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 Little Ryan Lovett lived in "comparative squalor" apartment with his mother, who is accused of negligently causing his death, court heard Monday. 
 
 Crown lawyer Jonathan Hak, in his opening address in the Court of Queen's Bench trial of Tamara Lovett, said the woman refused to get her son proper medical care. 
 
 "The defendant insisted on providing only home remedies to Ryan, which consisted largely of dandelion tea and oil of oregano," Hak told Justice Kristine Eidsvik. 
 
 He said the seven-year-old was gravely ill with streptococcus A and parainfluenza virus infections and would have deteriorated over several days. 
 
 "In the last days of his life, Ryan was actively dying," the prosecutor said. 
 
 "The court will hear that Ryan had in fact been sick at least since the middle of February, 2013," said Hak. 
 
 Read more: Review our live blog from Day 1 of the trial 
 
 Read more: This will not be a circus, says boy's grandfather who stands behind mom 
 
 The boy died on March 2. 
 
 Although her son was rapidly deteriorating, Lovett did not seek medical intervention. 
 
 "Despite the fact that Ryan was getting obviously sicker and sicker, she would not and did not take him to a doctor or call in any medical help," said Hak, noting the boy's birth was never registered and he had no Alberta Health Card number. 
 
 "The day before Ryan died, a friend offered to take them both to a doctor and the defendant refused to do so. 
 
 "She did not believe in conventional medicine or doctors and insisted that home remedies would take care of Ryan's ailments," he said. 
 
 "She was of course proven wrong hours later when Ryan died in their apartment." 
 
 Hak said the mother and son's living conditions were awful. 
 
 They lived "in comparative squalor in a dark, dirty, cluttered, subterranean apartment on 17 Ave. S.W.," he said. 
 
 "He had no birth certificate and his birth was never registered. 
 
 "He similarly had no AHC number as his very existence had not bee registered with the government," he said. 
 
 "He lived a short life on routine and with very few rules." 
 
 Lovett is charged with criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life to her son. 
 
 Meanwhile, in evidence, court heard a 911 call Lovett made shortly after 5 a.m. on the day her son died. 
 
 In the call she asks for an ambulance telling the operator her son was having a seizure and was not breathing. 
 
 Medics who arrived on scene minutes later discovered the child was already dead and his extremities were cold to the tough. 
 
 "He was covered in vomit," paramedic Heather Rutherford told court. 
 
 CPR was performed on the child, but to no avail. 
 
 The apartment was also in poor condition, added EMT Teresa Coulter. 
 
 "I remember the apartment being very dark. When we entered the building there was a strong smell of marijuana," Coulter said. 
 
 KMartin@postmedia.com 
 
 On Twitter: @KMartinCourts 

 A seven-year-old boy who died from a treatable strep infection lived in squalor and was treated with dandelion tea and oil of oregano instead of antibiotics, a trial heard Monday. 
 
 Tamara Lovett, 47, is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life and with criminal negligence causing the death of her son. Ryan Alexander Lovett died in March 2013 after getting a strep infection that kept him bedridden for 10 days. 
 
 READ MORE: Calgary mother arrested after 7-year-old son’s death 
 
 Tamara Lovett pleads not guilty of charges alleging she didn't seek care for her 7 yr old son Ryan who died in 2013. He died of strep. #yyc — Reid Fiest (@ReidFiest) November 28, 2016 
 
 Prosecutor Jonathan Hak said in his opening arguments that the family lived off the grid’ in a dark, dirty apartment in Calgary. The boy’s birth had never been registered. 
 
 READ MORE: Trial to begin for Calgary woman who used holistic medicine to treat fatally ill son 
 
 An autopsy revealed he had contracted Group A streptococcus infection and pneumonia. The official cause of death was sepsis which brought on multi-organ failure. 
 
 "She did not take him to a doctor," crown says saying mother used tea and oil of oregano to treat him. — Reid Fiest (@ReidFiest) November 28, 2016 
 
 Hak said Ryan’s heart was infected, he had meningitis and his immune system was exhausted. He could fight no more. 
 
 “In short, Ryan was dead,” Hak said. 
 
 He said Lovett would not take him to a doctor, even though a friend had recommended it the day before she called 911. 
 
 “She did not believe in conventional medicine or doctors,” said Hak. “She was, of course, proven wrong when hours later Ryan died in her apartment. 
 
 “All he needed was antibiotics.” 
 
 The EMS arrives in the call. She says "hurry up" in the recording. Then shortly after the 911 call ends. #yyc — Reid Fiest (@ReidFiest) November 28, 2016 
 
 In a 911 call played in court, a frantic Lovett said her son was “breathing funny” and, after answering questions from the operator, said he had stopped breathing altogether. 
 
 At one point, she could be heard crying “Ryan, Ryan” as the operator tried to coach her on doing CPR. 
 
 Lovett reached for a box of tissue while the call was being played. Her head was down; her shoulders were shaking. 
 
 WARNING: Discretion is advised. Below is the 911 call introduced as evidence at the start of the trial of Tamara Lovett Monday. 
 
 Teresa Coulter was one of the first emergency medical technicians to arrive and said paramedics were greeted by a woman who was very upset. 
 
 She said the basement apartment was dark and smelled strongly of marijuana. Ryan was lying on the floor. 
 
 “He appeared to be lifeless,” said Coulter. 
 
 “He was cold to touch.” 
 
 She said the apartment was cluttered and it was difficult to get equipment inside. A second ambulance was called to provide backup. 
 
 Coulter’s partner, Valerie Hopwood, said Ryan looked frail and non-responsive. He was not breathing and there were no signs of life. 
 
