'they got her fat and killed her'.
As I've said before once disabled children turn into disabled adults all support stops.
It's tragic that this young lady has died but there should have been many more eyes on her and her parents, these adults remain vulnerable all of their lives. A disability doesn't disappear once they turn 18.

bluedodecagon · 22/03/2022 16:45

@dadadeedadada

My adult DD is disabled, she's also morbidly obese. She is under the 'care' of the bariatric team, I say 'care' because they've literally thrown tablets at her and said 'change your diet'. I enquired about gym membership for her, she would need assistance at the gym and gyms won't let me pay for her and me go in for free, I have to have a membership even though medically I'm barred from high intensity workouts and as a carer I wouldn't be able to workout because she'd be unsafe. Turns out gym membership on the nhs isn't a thing. She won't exercise in public because of the public (the nasty thoughtless ones anyway). She has however lost two stone on the medication so we're headed in the right direction. As for support, there is none. DD sees the gp twice a year, we call it her mot, where they do bloods, weight, any problems etc. I was told every disabled adult does this, we've never missed an appointment but I would hope that if we did a flag would go up as it does for babies who miss appointments. She has a social worker, she has met her once, for 20 minutes, under a mask, and the sw didn't even want to do a face to face meeting. Sw last contacted me in September, I was at work and couldn't speak so I asked if she could phone back when DD was with me the following Monday. I'm still waiting. I don't think this is as simple as 'they got her fat and killed her'. As I've said before once disabled children turn into disabled adults all support stops. It's tragic that this young lady has died but there should have been many more eyes on her and her parents, these adults remain vulnerable all of their lives. A disability doesn't disappear once they turn 18.
Gym membership on the NHS is a thing. You can get referred to a weight management programme that includes free gym membership.
Georgeskitchen · 22/03/2022 17:07

Recently a mother has been jailed for allowing the death of her adult daughter with downs syndrome. She was left in squalor and starved to death

Annette32123 · 22/03/2022 17:43

[quote TibetanTerrah]@110APiccadilly all of what you've said crossed my mind too, especially as a morbidly obese person was deemed CEV. I think it's as likely that they struggled to cope rather than being willfully neglectful.

And yes, I did read the article, I even looked up hydrocephalus Wink[/quote]
Read the rest of the article. It isn’t just about obesity. It’s about neglect. Leaving her in unhygienic conditions. The CPS haven’t charged them just because she was obese. Lots of people have said you haven’t read the article properly so why haven’t you carefully re-read it and considered what the words might indicate?