Health Impact News Editor Comments
To read the previous articles about the Stephan family in Canada, the tragic death of their son, and how they believe the Canadian government is making an example of them for not vaccinating their children and using alternative health, please see:
Father Convicted in Non-Vaccinated Child Death in Solitary Confinement Due to Threats in Prison
Non-Vaccinating Parents Found Guilty After Child Died – Exonerating Evidence Ignored
Family Faces Criminal Prosecution and Loss of Children for not Vaccinating Child who Died
Health Impact News is one of the few media outlets publishing the parents’ side of the story.
David Stephan Released from Jail on Appeal
by David Stephan
Facebook Post
I am ever so grateful to be back with my beautiful wife and boys as well as back in contact with such wonderful and supportive friends and family! It is with sad realization that it took me being subjected to a state of deprivation to come to see how much I took the wonderful things of life for granted… especially relationships. With this realization I now have a renewed vigour and gratitude for life that I hope I will continue to nourish throughout the rest of my life.
Being in jail was an interesting experience to say the least. Even though I had no access to sunlight, the fresh food I am accustomed to, direct human contact and recreational activities… the food was actually better than expected, the officers (guards) were quite nice and the reading material was good. Unfortunately, the individuals that suffered most by my being in jail was first and foremost, my children and then subsequently, Collet.
Having been left to my own thoughts over the past 3 weeks, I had the opportunity to analyze all that has taken place over the past 4.5 years. Having removed myself from the trauma and pain and the need to defend my family against the mass hypocrisy of this all, I have begun to connect the dots as to what took place. I as well had the ability to reinitiate the mourning process of my son Ezekiel once again. A process that I haven’t been able to engage in for over 3 years now. Having an overabundance of time to read and write, I was able to write much of my feelings and respond to the glaring fallacies that have been disseminated over the past 4 months. Writings which I will share over the next week or so. (Part 1 below)
As for now, I am so full of gratitude and love for the tremendous support that my wife and children have received while I was away. I am grateful for the continued outpouring of love and support that is coming from all over the world in so many different forms. I am grateful that the Love of God still abounds in the hearts of so many. I am grateful for the blessings that our Majestic Creator continues to pour out and surround us with. Regardless of ones circumstances, life is beautiful. When we take the time to observe all that is around us we come to see just how our lives are surrounded with such wonder and amazement.
May the Love of our Father and Jesus Christ (Yeshua) fill our hearts and our homes,
David
A LETTER FROM JAIL – (Part 1 of 2)
THE TRUTH OR THE WHOLE TRUTH… WHAT’S IT GOING TO BE?
Stephans outside the courthouse with supporters before sentencing. Source: Prayers for Ezekiel Facebook page.
Note: This letter was written immediately following my being sent to jail on June 24, 2016, and was originally intended to be published while I was still in jail. Being that I got out earlier then expected, I stopped it from being published and decided to do so myself. Due to its length, I have decided to break it into 2 parts and will share the second half tomorrow. Please also note that as there are some weighty and controversial topics addressed herein, written in direct response to the court proceedings and the accusations that the media has incessantly disseminated, that none of my writings are created for the purpose of inciting anger, resentment or hatred towards any party. As there is already far to much of this in the world, the last thing I would want to do is further contribute to this problem that has become so prevalent in our situation. So I ask that as you read this letter that you do so not in a spirit of hatred towards that which is unjust and corrupt, but rather in a spirit of love for that which is just and true.
FROM WITHIN MY CELL
It is with great hesitancy that I write this, as one of the main reasons that I sit here isolated from the rest of the world and nearly all human contact — spending the majority of my time pacing the narrow 10 foot walkway in my lone cell, longing for the feeling of direct sunlight on my face and the warm embrace from my wife and children — is because I refused to go down quietly. Or as one media outlet put it… “Shut up”. I have echoed and re-echoed time and time again the findings of Dr. Anny Sauvageau, former Chief Medical Examiner of Alberta and one of Canada’s most qualified forensic pathologists, that our Ezekiel did not have bacterial meningitis or a right pleural empyema — the 2 listed causes of death on his autopsy report — but rather viral meningitis, which she states that virtually no one dies from. Furthermore, her findings were that the cause of Ezekiel’s breathing to stop was due to an obstructed airway that was unrelated to meningitis, and had it not been for the fact that the Alberta Health Services ambulance had been proactively de-stocked of critical life saving equipment for toddlers — resulting in Ezekiel going over 8 minutes without oxygen —, statistically he would’ve almost had a 100% chance of living with a full recovery.
My echoing of her findings have been mis-characterized as deflecting responsibility and a show of no remorse. Claims that I will address later on and show how this is clearly “the pot calling the kettle black” as there is a definite case of deflecting responsibility on the government’s end.
