The story began in early 2017, when Abigail Piland was born without any obvious problems. But when the midwife who helped deliver her checked back the next day, Abigail didn’t look healthy. The midwife told mother Rachel Piland to take the child to a hospital because the baby “could suffer brain damage or die if not properly cared for.”
Rachel refused, insisting “God makes no mistakes.”
Days later, Abigail was dead. (Rachel and her husband Joshua then prayed for Abigail’s resurrection. Surprise: That didn’t work, either.)
A medical examiner later attributed the death to “unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus,” both jaundice-related problems that were treatable. Abigail never had the chance to see a doctor when blood was coming out of her mouth, or when she wasn’t eating, or when her skin became further discolored. All because her parents put more trust in God than someone who could actually help.
Not parenting licenses, but well funded child protective services. Investigations into claims. Serious monitoring of home schoolers.
As I have been trying to get ANYONE to listen to for the past year, for example, the state of Oklahoma actively does not investigate child welfare cases (except occasionally to take away native or Black children.)
The internal phone system at Oklahoma DHS is NOT WORKING. They have the incorrect numbers for several state agencies, and have been forwarding reports intended for the police to a very confused Hispanic man. This is absolutely insane and should be newsworthy, but no one gives a shit.
You could try reaching out to reporters at ProPublica. Each bio link describes what they cover, so you can target those likely to have an interest.
https://www.propublica.org/staff/#news-staff
I’ve been hitting up John Sullivan - he investigated the facility that I am trying to get shut down back when it was under a different name. (How the fuck do you kill a kid, and then immediately get to open up a new facility?)
I think nurses should be able to ideally forcefully remove a child into medical care when parents are this stupid but of course with the current political climate in the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if KFC Junior praised them (typo intentional)