The parents of an 11-year-old boy who underwent a heart transplant have been charged in his death after authorities said they failed to give him critical anti-rejection medications.
David and Jennifer Stroud of Park City pleaded not guilty in Lake County court Thursday to charges of endangering the life of a child, prosecutors said.
Their son, Jason Stroud, died Sept. 11 of last year.
Jason was born with heart problems, and underwent eight open heart surgeries and 20 surgical procedures, according to a Go Fund Me page set up in his name.
In 2012, Jason received a heart transplant in a Milwaukee children’s hospital, but had two rounds of organ rejection, and by August 2016, his heart was in "complete rejection/failure due to coronary heart disease," necessitating another transplant, according to the fundraising site, said to have been written by his mother.
The anti-rejection medications were "giving him terrible headaches, chills/tremors, and is just not allowing him to be happy self," the site stated.
But Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Kalata said, the parents had "a legal and moral obligation" to take care of their child. The charge of endangering the life of a child is not unusual, but this was the first case Kalata has handled in which a parent’s medical neglect is alleged to have directly led to their child’s death.
Prosecutors said one count of child endangerment against both David and Jennifer Stroud related to allegations that they also repeatedly missed medical appointments at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
Hospital officials contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which checked into the situation and got the couple to bring their child in, Kalata said.
If convicted, each parent could be sentenced to probation or up to five years in prison.
Jennifer Stroud posted $7,500 cash bail and was released, but David Stroud was still being held in Lake County jail on Friday in lieu of a $75,000 bond. A judge declined a defense attorney’s request to lower his bond.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertMcCoppin
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