A Calgary mother convicted in her son's "senseless" death after failing to take the bedridden seven-year-old to a doctor for his treatable strep infection was sentenced to three years in prison Friday. 
 
 Tamara Lovett, 48, was found guilty in January of criminal negligence causing the death of her son, Ryan, who died in 2013. 
 
 "Our children are vulnerable," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik. "[Lovett's] actions resulted in the senseless death of an innocent child who needed her protection." 
 
 Defence lawyer Alain Hepner had proposed a jail term of one year plus probation, while the Crown argued Lovett should spend four to five years in prison.​ 
 
 "This sentence of three years really pales in comparison to the life sentence she's received already for being responsible for the death of her child," Hepner said. 
 
 Eidsvik noted the sentence was also designed to deter other parents from failing their children in the same way. A message prosecutor Jonathan Hak said was made clear. 
 
 "If your child is not getting better, you are legally and morally bound to take your child to an actual doctor for actual medical care." 
 
 Lovett's sentence was handed down shortly after the judge denied her defence lawyer's Jordan application, which argued Lovett's rights were violated because it took too long for her case to make it through the court system. 
 
 "It would not be just to set aside a conviction and issue a stay," said Eidsvik in delivering her decision Friday morning. 
 
 Hepner had asked the judge to direct a stay of proceedings under new Supreme Court guidelines that put hard timelines on what is considered unreasonable delay. 
 
 The Superior Court judge also took the opportunity to comment on what she characterized as "staggering" court delay in Alberta. 
 
 "In a perfect world that we are far removed from here in Alberta the case could have been heard within 11 months." 
 
 In 2013, Ryan deteriorated in his mother's apartment for 10 days and was never taken to a doctor. 
 
 On the night of March 2, 2013, Lovett called 911 after finding Ryan on the floor in their apartment. He was dead when paramedics arrived. 
 
 Lovett testified she believed Ryan had a cold or flu and treated him with holistic remedies such as dandelion tea and oil of oregano. 
 
 Eidsvik heard evidence at the trial that Ryan also had meningitis and pneumonia on top of strep. Doctors testified his infection would have been treatable had he been prescribed antibiotics. 
 
 In assessing Lovett's moral blameworthiness, Eidsvik found Ryan "was completely dependent on his mother for using common sense in treatment choices" and died "an excruciating, unnecessary death." 
 
 'I can't begin to forgive myself' 
 
 During sentencing arguments, Lovett spoke through tears about the agony she's suffered since losing her son. 
 
 She said she no longer holds the same beliefs and would take her son to a doctor if she could turn back time. 
 
 "[I] can't begin to forgive myself," said Lovett. "I hope others learn from my ignorance." 
 
 Lovett, who had been on bail until Friday, was escorted into custody by a sheriff after the judge handed down the sentence. 
 
 A pre-sentence psychiatric report found Lovett feels helpless, hopeless and struggles with depression. 
 
 Eiskvik found Lovett's remorse to be genuine and noted the loss of Ryan was already a "severe punishment" 
 
 "Tamara Lovett killed her child, that's a terrible thing for her to live with," said Hak. "I don't know what justice is in a case like that." ||||| 
 
 Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press 
 
 
 
 
 
 CALGARY -- A woman who failed to take her son to the doctor for a strep infection has been sentenced to three years in prison -- a punishment a Calgary judge says fits the grave crime that resulted in the seven-year-old boy's painful death. 
 
 Tamara Lovett, 48, was convicted in January of criminal negligence causing death. 
 
 Justice Kristine Eidsvik said it wasn't Lovett's fault her son Ryan got sick, but she had several days to get him proper medical care. The trial heard Lovett gave Ryan dandelion tea and oil of oregano when he developed the infection that kept him bedridden in their Calgary home for 10 days in 2013. 
 
 "Ryan suffered terribly from this inaction." she said in her sentencing decision Friday. "He died an excruciating, unnecessary death. 
 
 "Her failure to bring him to a medical doctor caused his death." 
 
 She noted that Lovett is still suffering terribly from grief and has admitted what she did was wrong. 
 
 "Her remorse, I believe, is genuine," said Eidsvik. 
 
 But the judge said she's not sure there has been a sincere shift in Lovett's beliefs that made her skeptical of the medical system. 
 
 The Crown had called for Lovett to spend up to five years in prison while her lawyer proposed one year behind bars and one year probation. 
 
 Prosecutor Jonathan Hak said outside court the sentence sends a clear message. 
 
 "If your child is not getting better, you are legally and morally bound to take that child to an actual doctor for actual medical care." 
 
 Defence lawyer Alain Hepner said Lovett's prison term will pale in comparison to what she has already suffered. 
 
 "She's received a life sentence already for being responsible for the death of her child," he said outside court. 
 
 After Lovett's conviction earlier this year, Hepner argued the case should be dismissed because it took too long from the time Lovett was arrested until her conviction in January. 
 
 Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada set out a 30-month time frame for superior courts in what has become known as the Jordan decision. But the high court allowed some flexibility for cases in which charges were laid before its order in July 2016. 
 
 Lovett's case took 38 months to run its course, but Eidsvik said she subtracted six months for delays she attributed to the defence. 
 
 That still leaves 32 months, but Eidsvik ruled the transitional exception applies. 
 
 "The parties were clearly operating under the old regime," she said Friday. "In my view, it would not be just to set aside a conviction here and enter a stay." 
 
 Eidsvik said during the trial that Lovett "gambled away" Ryan's life by treating him herself and not seeking medical help. 
 
 Lovett said she thought he had a cold or the flu and didn't think his swollen lymph nodes, an oozing ear infection and jaundiced eyes were anything she couldn't handle. 
 
 The trial heard that Ryan was dead well before his mother called 911 to say he had stopped breathing. 
 
 Alberta's chief medical examiner testified the boy's body was full of group A streptococcus bacteria, which caused most of his major organs to fail.
– A Calgary mother has been sentenced to three years in prison for failing to medically treat the strep throat that caused her seven-year-old son’s death. Per CBC News, Tamara Lovett was found guilty of criminal negligence in January after treating her son Ryan’s illness with home remedies in 2013. Believing he had a cold or the flu, Lovett said she administered Ryan dandelion tea and oil of oregano and didn’t take him to the doctor. Ryan remained bedridden for 10 days before Lovett found him on the floor of their home. She called 911, but Ryan was dead when the paramedics arrived. During the sentencing, Justice Kristine Eidsvik called Ryan’s death “senseless” and said the decision to give Lovett prison time is meant to send a warning to parents. “Ryan suffered terribly from this inaction. He died an excruciating, unnecessary death,” she said. Eidsvik also expressed sympathy for Lovett and noted that she believes the mother’s thinking around medicine has evolved since the tragedy. "Her remorse, I believe, is genuine," she said, per CTV News. Lovett’s defense lawyer Alain Hepner had argued for a shorter sentence of one year with an additional year of probation. "She's received a life sentence already for being responsible for the death of her child," he said after the hearing. Hepner attempted to get Lovett’s case dismissed due to the long time frame between her arrest and conviction, but was denied. (A new Canadian law limits superior court cases to 30 months; this one took 38.)