I watched the recent 20/20 interview, and began reading what I could about this case. Many of the links offered above are no longer active, and the "FreeHannah" website is clearly biased. HOWEVER...
In general, I felt that this family was honest and that their assertions were supported by Sunday School teachers, and (apparently) their pastor, who (it seems) had originally intended to adopt this boy himeslf until he realized the extent of the child's behavioral issues.
There was a similar case in the UK. The couple was named Gay, and they adopted three siblings, the oldest of whom was the same age as Andrew, and exhibited many of the same symptoms, prior to HIS death of salt poisoning. IIRC, both kids were born to meth addicted mothers, and had FAS and the British child was also suffering from an inability to properly process sodium. Both children, upon arrival at the hospital, were hooked to a saline (SALT!) IV. I am not saying that was enough salt to kill them, or that it was the source of all of the sodium in their systems, but it certainly couldn't have helped the situation.
As I understood it, the food was not "contaminated" to stop him from eating it, but rather, the spice was used to season the food he ate that day. When the meal was over, he was still asking for more food. If he had been deprived of sustenance earlier in life, this is common behavior. Parents may discover the child "sneaking" food, or hiding it to eat later. When the meal was over, he asked for more food. By all accounts, he would ask for more food, and if he got more, would ask for still more, until he vomited it back up because his stomach was too full. So in order to satiate his "hunger" she mixed a small amount of the Zatarains seasoning into some warm water to make a "broth" with a taste similar to what he was asking for, and gave it to him to drink, reasoning that he would accept it as a substitute for more solid food.
NOWHERE did I hear them mention using it as a punishment, to teach him a lesson, or that hew was "forced" to drink two full cups of this mixture.
Similarly, the bed situation was (convincingly) presented as a temporary situation. He'd defecated in his bed the night before, then painted the walls with it, and consumed some of it. The mattress had been cleaned up and left outside to dry, while the sheets were discarded, since they had another set. The boy kept trying to take the soiled sheets from the trash to pick off the fecal material and eat it. Finally the father burned the sheets to prevent the problem. I note that they DID clean the walls and carpet they said he had painted with feces, so, to my thinking, they were not careless, sloppy, neglectful parents.
He was not "confined" to his bed per se, even at night, any more than any other child would be. If you found your 4-year-old in front of the TV set at 2am with a snack, I believe you would return the child to bed, and let him or her know that this was not appropriate behavior. That once put to bed, he/she is expected to REMAIN in bed.
The older son indicated that he was watched until they were sure he was asleep so he would not get into trouble during the night. There were no "bars" or "cage" to keep him in bed, nor did I see any indication that restraints were used, either by their presence in the bed or any ligature marks on the child's body. When he could not be closely monitored, a "security camera" (some people call these baby monitors) was directed at his bed to enable the parents to check on him in the night without getting up.
I don't think that Hannah taking Tylenol 3 while caring for 5 children and pregnant with another was a great idea, and when it caused her to doze off, Andrew got into SOMETHING, apparently while scavenging for food. Salt is certainly a possibility.
As a (non-pica, never starved) child, I remember my sister and I pouring salt from the shaker into our hands and licking it off our palms. I doubt my mom knew, and we certainly did not consume enought to cause a health crisis, but how many of us (my hand is up) eat the salt at the bottom of the pretzel bag? Salt is appealing, or it would not be such a large component of many snack foods.
Finally, she was found guilty of failure to get help for him, NOT of poisoning him. If my child (who often overate to the point of vomiting) vomited after a meal, and my attempts to comfort him with a "broth" (let's face it, boullion would have been no better... look at the salt content) had failed, I might not have thought much of it.
When he said he was chilly, she began to consider the possibility he was getting the flu, or a cold. She wrapped him in blankets, and then, when that did not warm him, placed him in a warm tub. I don't know if she took his temperature at any time in an attempt to confirm her theory, probably because she did not want to leave him alone in the tub to get a thermometer. Wise choice.
It was only a bit later that she began to think he was really sick. Rather than call and wait for an ambulance to come, pick him up, and take him to the nearby Urgent Care facility, they determined that the quickest way to get him there was to drive him themselves, which they did. It was about an hour and a half from the first time he vomited until they bundled him up for the trip to Urgent Care. I have had a sick child before, who vomited, who I placed in a warm tub, and then wrapped up and put to bed. She did not die, in spite of exhibiting symptoms like Andrew's because she really was just "normal sick" and not "dying sick." Of course, I did not know that, but to me, a child who vomits and has chills, and possibly chest congestion is NOT sick enough for more than a call to his or her physician, administration of liquids, and perhaps an anti-emetic to settle their stomach or a teaspoon of OTC cough medicine for the cough and chest congestion. I would CERTAINLY not immediately think it was serious enough to call an ambulance over!
There is little doubt this child was abused, but the abuse was at the hands (and in the womb) of his biological mother, who used drugs and drank alcohol throughout her pregnancy.
[/rant]
