Bodnar is ionvolved in other cases of death by malnutrition. In 1986 Norelle Niemann died.
The Sidney Morning Herald, August 16, 1988Quotation:
"[Picture]
Manslaughter charge... Marilyn Bodnar leaving court.
Nurse on trial after diet patient diesBy Janet Fife-Yeomans
Marilyn Bodnar and Norelle Niemann became friends after meeting at alternative medicine group meetings.
Five years later, Mrs Niemann is dead after a 63-days water diet and Bodnar, a nurse, is on trial for manslaughter.
Liverpool District Court was told yesterday how Mrs Niemann, 42, spent her last 60 days on the diet under Bodnar's care.
The Crown alleges that Bodnar, 32, was grossly negligent in not calling a doctor until Mrs Niemann became unconscious less than an hour before she died.
Bodnar, of South Liverpool Road, Heckenberg, has denied the charge.
Mrs Niemann's husband, Frank, the owner of a pastry and cake shop, told the court how his "weight-conscious" wife became interested in alternative medicine about five years ago after their daughter, Justine, had been in hospital for treatment of cystic fibrosis.
Mr Niemann, 46, of Kennedy Close, Moss Vale, said his wife put Justine on a fluids-only diet. Justine had died soon after. He said a doctor refused to give a death certification and an inquest found that Justine died from a combination of malnutrition, respiratory failure and the disease.
Mr Niemann said his wife decided to go on a water diet herself in October 1986 because she wanted another child but wanted to rid her body of impurities first.
The Court was told how Mrs Niemann and Bodnar had first met at meetings of the Natural Health Food Society and the Organic Growers' Association.
Mrs Niemann began her "starvation" diet on October 17 and three days later moved with the couple's two-year-old son, Carl, to Bodnar's home.
Mr Niemann told the jury how he visited his wife about four times at Bodnar's home. The third time, about a month after she moved in, she had been so weak he had to help her to the toilet.
He said Bodnar had told him his wife was "doing well" and the "poisons" were coming out of her. Mr Niemann said that the night before she died he had pleaded in vain with his wife to give up that diet.
The Crown Prosecutor, Mr Brian Roach, said Mrs Niemann died from heart failure brought on by malnutrition.
The trial continues today."
The Sidney Morning Herald, November 29, 1988Quotation:
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Water diet nurse clearedBy Richard Macey
Doctors should be given the power to save a person's life in certain situation, whether the medical care was wanted or not, a judge said yesterday.
Judge Johnson was speaking in the District Court at Liverpool after a registered nurse, whose patient had died after 63 days on a largely water diet, was found not guilty of manslaughter.
A jury of four men and eight women brought down the verdict late yesterday, ending the trial of Marilyn Pauline Bodnar, 32.
During the trial the court was told that Mrs Narelle Niemann, 42, of Moss Vale, had started the water diet in October 1986. Three days later, she moved to Heckenberg, near Liverpool, to stay with Mrs Bodnar for the duration of the diet.
Mrs Niemann, whose six-year-old daughter died in 1982 from cystic fibrosis, had become disenchanted with conventional medicine and doctors and had turned to alternative medicine.
The court was told that Mrs Niemann, who wanted to have another child, believed the water diet would rid her body of toxins.
Mrs Niemann's husband told the court that he had constantly pleaded with his wife to give up the diet, but she had refused.
After six weeks on the diet, Mrs. Niemann began taking some orange juice but vomited and returned to the water diet for several more days. She then began a diet of fruit juice until three days before her death.
On December 19, Mrs Niemann fell unconscious and Mrs Bodnar called a doctor. By the time he arrived, an hour later, the woman was dead. According to the police interviews tendered to the court, Mrs. Bodnar had said Mrs Niemann insisted she did not want to see a doctor or get conventional help.
Dr. Richard gee, who pronounced Mrs Niemann dead, told the court that even if he had arrived in time, when Mrs Niemann was still conscious, he would not have been able to render any medical assistance without the patient's approval."
So much for the court ordeal. Now for legal details.
The Sidney Morning Herald, August 19, 1988Quotation:
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New trial for water diet nurseBy Janet Fife-Yeomans
The trial of a nurse charged with manslaughter over the death of a woman on a water diet, which was aborted yesterday at the eleventh hour, had no legal precedent anywhere in the world.
The case was set to make legal history by defining the duty of a nurse in law.
Three times during the three-day District Court trial there was discussion that it should be aborted, dismissed or adjourned over legal argument about what duty the nurse, Marylin Bodnar, 32, had to stop the 63-day fast of her friend Mrs Narelle Niemann, 42. There was no legal precedent to fall back on.
Counsel for Bodnar, Mr Reg Bartley, argued that it was not a crime to commit suicide and there was no duty on anyone, nurse or otherwise, to stop them from doing. so.
At one point, Judge Madgwick considered asking the State's highest court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, to rule on the point of law.
But yesterday, on the day the trial was due to end, it was a Channel Seven television report which sparked the order by Judge Madgwick for a new trial.
The judge said the report on Wednesday night was "wholly inaccurate" and prejudicial.
He said he would refer the matter to the Attorney-General for consideration of legal action.
Judge Madgwick said Channel Seven had reported that Bodnar, 32, had "refused" to be cross-examined.
He said that even the judge and counsel were forbidden to tell the jury that an accused person who had chosen to make a statement from the dock, where they cannot be cross-examined, as Bodnar did, could have given evidence from the witness box and been cross-examined.
"The law of this State gives any accused the right to make a statement without being sworn to give evidence," said Judge Madgwick.
[Picture]
Marylin Bodnar ... ordeal
THE COURTS
"There may be many valid reasons implying no guilt whatever on the part of an accused person as to why, on the advice of their lawyer, they might choose not to give evidence."
He said that guilty or not guilty, the trial had been an ordeal for Bodnar on such a serious charge impugning both her human and professional judgment. It had been distressing for the family of Mrs Niemann, of Kennedy Close, Moss Vale.
"Not least you will appreciate the inconvenience and the cost both to the public and the accused for a wasted trial," said Judge Madgwick.
Lawyers had delved through 200 years of court cases worldwide for a legal precedent and drawn a blank. The court had heard that Mrs Niemann, a believer in alternative medicine, had begun her fast on October 17, 1986, moved to Bodnar's home three days later, and died there on December 19 after an unsuccessful attempt to wean her on fruit juice and fruit.
It was one of the worst cases of malnutrition seen in Australia, the court was told. The Crown alleged that Bodnar had been grossly negligent and should have called a doctor."
These articles are pieces of proof for a number of details. First, they show that Bodnar was accused for the same type of crime 27 years ago. Second, the case then was a big one because it was (for the simple-minded court) without precedent. But there of course was something preceding: the death of Mrs Niemann's daughter Justine, which should have made it clear to Niemann and Bodnar that the "diet" was lethal.
This time, in 2015, the court can not evade anymore into claims about "no precedent".
If the court in 1988 had done its work properly, the boy would not have suffered the "diet" and would not suffer the damages.
The legal system failed badly.