GUILTY PA - Cyrus Buskirk, 8, diabetic, dies of medical neglect, Allentown, 12 Jan 2015

Eight-year-old Cyrus Buskirk spent his last Saturday playing catch and video games with his uncle.

Cyrus, who had been diagnosed with diabetes when he was 5, and his uncle, Will Ferrell of Whitehall Township, threw a football back and forth that afternoon, Jan. 10, 2015, during a visit to Ferrell's apartment.

That evening they played a game on Xbox while the boy's mother, Ashleigh Buskirk of Allentown, rested on a couch.

Ferrell later told police his sister did not seem to be under the influence of any drugs, something he would have been aware of because he said she is a prescription pill addict.

But Buskirk, 28, admitted in court Monday that she took her brother's prescription medication for anxiety and depression while there because she did not have her own medications with her.

Authorities said she blamed the meds in the death of Cyrus two days after the visit to his uncle. Buskirk repeatedly chose not to take the boy to a hospital despite a "red flag" on his condition, they said, and the boy died of diabetes complications that went untreated.

Buskirk pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment and will be sentenced Sept. 30. She faces up to 25 years in prison.

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An Allentown woman who family members described as being "high as a kite" on prescription medication when her 8-year-old son died from complications of diabetes — a death doctors said was completely avoidable — was sentenced Friday to 16 months to 10 years in a state prison.

Ashleigh Buskirk, 29, told Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony that she regretted not immediately seeking help for her son when he became ill in January 2015.

"This child meant everything to me," Buskirk said. "I'm so mad at myself for my actions. Half the time I can't stand myself."

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Buskirk's brother, William Ferrell, said he begged his sister to check on the boy after he vomited, but she didn't listen to him.

Ferrell said the child's death caused emotional turmoil in their family.

"As much as I would like to protect my little sister and exonerate her, I can't. This boy should have absolutely been able to live a long and healthy life. He was innocent," Farrell said.

Buskirk will be eligible for parole in five months. In imposing the sentence, Anthony rejected Buskirk's public defender's request for a time-served sentence, but also did not give Buskirk a longer prison term, as prosecutors requested.

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squish said:

Is this the same town where 3 bodies where found in barrels?

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