 “He looked … like a sick little boy,” she said. 
 
 WATCH: Mother charged in death of child that she treated with herbal remedies. Reid Fiest reports. 
 
 Ryan was pronounced dead at the hospital. 
 
 A Calgary police officer who interviewed Lovett said she indicated her son had been sick for a couple of weeks with pain in his leg, groin and upper arm. She said he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and collapsed. 
 
 Const. Kevin Lisowski took Lovett to hospital and spoke briefly with her before they were told Ryan had died. 
 
 “She was very distraught. She was taken in to view the body and she spent some time with him,” he said. 
 
 “She sobbed uncontrollably for a while, as you can imagine.” 
 
 Lisowski said he didn’t consider Lovett to be a suspect, but that changed after concerns from the physician in charge. 
 
 “Ryan had a deformed shoulder and arm,” Lisowski said. “He had some bruising about the ears as well and appeared emaciated.” 
 
 Det. Robert Martel was in the trauma room when Lovett came in to see her son’s body. 
 
 He said she spoke to her son. 
 
 “I’m sorry. I failed you. I didn’t do enough,” Martel recalled her saying. 
 
 He said that Lovett was crying, but there were no tears. 

 A Calgary boy who died in 2013 lived in "squalor" in a "dark and dirty apartment" with his mother, who is accused of failing to provide the necessaries of life after treating his meningitis and strep infection with dandelion tea and oil of oregano. 
 
 Tamara Lovett, 47, went on trial Monday in Calgary on that charge, as well as a charge of criminal negligence causing death. 
 
 (Although unusual in everyday parlance, the word "necessaries" — not "necessities" — is the term the legal system uses.) 
 
 Ryan Lovett, 7, did not have a birth certificate and had never seen a doctor because his mother "did not believe in conventional medicine," Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak told court Monday in his opening statement. 
 
 "She was, of course, proven wrong when, hours later, Ryan died in her apartment." 
 
 911 call played in court 
 
 After Ryan was bedridden for 10 days, Lovett was told by a friend that she should bring Ryan to a doctor, but she refused, according to the prosecutor. Ryan died the next day. 
 
 Hak played the 911 call made by Lovett for Court of Queen's Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik. 
 
 Warning, some listeners may find this content disturbing. Listen to the 911 call: 
 
 "He's been running a fever and he's convulsing right now … I'm holding him right now," Lovett can be heard saying to the 911 operator. 
 
 Covered in vomit and cold to the touch, Ryan was already dead when paramedics and police arrived at Lovett's apartment to find the child lying in the hallway, said Hak. 
 
 Paramedic Teresa Coulter, who was first on scene, described a "very, very difficult" environment to work in because of the darkness and clutter. 
 
 The Crown prosecutor told court the boy was living in "squalor" and in a "dark and dirty apartment." 
 
 'I should have brought you in sooner' 
 
 A Code 99 — which is a call for backup — was enacted as Coulter testified Ryan's condition was lifeless and needing "all interventions." 
 
 Because she'd been exposed to a group A streptococcus infection, Coulter had to take antibiotics for a month. 
 
 Another paramedic, Craig Nichol, testified that the mother was frantic. 
 
 "I should have brought you in sooner," Nichol testified Lovett was saying to her son over and over. 
 
 Aside from meningitis and a strep infection, Ryan also had pneumonia, jaundice and multiple organ failure, Hak told the judge. 
 
 "All he needed was antibiotics," said Hak. 
 
 Lovett was 'distraught' 
 
 Testimony was heard Monday from several police officers who were first on scene alongside paramedics and then accompanied Ryan and his mother to the hospital. 
 
 Ryan was pronounced dead almost immediately after arriving at the hospital and Const. Jared Euverman was tasked with staying with the boy's body. 
 
 He told defence lawyer Alain Hepner that Lovett was allowed to be with her son's body for 40 minutes until the medical investigator arrived and she was asked to leave. 
 
 "At the hospital, I recall her being speechless, shocked," said Euverman. "Clearly there was some level of grief." 
 
 Det. Kevin Lisowski remained with Lovett and said she sobbed uncontrollably and was "distraught." 
 
 The trial is expected to last two weeks.
– For 10 days, 7-year-old Ryan Alexander Lovett laid in bed while his mother fed him dandelion tea and oil of oregano. He died as a result, according to prosecutors. In a trial that began Monday in Calgary, Alberta, prosecutors accuse Tamara Lovett, 47, of failing to provide the "necessaries of life," as well as criminal negligence causing the death of her son, who died of organ failure in 2013, reports Global News. Prosecutors say Ryan first developed a streptococcus infection before coming down with meningitis and pneumonia, yet Lovett never sought medical advice or antibiotics. In fact, Ryan—who had no birth certificate or health card—had never visited a doctor in his life as his mother "did not believe in conventional medicine or doctors," a prosecutor says, per CBC News. Prosecutors say a friend recommended Lovett take Ryan to the doctor on March 1, but she refused, per the Calgary Sun. A day later, Lovett called 911, telling dispatchers that her son wasn't breathing. Lovett—who has pleaded not guilty—later told police Ryan had been sick for two weeks and collapsed while trying to reach the bathroom. Paramedics who arrived described a "lifeless" boy covered in vomit on the floor of a squalid apartment. "He was cold to touch," a paramedic says, while an officer notes he "appeared emaciated" with "a deformed shoulder and arm" and "some bruising about the ears." After Ryan was pronounced dead, a detective says Lovett told her son, "I'm sorry. I failed you. I didn't do enough." (A Canadian judge delivered an unusual sentence in a similar case.)