Left to right: Anthony Diffendall and Meghan Diffendall (Lower Swatara Township Police Department).
In Pennsylvania, a mother and father have been arrested for allegedly neglecting to secure and provide necessary insulin to their 13-year-old son, a diabetic, which led to him being hospitalized twice in the span of one week. The second hospital stay required intensive care for several days.
Authorities have charged Anthony Diffendall, 41, and Meghan Diffendall, 36, both residents of Middletown, with one count each of child endangerment. Their arrests were announced by the Lower Swatara Township Police Department in two brief news releases issued last Thursday, citing an “incident that was reported to us” as the basis for the charges.
The young victim, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes, was admitted to the hospital on June 22 and again on September 9, needing treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis. This serious condition, which results from insufficient insulin, causes the blood to become highly acidic and is generally treated as a medical emergency, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Voice.
After being released from the hospital on September 10, the boy was readmitted on September 13 due to symptoms including abnormal breathing, vomiting, and chest pain. Medical professionals at Penn State Children’s Hospital identified another episode of ketoacidosis, prompting his admission to the intensive care unit.
The Diffendalls reportedly informed the medical team that their insurance had denied coverage for their son’s long-term insulin supply, leading them to rely on expired insulin they found in their refrigerator.
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.
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.
