Parents Didn’t Take Malnourished Baby To Doctor Over Religious Beliefs

Two parents in Phoenix never took their malnourished baby to the doctor because of religious beliefs, and that 15-month-old has since died.

An ambulance was called to the little girl’s home on Wednesday after she stopped breathing. She was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital and later died.

The 15-month-old only weighed nine pounds and had numerous fractures on her ribs. Her parents, Ernest Ingram and Denise Snow-Ingram, admitted that they never took their daughter to the doctor and were arrested for child abuse.

“We did detain the two parents, sole caregivers of the child, and they have indicated they thought she was developmentally slow,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Trent Crump said.

The couple has six other children, who were all taken away from the home and turned over to Child Protective Services.

When they appeared in court, Denise said that she and her husband never harmed any of their children.

“We have never committed a felony, any type of anything as far as criminal activity before, and also we need the opportunity to be able to collect evidence to show, to prove that we didn’t do… what we are being accused of,” she said.

Their neighbor, John Donohu, said that the couple never allowed their children to go outside or do anything.

“This is not an accidental death, this is something where these kids needed help and were not given help they needed, and its disgusting to think that this child could have been alive had something been done,” he said.

The couple are currently being held in jail on a $250,000 bond.

What do you think should happen to the parents who didn’t take their malnourished baby to the doctor? Do you believe they really refused medical care for their daughter over religious beliefs?

[Image via Shuttershock]