As for going down quietly… for the sake of truth and hoping for justice… for the sake of preventing another family from suffering the needless loss of a child and then being subjected to a massive coverup and shift of liability that could result in criminal prosecution… I cannot go down quietly! I cannot go against my conscience merely for the self serving hopes that if I comply, somehow my sentencing will be made lighter. I have a moral duty not only to protect myself and my family, but all of my brothers and sisters within the human family.
Now before proceeding any further, I would like to express my gratitude for the fact that my precious children are in the care of my beautiful wife. I am extremely grateful that the judge did not side with the crown as they attempted to rip our family apart for 3 to 4.5 years. I am horrified imagining the effect this would’ve had on our 3 children as my short absence alone isn’t sitting very well. So as I sit confined in my cell for 22 to 23 hours per day, I do so in gratitude for the protection that has been afforded to my family.
ALBEIT, HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT? (25 Questions)
1. In light of Dr. Anny Sauvageau’s evidence validating the observations of everyone who saw Ezekiel while he was ill, not “severely” ill, how is it that we even got to this point?
2. Why is it that almost no media covered her ground breaking and newsworthy evidence?
3. Why is it that the crown, who is seeking for “justice” — it being a principle that is predicated upon the truth — did everything in their power to suppress this evidence from coming forward?
4. How is it that the crown was able to largely succeed as the judge sided with them and prevented Dr. Sauvageau from presenting all of her evidence and speaking the whole truth, a first time occurrence in her career of having testified at over 300 trials?
5. How is it that after enough truth did surface, shifting the liability of Ezekiel’s passing from us to AHS, that the crown — who is supposed to be seeking for justice and protecting human life — did not shift gears and hold AHS liable?
6. Was the crown really seeking for justice to be served or was their sole objective to get a criminal conviction?
7. Does the crown really value human life as they have communicated?
8. If so, why is it that 2 years before Ezekiel passed that Collet and I could’ve went to an abortion centre and terminated his life? Or to be less politically correct… had him murdered in cold blood?
9. Why is it that an Alberta Health Services abortion centre would’ve had all the right equipment to take a life, but yet when a life needs to be saved, the right equipment is nowhere to be found?
10. Why is the crown, who supposedly values human life, not acting on the evidence that came forward that shows a clear case of “failing to provide the necessaries of life” and “criminal negligence resulting in death”?
11. Is not oxygen a necessary of life?
12. Wouldn’t removing the necessary equipment needed to provide oxygen to a toddler from an ambulance, and then ignoring the requests of a paramedic for approximately 1 year to have the equipment replaced, constitute “criminal negligence”? Criminal negligence that resulted in Ezekiel’s death.
13. Why were those requests to restock the ambulance finally honoured the week after Ezekiel’s death?
14. Why has the crown callously disregarded this evidence and have done everything in their power to manipulate the sequence of events to show that the ambulance would’ve made no difference?
15. Is this a case of “preferential prosecution” wherein the crown prefers to prosecute Collet and I, but would rather not prosecute a government agency for the same thing?
16. More alarming… Why did medical examiner Dr. Adeagbo’s evidence from the preliminary trial in June 2014 regarding the ambulance being a possible contributing factor to Ezekiel’s death change during this last trial, to Ezekiel being too far gone from the bacterial meningitis to be saved?
17. Why did Dr. Adeagbo, the medical examiner that conducted Ezekiel’s autopsy, come to the conclusion that he died from bacterial meningitis and a right pleural empyema and make no mention of the 8 minutes without oxygen in the autopsy report?
18. Why did Dr Adeagbo or the crown not disclose an x-ray that was in Dr. Adeagbo’s file that showed that Ezekiel did not have a right pleural empyema on March 13, 2012, and as such could not have died from it?
19. Why did Dr. Adeagbo have to go to great lengths and use non-scientifically approved methods to determine that Ezekiel had bacterial meningitis, but never once tested for viral meningitis?
20. Why in his findings of facts did the judge omit numerous well established facts that would show that Ezekiel was not in a serious condition, leaving out almost every fact that would diminish the crowns narrative of Ezekiel deteriorating over 2 weeks to the point that he died?
21. Why did the judge omit the facts that Ezekiel had improved numerous times while using the herbal remedies and that on Ezekiel’s last day of life, for about 5 hours prior to him stopping breathing he appeared to be symptom free by all outward indications?
22. Why did the judge omit the fact that during this 5 hour period, at the same time that we were nearby the walk-in clinic that he identified, that Ezekiel was becoming playful and had woke me up from a nap I was having in the back of the vehicle by playing with my lip?
23. Why did the judge omit the fact that after Ezekiel first stopped breathing, that Collet gave him a rescue breath and patted him on the back and after coughing up some mucus and fluid he began to breath on his own again, illustrating that his breathing was not stopped by meningitis, but rather by an obstruction?
24. Furthermore, why did the judge omit the fact that Dr. Sauvageau, a world renowned expert on hypoxic and anoxic injuries, identified by the sound of Ezekiel’s breathing on the 911 call that there was still an obstruction in his airway? An obstruction that in my opinion dislodged a short while later while traveling on the bumpy gravel roads towards the hospital, preventing Ezekiel from breathing wherein he required the services of a properly equipped ambulance.
