Another Faith Healing verdict

[nathan]

Guilty.

I'm still a bit concerned by the fact that this result seems to make parents responsible for making qualified medical judgments about their children's health, but it is still the right decision, IMO. Kinda seems like we have a lot of this going on in Oregon. As far as I can tell this is the first conviction of the "faith healing" kind in the state.

[ggeezz]

I'm not against convictions of "faith healing" in general or in principle. But some aspects of this case really disturb me.

Three doctors testified for the defense, generally saying that Neil Beagley's symptoms wouldn't necessarily have appeared life-threatening.

..

Jurors were asked to consider whether the Beagleys' actions were "a gross deviation" from what a reasonable person would have done in a similar situation.

The state did not have to prove that the Beagleys intended to cause Neil's death or that they knew he was going to die.

..

Neil Beagley "grew up in a world where medicine is weakness, faith is strength," prosecutor Steven Mygrant told jurors.

Neil embraced the church's belief that seeking medical care shows a lack of faith. None of his relatives used doctors. And Neil was unable to make an informed health-care decision because he didn't know he was on the verge of death, prosecutors said.

"For me, this case was not about faith healing and it was not a referendum on the church," Mackeson said. "It was about two parents who loved their son and did not know how sick he was."

The jury agreed with Mackeson -- up to a point.

The Beagleys are decent people who made a fatal mistake, said juror Robert Zegar. The couple should have known their son needed more than prayer, but they ignored warnings, including the death of another family member, Zegar said.

Last summer, another jury found church members Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington not guilty of manslaughter in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava. Raylene Worthington is the Beagley's daughter and Neil Beagley's sister. Carl Worthington was convicted on a lesser charge.

Prosecutors successfully argued that they should be allowed to discuss the Worthington case because the Beagleys were present when Ava died. That pre-trial victory helped pave a path to Tuesday's guilty verdict.

When the situation was explained more clearly later in the article it seems to me they should have known that he was dying, that their treatment wasn't working, and they should have called for help. They should be convicted for that.

But those weren't the grounds they were convicted on. They were convicted of not being normal, of not accepting that taking your child to a state-licensed doctor is the only acceptable course of action. That's unacceptable.