A Surprise mother who didn’t take her seriously ill baby to the hospital faces murder and felony child abuse charges a year after he died from his illness, reports The Arizona Republic.
Twenty-one-year-old Kristen Elizabeth Torres was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder and felony child abuse in connection with the death of her 13-month-old son Aiden in Nov. 2010.
Aiden had died from acute peritonitis, which doctors say could have been prevented if Torres had sought medical attention for her young son.
Torres had contacted a pediatrician when the baby began exhibiting severe symptoms such as vomiting and fever, and the doctor had advised them to go to the emergency room. However, Aiden's parents did not take him to the ER, claiming that Torres was suffering from high blood pressure at the time and her husband was too tired, according to a court filing.
Police could not say why Torres' husband has not been charged thus far, according to The Republic.
Parents with legal custody of a child typically have the right to make long-term decisions about how a child is raised, incuding what medical treatments to obtain. However, parents have been prosecuted in the past for withholding medical treatment from seriously ill children, including if it was done for religious reasons.
Under Arizona state law, an adult who is convicted of a "dangerous crime against children," including felony child abuse, could be sentenced to a maximum of 24 years in prison. Couple that with the multi-year sentence a second-degree murder conviction can bring and Kristen Elizabeth Torres is facing significant jail time for the death of her son Aiden.
For more information on the rights and responsibilities of parents, see our Related Resources section.
Related Resources:
- Find a Phoenix Family Law Attorney (FindLaw)
- Robert Torres Was "Too Tired" to Take Sick 13-Month-Old to the Hospital - So the Baby Died (Phoenix New Times)
- Rights and Responsibilities of Parents (FindLaw)
- Mail Order Chicken Pox: Can Parents Expose Children to Diseases? (The Phoenix Family Law News Blog)
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