The parents of baby Gloria Thomas, who had such severe eczema that she was constantly crying and unable to move her legs, were so fixated on their social activities that they did not bother to get medical attention for her, a court heard today.
But despite allegedly shunning conventional medical attention for the nine-month-old girl in favour of homeopathic remedies, when the mother became ill with gallstones she was rushed to a mainstream hospital.
The Supreme Court heard today that nine-month-old Gloria would have lived if she had been treated by conventional doctors even days up until the moment her parents brought her into hospital.
Homeopath Thomas Sam, 42, and Manju Sam, 36, from Earlwood, are on trial in the Supreme Court charged with manslaughter by gross criminal negligence after their daughter, Gloria Thomas, died of septicemia in May 2002.
Gloria was not taken to the emergency department of the Sydney Children's Hospital until her skin was weeping, her body malnourished and her corneas melting, the court heard.
The Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, told the court that, even though Gloria was suffering and clearly in pain, Manju Sam took the baby to India in February 2002 against the advice of a pediatrician, who described the journey as "cruel".
The pediatrician wanted Gloria to stay in Australia to see another specialist, but Manju Sam insisted on taking her to India because she wanted the support of her wealthy family, where servants would help look after the baby, and for citizenship reasons, Mr Tedeschi said.
Once in India, Manju Sam allegedly continued to disregard creams prescribed for the baby by conventional doctors, instead applying homeopathic drops that did not work.
In April, mother and baby were joined in India by Thomas Sam, who flew out for his brother's wedding, and the couple embarked on a manic social schedule during which time Gloria's condition became progressively worse, Mr Tedeschi said.
"The Crown case is that, during that 2½-week period while they were travelling around, Gloria's skin condition became so bad that any reasonable parent, let alone any reasonable homeopath, would have immediately taken her for urgent medical attention at either a hospital or some conventional medical practice," Mr Tedeschi said.
"Thomas and Manju continued to administer homeopathic drops while they carried out their active social life.
"The Crown case is that they put their social obligations well ahead of any concern for Gloria's wellbeing."
Shortly before the wedding, Manju Sam developed extreme abdominal pain and, the day after the wedding, she was diagnosed with gallstones, Mr Tedeschi said. But instead of treating her with homeopathic remedies as they had done for their daughter, Manju Sam immediately went to a conventional hospital for treatment.
"Thomas Sam showed a considerable degree of fear and concern for Manju's condition in contratst to what they both showed to Gloria's condition," Mr Tedeschi said.
"The Crown case is that Gloria's health and welfare was the last thought on the minds of her parents other than to continue using homeopathic drops to treat her condition."
Mr Tedeschi said the parents arrived home from India eight days before their daughter died, and she was in such a state that passengers on the plane back to Australia noticed she was constantly crying with skin red as though it had been burnt or covered in tumours.
"From the time they arrived in Australia until they took Gloria to the Sydney Children's Hospital eight days later they were grossly negligent in failing to get proper medical care for Gloria,'' Mr Tedeschi said.
"Had they gone straight to hospital, had they got proper medical attention for Gloria when they first got back to Australia or even for several days after that, the evidence will be that Gloria would have survived.''
Four days after they arrived in Australia, Thomas Sam's sister allegedly offered to take the baby to hospital but he declined.
Later that night, the couple decided they would take the baby to hospital, but they were too tired to do it that evening and waited until after he had completed an obligation at the church the next day before going in about midday on May 5.
Immediately, the baby was categorised as in need of urgent medical attention and rushed into emergency. She died three days later.
The trial continues.
Thomas Sam, 42, and his wife Manju Sam, 36, from Sydney, Australia, are undergoing trial for manslaughter by gross negligence for the death of their nine-month-old child, Gloria. She died from infection caused by severe eczema after they shunned effective conventional medical treatments for homeopathy, a form of alternative medicine that has been described as pseudoscience. Articles in peer-reviewed academic journals including ''Social Science & Medicine'' have characterized homeopathy as a form of quackery.

An example of severe eczema. Gloria developed severe eczema at the age of four months and the parents were advised to send the child to a skin specialist. Thomas Sam, a practising homeopath, instead decided to treat his daughter himself. His daughter's condition deteriorated, to the point that the baby spent all her energy battling the infections caused by the constant breaking of the skin, leading to severe malnutrition and, eventually, her death. By the end, Gloria's eczema was so severe that her skin broke every time her parents changed her clothes or nappy, and in the words of the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, "Gloria spent a lot of the last five months of her life crying, irritable, scratching and the only thing that gave her solace was to suck on her mother's breast." Gloria also became unable to move her legs.

Mr. Tedeschi also told the court that, over the last five months of her life, "Gloria's eczema played a devastating role in her overall health and it is asserted by the Crown that both her parents knew this and discussed it with each other." However, despite their child's severe illness, and her lack of improvement, the Sams continued to shun conventional medical treatment, instead seeking help from other homeopaths and naturopaths. Gloria temporarily improved during the rare times they used conventional treatments, but they soon dropped them in favour of homeopathy, and she consistently worsened.

Allegedly, Thomas' sister pleaded with him to send Gloria to a conventional medical doctor, but he replied "I am not able to do that". The parents are also accused of putting their social life ahead of their child, taking her on a trip to India and leaving her to servants while embarking on a busy social schedule, and giving her homeopathic drops instead of using the prescription creams they had been given.

Gloria was finally taken to the emergency department shortly before her death. By this time, "her skin was weeping, her body malnourished and her corneas melting", according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Speaking in the parents' defense, Tom Molomby, SC, said that, as the parents came from India, where homeopathy is in common use, they should be declared not guilty due to cultural differences.

Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine which treats patients with massively diluted forms of substances that, if given to a healthy person undiluted, would cause symptoms similar to the disease. Typical treatments take the dilutions, with ritualised shaking between each step of the dilution, past the level where any molecules of the original substance are likely to remain; for homeopathic treatments to work, basic well-understood concepts in chemistry and physics would have to be wrong. There is no evidence that homeopathy is more effective than placebo for any condition.