Left to right: Anthony Diffendall and Meghan Diffendall (Lower Swatara Township Police Department).
A mother and father in Pennsylvania have been arrested after they allegedly failed to obtain and provide insulin to their 13-year-old diabetic son, causing him to be hospitalized twice in one week, the second time landing him in the intensive care unit for several days.
Anthony Diffendall, 41, and Meghan Diffendall, 36, both from Middletown, were taken into custody last week and charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a child.
The Lower Swatara Township Police Department announced the arrests in a pair of brief Thursday news releases, saying the mother and father were being charged due to “an incident that was reported to us.”
The victim lives with Type 1 diabetes and was admitted to the hospital on June 22 and Sept. 9 for treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Voice. Ketoacidosis is a serious condition resulting from a lack of insulin that makes one”s blood highly acidic and is usually considered a medical emergency.
After being discharged on Sept. 10, the victim was reportedly hospitalized again on Sept. 13 when he began suffering from abnormal breathing, vomiting, and chest pain. Doctors at Penn State Children’s Hospital determined the boy was experiencing another ketoacidosis episode and he was admitted into the ICU.
The Diffendalls reportedly told the medical staff that their insurance had denied their son’s long-term insulin, forcing them to use expired insulin they found in their refrigerator.
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According to court documents, doctors said that the boy appeared to be the victim of chronic medical neglect because his sugar levels were “beyond what is appropriate” for someone with his condition and emphasized the fact that he had “two significant hospitalizations in the past week” as a result of “management of his diabetes, or lack thereof.”
Going back to the June hospitalization, doctors determined that three ketoacidosis hospitalizations in three months created “concern for [the victim’s] well-being and long-term health outcomes,” York Fox affiliate WPMT reported.
The parents were instructed to attend a class on their son’s condition, but Meghan Diffendall reportedly did not attend. When asked where his wife was, Anthony Diffendall allegedly said she was “home sleeping.”
The victim’s pediatrician told investigators the Diffendalls had not refilled their son’s long-term insulin supply since January when he should have been going through “at least a box” every month, WPMT reported.
“It is basically a miracle that the victim did not go into diabetic ketoacidosis many more times,” the doctor said, adding that there were “concerns for medical neglect.”
Shortly after their arrests, the parents appeared before Magisterial District Judge David H. Judy for their arraignment hearings. The judge ordered them to be released on their own recognizance and scheduled their preliminary hearings for the afternoon of Nov. 26.
