Calgary trial hears parents of dead diabetic teen forged blood sugar readings | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Calgary trial hears parents of dead diabetic teen forged blood sugar readings

Alex Radita is shown in a photo from his 15th birthday party, three months before his death.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Government of Alberta

CALGARY - A doctor says the parents of a diabetic boy who would eventually die were calling in fake blood-sugar readings while caring for him after his diagnosis.

Dr. Daniel Metzker from the B.C. Children's Hospital told a Calgary court that the couple refused to believe their son had diabetes and had to be pressured to treat him when he was released from hospital.

Emil and Rodica Radita are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old son Alexandru, who weighed less than 37 pounds when he died of complications from untreated diabetes and starvation in 2013.

Metzker, a pediatric endocrinologist, was one of the first doctors to deal with Alexandru and his parents when the boy was diagnosed 13 years before his death.

He said it took a call to children's services to force the Raditas to learn how to take blood-sugar readings and give their son insulin.

The doctor said a community health nurse had to visit the home twice a day to make sure the insulin was administered, but it was discovered that the parents were taking their own blood-sugar readings and calling them in to the hospital.

That resulted in Alexandru not being provided enough insulin to stabilize his condition, Metzker said at the trial Tuesday.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016
The Canadian Press

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