CALGARY — A British Columbia doctor says the parents of a starved teen refused to accept a diabetes diagnosis when the boy was initially admitted to hospital 13 years before his death.
Dr. Laura Stewart, a pediatric endocrinologists, testified that Emil and Rodica Radita were reluctant to give their son Alexandru insulin when he was admitted to the B.C. children's hospital in Vancouver in 2000.
However the couple wasn't able to take him home until they had proven they were capable of administering insulin and checking his blood sugar.
Stewart says the boy showed good progress and was healthy when he came for an outpatient checkup a few months later, but Alexandru was admitted to hospital again two years after that because he was severely malnourished.
She says at that time it was felt he was not safe to be in the care of his family and was apprehended by government services.
Alexandru died in Calgary in 2013 of complications due to untreated diabetes and starvation.