25. Why would the judge omit these facts, painting an inaccurate picture that minimized the effect the ambulance had, and yet include in his findings of facts the entirely disproven fact that Dr. Adeagbo found that one of the causes of Ezekiel’s death was from a right pleural empyema?
The judges actions ultimately defamed Collet and I in front of a packed courtroom of supporters and media, going against the evidence of Dr. Anny Sauvageau who was the most qualified expert to speak to Ezekiel’s causation of death, and largely substantiated the crowns twisted story that serves to protect AHS. The story that Ezekiel was so brain dead that by the time he reached the ambulance, receiving oxygen would’ve been of no effect.
This is a story that cannot be reconciled with the fact when Ezekiel finally did get oxygen and was maintained on it, within an hour or so he spontaneously began to breath on his own. An action that was viewed as a problem during transport, and as such, a powerful paralyzing drug was administered to prevent him from functioning on his own. This put Ezekiel into a comatose state… one he would never come out of. So I ask… how is it that Ezekiel was too brain dead for the ambulance to save him, when even after the devastating 8 minutes of complete oxygen deprivation, he was still able to show signs of recovery?
At the end of the day I have to ask the question… Is this really about protecting Alberta Health Services? Is this really about protecting $82,000? That’s right… if your loved one dies from the third leading cause of death in America, that being “medical misadventure” or in other words medical system screw-ups, you may be entitled to a maximum of $82,000 pending an expensive and successful lawsuit. With the value of life coming in at a mere $82,000 in Alberta and this being but a fraction of the cost of taxpayers money that has been invested into this whole court case, I am left thinking that the elaborate coverup has little or nothing to do with $82,000.
I also don’t see how this court case has anything to do with saving face as when it comes to the AHS ambulance operations, there is no face to save. At the time of Ezekiel’s passing, the Health Quality Council of Alberta was reviewing the performance of the AHS ambulances including their dispatch system. When their findings were published in March of 2013 — about 2 weeks after we were charged — it showed that the ambulance services were in disarray and that people who lived in rural areas were in danger due to dispatch issues. Issues that we were not foreign to, as a few minutes into our second 911 call we drove within 100 metres of an ambulance that was not dispatched, nor received any dispatch calls from either one of our 911 calls on that night. So at the end of the day is this really about AHS? Is there really an intentional elaborate coverup or is everyone just confused and missing the facts in a peculiarly coordinated way? Or even worse, is there a deep rooted sinister agenda behind all of this?
TRUTH
As I reflect on the communication that took place both in the courtroom and in the media over the past few months, I have come to the realization that very little of the misinformation that was portrayed was due to outright lies. Rather, the majority of it came about through twisted truths. In this I have come to see that there is a big difference between speaking truth and speaking the whole truth. The first can inadvertently or intentionally become a lie while the second is what we typically just refer to as the truth. Like oil and water they cannot be mixed and ultimately prove to be incompatible. The truth or fragments thereof detracting from the whole truth, but the whole truth when presented entirely, decimating the mis-contextualized half truths.
How many of us have been misled by another’s communication that only consisted of truth? How many of us have accidentally or intentionally misled another through communication that only consisted of truth? Excepting those who are engaged in misleading themselves while existing in a state of denial, I believe the answer for both questions is “I have”. Most of us can reflect on a time when after conveying a message or relaying events that we suddenly had a recollection of what we failed to communicate, recognizing the importance it would’ve played in creating the right context. For those who are truthful and upright likely action would proceed this thought process. So what are we to be agents of? The truth or the whole truth… What’s it going to be?
For we not only expose ourselves through that which we communicate, but through that which we lack to communicate. Our biases and intentions are illuminated by that which we unknowingly fail to communicate or altogether attempt to minimize or hide.
It is within our nature that we innocently omit facts within our communication when we feel that they are of no relevance to the topic or of any value to our audience. In this we may find ourselves inadvertently misleading our audience due to our failure to recognize what information they deem relevant or necessary to create an accurate or whole picture.
What is not within our nature is committing the act of intentionally omitting facts, communicating only truth, but in a selective way where one ultimately ends up playing the role of a deceiver. The engagement of this act first requires a compromise, wherein an individual must first deceive themselves by consoling their conscience with the lie that they are only telling the truth. All the while intentionally omitting facts that would serve to change the context of what is being communicated, creating a slant or twist that misleads their audience and only serves to substantiate or promote an agenda. It is only when this communication of half truths is contrasted with the whole truth that one’s intentions are made known.
It is with this in mind that I want to address the recent accusations about me attempting to deflect responsibility by misleading others with my communication and how this ultimately has been a show of no remorse. I will address both of these elements as separate topics.
DEFLECTION & REMORSE
To be continued…
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