CANADIAN government officials have announced a major update in the case of a teenage boy who was found starved to death in his bed in May 2013.
Alexandru Radita died weighing only 37 pounds with 44 ulcers and rotten teeth - after being isolated from the outside world and emaciated because of his parents' intentional neglect.
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And now, officials have opened an investigation into the role of child service protocols in his death.
At 15-years-old, Alex died in his family's home in Calgary, Alberta, a province of Canada, from a bacterial infection caused by complications from starvation and his untreated Type 1 diabetes.
Nine years after Alex's death, child service protocols are being investigated in Alex's case to prevent the same tragic fate to happening to more children.
Although Alex's parents, Emil and Rodica Radita, knew of their son's diagnosis since he was two-years-old, they repeatedly told medical officials they didn't believe Alex had diabetes, according to evidence presented at their trial.
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When the boy's body was found, he was in the 0.1 percentile for 15-year-olds based on his weight and height, according to the medical examiner.
Alex had 44 ulcers and wounds covering his body and his teeth were "rotted to stumps," said forensic pathologist, Dr. Jeffery Gofton.
A neck wound on the boy was so deep his jaw bone was visible and his neck muscles were "near total liquefaction," Gofton said.
'PURPOSEFUL ISOLATION'
After Alex was hospitalized numerous times from several years of untreated diabetes, he was on the brink of death at age five.
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That year in 2003, when Alex was taken to the hospital, he was so sick that he was just hours away from dying from his illness.
Alex was then taken away from his family for about a year under the care of British Columbia Children’s Services.
However, he returned to his parents with a judge believing that Alex would be watched over by the school and health officials.
His family moved from Surrey, British Columbia to Alberta in 2009 where they fell off the grid.
With Alberta authorities not being notified of the Alex's file and the officials from Surrey not being aware of the move, Alex was left vulnerable to his parent's abuse.
Alex was registered at the School of Hope, a distance learning program, in Vermillion, Alberta in 2009 for 5th grade, but he never submitted work and no one from the school ever saw him.
At the end of the academic year, Alex was withdrawn from the school.
The boy was kept in "purposeful isolation" by his parents, and therefore didn't have contact with anyone who might have intervened, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Karen Horner said.
"He had no friends or teachers or support people or doctors, or really anyone," Crown prosecutor Susan Pepper told CBC.
Alex has seven surviving siblings, however their condition is unknown.
In 2017, Alex's parents were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The parents were given the opportunity to address the court before their sentencing but they declined.
GOVERNMENT REVIEW
The tragic case of Alex has prompted a review which will determine how the state could've intervened to save Alex's life, according to Provincial court Judge Sharon Van de Veen.
Recommendations are expected to be made, aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future, said Van de Veen.
“There were government officials involved throughout this child’s life, including Child and Family Services in the province of British Columbia and doctors and pharmacists,” Van de Veen said.
The review will look at protocols between children's civil service ministries across provinces, protocols for alerts related to children’s attendance in homeschooling or online schooling, and pharmacist intervention when insulin medication is accessed sporadically.
ALEX ALERT
Prosecutor Pepper told the outlet: "As good as our system is, it should be better. That should not happen."
She added: "If this case could lead to anything, it would be a meaningful discussion about how to fix things and how to make change for other children who are living in conditions that may not lead to homicide, but who are suffering."
A social worker who worked with the family while they were in British Colombia is working to create an "Alex Alert" that would notify authorities when a family who needs monitoring for abuse and/or neglect moves to a different province.
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She told CBC that Alex was "a very brave and very smart little man" who would have wanted his death to have some meaning for others.
The review of Alex's death began on Monday and will continue through the week.
