Latest news with #JohnGonzalez
Daily Record
08-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Baby boy left 'unable to walk, talk or see' after vegan parents put him in sauna
The couple, who considered themselves "vegan mucus-free fruitarians", employed extreme practices and exposed their baby to "high temperature saunas and ice baths". A newborn baby boy has been left "unable to walk, talk, or see" after his vegan parents with extreme health views exposed him to extreme heat and ice baths. Concern was raised after John Gonzalez, 38, and 45-year-old Jaqueline Navarro brought their poorly ten-month-old son to hospital suffering from seizures and brain damage, reports the Mirror. 'The baby was grey in colour, emaciated, and catatonic,' according to a statement from prosecutors. 'Emergency room doctors discovered the boy had extremely low blood sugar levels and suffered from hypoxia and constant seizures.' The couple, who considered themselves "vegan mucus-free fruitarians", employed extreme practices and exposed him to "high temperature saunas and ice baths." Prosecutors said the parents "refused to feed the baby formula or breast milk because they believed it was toxic." According to the district attorney's office in Orange County, "Gonzalez objected to many lifesaving treatments and told medical staff he believed that starvation would lead to healing." The parents have been convicted of one felony count of child abuse and endangerment and one felony enhancement of causing great bodily injury to a child under five. The victim's paternal grandmother, who alerted authorities multiple times about the condition of the boy, was awarded custody of the now five year old. The Department of Child Welfare Services was found to have failed to protect the baby from malnourishment, which led to permanent brain damage and seizures. Tulare County had to pay $32 million to settle a lawsuit filed by his grandmother. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said: "This innocent child suffered from almost the first breath he took because of his parents' beliefs that starvation would cure him. Instead of curing him, they robbed him of his sight, his ability to take his first steps, to say his first words, and his chance to see the world through the eyes of a child who is seeing everything for the first time. " Tragically, he will never get to experience any of those milestones because his parents starved him nearly to death instead of giving him the nourishment he so desperately needed." Gonzalez and Navarro are being held without bail and will be sentenced July 25. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
California Parents' 'Extreme' Health Views Left Child a Quadriplegic
A California couple was convicted on Monday after causing irreversible brain damage to their young son. The Orange County district attorney's office determined that parents John Andres Gonzalez, 38, and Jaqueline Navarro, 45, were both guilty of felony child abuse and endangerment. They were each sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in prison, a punishment enhanced by the aggravating circumstance of causing great bodily injury to a child under 5. According to the OCDA's press release, charges against Gonzalez and Navarro stemmed from "exposing their newborn son to extreme heat and cold" and "withholding vital nourishment." The couple's negligence was said to have nearly killed the infant and resulted in severe brain damage, leaving the child "a quadriplegic unable to walk, talk, or see." The press release went into detail about the parents' dangerous health practices. Gonzalez and Navarro subscribed to naturopathy, which is the belief that the body can heal itself from diseases without the help of modern medicine. When the baby was born in 2019, the parents did not feed him breast milk or formula, believing both to be "toxic" for their child. The couple considered themselves vegan mucus-free fruitarians, which pushed them to feed their son only soy-based formula, fruits, and vegetables. They also exposed him to "high-temperature saunas" and "ice baths" when he was just weeks old. The lifestyle eventually led to a medical emergency. The baby was rushed to the emergency room of an Orange County hospital in August 2020. The then-10-month-old infant was in a catatonic state and had graying skin. Gonzalez continued pushing his extreme health beliefs while his son was hospitalized, imploring medical staff to starve his son to heal him. While the child survived, he was left with irreversible brain damage. His paternal grandmother, Patrizia Sanchez, repeatedly reported what was happening to the Tulare County Department of Child Welfare Services when the child was still a month old. Despite over a dozen calls to the office, the agency failed to act on Sanchez's warnings, per the press release. Sanchez later filed a lawsuit against the Tulare County, leading to the largest settlement of its kind in California history. Sanchez was awarded custody of the Parents' 'Extreme' Health Views Left Child a Quadriplegic first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 4, 2025
