Parents of a disabled teenager, a spina bifida patient who died due to obesity complications, are accused of failing to ensure girl’s dietary needs were met leading to obesity and death, charged

Being a parent is not easy and requires a lot of dedication, time and effort in raising children, but everything is much more complicated and complex for parents of children with disabilities. No matter the children’s age, only parents of disabled children really know what the lives of other parents of disabled children look like taking into consideration the struggles they have to go through in their lives.

Mother and father of a now dead 16-year-old disabled girl will have to stand trial in January next year if they don’t enter a plea agreement in June for the death of the teenager. The parents are accused of killing the teenager because they didn’t properly feed the girl who became “morbidly obese” over time, believed to be one of the main reasons for her death.

According to the Independent that reported about this case two weeks ago, the 16-year-old girl identified as K. Titford was found dead at her home in Wales in October 2020 and she was discovered “pale, cold and could not be woken.” Year and a half after she was found dead, her parents are accused of killing her and are expected to enter a plea deal in June.

The mother, identified as the 39-year-old S. Lloyd-Jones, was arrested mid-April and was charged with gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person. The girl’s father, identified as the 44-year-old A. Titford, faces the same charges, but he was admitted to hospital the evening before Lloyd-Jones was arrested and he didn’t appear in court on April 14.

Titford’s parents are accused of her death after they failed to ensure their daughter’s dietary needs were met, leading to morbid obesity. In addition to the initial accusations, the parents are also accused of failing to ensure their daughter got enough exercise, they failed to provide hygienic conditions and had a safe and clean living environment which would be appropriate for her talking into consideration her disability and overall condition.

The charges allege the defendants did not ensure her physical health was maintained and that they failed to seek reasonable medical help for her. Initially, the parents were expected to enter plea deals regarding the case, but since the father was hospitalized the evening before the mother showed in court, the judge granted them conditional bail until June 30 when they will be expected to enter a plea to the allegation. The judge in charge called the case ‘an unusual case’.

According to Daily Mail that also reported about the case recently, the teenager was a spina bifida sufferer who suffered ‘multiple medical issues’ through her life and was immobile. When paramedics arrived in the morning hours on October 10, 2020, she was already dead. The teenager was pronounced dead at exactly 8.12 a.m.

A medical cause of death was given as ‘inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and it’s complications in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.’