Strollerderby : faith healing

Faith-Healer Parents Charged after Daughter's Death

Shannon LC Cate — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

The parents of Kara Neumann, an eleven-year old who died of untreated juvenile diabetes are being charged with reckless endangerment after refusing to seek medical care for their daughter due to their religious beliefs. The court has ordered regular medical checkups for their two surviving children.

The case might help to set precedent for an unsettled area of law: where does an adult's religious freedom end and society's responsibility to children begin? Can parents who believe strongly that medicine is morally wrong be allowed to let a child die of a treatable condition while they pray for recovery?

Can the law dictate that children must get certain kinds of medical treatment?

It seems obvious enough that an insulin-dependent diabetic child should be treated. But what about vaccination resisters? Should they be forced to allow their children be immunized? Where do you draw a line between society's responsibility and parental authority?

Defenses of the parents will probably draw on freedom of religion. Prosecutors will charge child abuse. What do you say? Should these parents go to jail, their children sent to foster homes? Or do they have a right to allow a child to die if they believe it is for the salvation of something beyond--and more important than--her physical body?

Cases Test Faith-Healing Exemption

Amy Kuras — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:31:00 GMT

As a parent, you would – or should – do anything you can to protect your child. When that responsibility become at odds with your religion, though, tragedy can follow.

Most states have exceptions in their child neglect and abuse statutes for parents who practice faith healing – that is, the practice of shunning medical care in favor of praying for healing. Oregon, however, has restricted that exemption, one of the only states to do so. Two recent child deaths are testing that restriction.

In one case, parents ignored their 15-year-old son’s urinary tract blockage, which eventually led to heart failure. Another family did not see a doctor for their 15-month-old’s bacterial pneumonia and blood infection. The girl died from these treatable conditions.

And before you point fingers at these parents for being benighted fools –and I am not arguing that they aren’t, believe me – I don’t believe this falls too far from that New-Agey “heal your body with the power of positive thoughts” crap.

Of course, this kind of stuff can stop short of death. The story quotes a college professor named Beth Young who had hip dysplasia, which her parents prayed over out never took her to a doctor to treat. She finally was diagnosed in her 20s, when nothing could be done.

And this quote from her sums up the sadness of the prayer and positivism viewpoint: "I can remember times when I would pray and pray and pray, and I would think that maybe I'm healed now, and then I would go check, and I'd go walk in front of a mirror or something, and then I would discover, no I'm not."

Yep, this poor kid thought she didn’t get healed because she didn’t pray hard enough, or God chose not to hear her. That’s a terrible lesson for anyone.

Another Child Dies Due to Faith Healing

Cole Gamble — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:00:00 GMT

In a story reminiscent of the Wisconsin girl who died of diabetes while her parents prayed, a boy from a faith-healing family in Oregon died of a highly treatable urinary tract blockage on Tuesday. This is the second child of the Followers of Christ church to die since March. According to Oregon law, however, the 16-year-old boy’s parent may not be responsible for neglect.

Oregon state law allows minors 14 and older to be responsible for their own medical decisions. The family in this case is claiming the boy made the conscious choice to eschew regular medicine and turn to prayer. The prayer failed when the blockage caused urea to poison the organs in his system, eventually leading to heart failure.

In March the boy’s niece, a 15-month-old, died at home of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection. Her parents have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges.

These are not the first incidents of child deaths within the Followers of Christ church. After earlier deaths involving children of Followers of Christ believers, a 1999 Oregon law struck down religious shields for parents who treat their children solely with prayer.