The parents of a seven-year-old boy who died from an earache after they treated it only with homeopathic medicine have been found guilty of his manslaughter.
Marco and Marie Bonifazi failed to give antibiotics to their son Francesco when he was diagnosed with a common infection in the central Italian town of Cagli.
Instead, the pair saw a homeopath who “underestimated” the seriousness of the illness, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
The youngster fell into a coma and died from encephalitis on 27 May 2017 – three days after his original diagnosis.
His parents were given a three-month suspended sentence.
Massimiliano Mecozzi, the homeopathic doctor who consulted on the case, will go on trial in September.
Prosecutors accuse him of negligence, inexperience and "having underestimated the typical clinical picture of a highly serious local infection, prescribing a therapy based on homeopathic medicines in spite of the recrudescence of symptoms”.
They also say he failed "to prepare any diagnostic analysis and avoided prescribing the necessary antibiotic therapies suitable for the treatment of the pathology".
Speaking after the parents' hearing, Francesco’s maternal grandfather said that the couple did not have a problem with conventional medicine but had resorted to homeopathy because they feared their child had been taking too many antibiotics after a series of illnesses.
The pair have said they will appeal the sentence.
"There is bitterness, but we still believe in justice," the grandfather said.
