Ben and Joanna Langston starved their kid.

[SoUncool]

Infant was deprived of food

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/25863219.html

http://i35.tinypic.com/2465ovn.jpg

Ben and Joanna Langston have been sentenced to two to three years in prison in a child abuse case for depriving their five-month-old child of food.

The parents of Xaviar Langston pleaded no contest to felony child abuse charges after authorities used surveillance cameras to catch them in the act in a hospital room.

Investigators say that Xaviar was starving and even with a feeding tube, he wasn't gaining weight. Doctors at Children's Hospital suspected foul play, but couldn't prove it until the surveillance cameras were in place. The cameras revealed that the feeding tube was being disconnected.

The Langstons wanted to breast feed their child, but Xaviar wasn't getting the necessary nutrients so doctors prescribed formula. The Langstons were charged because they were denying that sustenance. Xaviar was placed in a foster home.

[ImmortalOne]

Certainly not enough done about these parents. Their 4 kids are now part of the system... And these fucked up people couldn't put their own desires or feelings over the needs of that infant. :mad: A perfect example of how some people just shouldn't be blessed with having a baby. Ever.

[Pete Bondurant]

The real tragedy is that they named their son Xavier. That kid never had a chance.

[godney]

The real tragedy is that they named their son Xavier. That kid never had a chance.

They could have named him "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii"
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hMgeASPeLWNZXgXsCmkvR0XIkrwAD9244U0G1

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Bizarre. The charges relate to the disconnection of the feeding tube in the hospital. Wonder what was going on that they brought him into the hospital in the first place.
"They never intended to harm the child," said Denise Frost, Benjamin Langston's lawyer. "They are guilty of spectacularly bad judgment, but they didn't mean to harm him."
...

The Langstons brought their 4½-month-old son, Xavier, to Children's Hospital in March 2007. Born two months prematurely, the child was drastically underweight — compared with a full-term infant — when he was admitted, doctors said.

The baby had a number of medical problems, including hydrocephalus (water on the brain), according to his medical records.

In a disagreement with their doctors, the Langstons would covertly disconnect the boy's feeding tubes so it would appear that the baby was rejecting the formula. Joanna Langston, 26, and Benjamin Langston, 29, strongly felt that breast milk was the baby's best chance to gain weight, Frost said.

Joanna Langston's lawyer, Steve Delaney, said his client was convinced that breastfeeding would be better for the child because two other children hadn't done well on formula.

"She felt like she wasn't being heard by the doctors," Delaney said. "But the doctors knew that the baby needed more than just the breast milk. They were feeding a mix of nutrients."
...

Investigators initially thought that Joanna Langston suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which a person causes a family member's illness in order to care for or be the hero in curing the patient. A psychiatric evaluation found that not to be the case.

"That had been a concern early on," Frost said, "but it was ruled out after a psychological examination of Joanna."

Comparing his weight to a full term baby doesn't seem right to me. Was he malnourished or just underweight?

Why didn't they just wait until the baby was out of the hospital and then go back to the breast milk? Was the baby nursed in the first place and not getting what he needed?

Removing the tube was a stupid trick. They seem misguided at best, stupid at worst, but in no way evil.

[thehesbomb]

Halle-fucking-lujah.

A Nebraska couple's bid to have their parental rights restored ended Friday when the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision to take the children away after the parents repeatedly disconnected their infant son's feeding tube.


Joanna and Ben Langston wanted to regain custody of Xavier, now 3, and their three other children, ages 6, 4 and 1.

Attorneys for the state called the decision a victory, saying the children today are thriving in foster care and remain together. But attorneys for the couple called the decision tragic and said the Langstons and their extended family and friends are devastated.

"This is equivalent to receiving notice that your children have died," said Scott Sidwell, a Lincoln attorney with Legal Aid of Nebraska who represented Ben Langston in the appeal.

The three older children were removed from the Langston's custody around the time of the couple's arrests in March 2007, after surveillance video caught Joanna unhooking Xavier's feeding tube 25 times during a seven-hour period while the boy was hospitalized in Omaha because he wasn't gaining weight. The youngest child, a girl, was taken shortly after her birth in February 2008.

While not caught on tape, Ben admitted to removing Xavier's tube as well, according to court documents.

The Langstons also repeatedly put their older two children at risk in handling their medical care, including not giving medical professionals accurate information about their health, court documents say.

Joanna suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, according to court documents detailing testimony from a psychiatrist who treated her. The condition caused Joanna to perform improper acts regarding the children's medical conditions so that she could gain psychological benefit, the doctor said.

But her attorney disputes that claim, arguing there was never a valid psychological diagnosis.

The three older children had significant medical issues that parents were trying to address, said Lincoln attorney Stephanie Hupp, who represented Joanna Langston in her appeal.

"That's the real tragedy in this, is that by seeking this medical attention that the kids needed is how they ultimately were removed from their care," she said.

Joanna testified that they removed the feeding tube for Xavier's benefit, saying they would add breast milk to the tube with a syringe and would occasionally breast feed him. They said they were concerned that what Xavier received through the feeding tube contained corn, to which Ben claimed the boy was allergic.

Both parents were sentenced last year to between two and three years in prison for the abuse convictions stemming from Xavier's care. Joanna Langston has since been released on parole. Benjamin remains in prison.

The Langstons argued that terminating their parental rights wasn't in the children's best interest. They also said the court wrongly considered Joanna's mental health history that predated the children, including treatment for anorexia.

http://www.beatricedailysun.com/articles/2009/11/13/ap-state-ne/ne_parents_feeding_tube.txt