Law and Magic Blog

Teen Dies When Faith Healing Fails

Neil Beagley, 16, died from the results of a blockage which could have been treated, say health officials. Instead, he chose to remain true to the tenets of his church, the Followers of Church, which practices faith healing. Under Oregon law, persons 14 and older can choose the kind of medical treatment they want, including alternative medical treatment or faith healing, or none at all. Mr. Beagley's cousin Ava Worthington died three months ago from an infection. She and her parents were also members of the church. But Ava was fifteen months old, and her parents now face a trial for manslaughter (under ORS 163.118: "Subsection (1)(c)(B) of this section that the child or dependent person was under care or treatment solely by spiritual means pursuant to the religious beliefs or practices of the child or person or the parent or guardian of the child or person.")

Two Recent Cases Highlight Faith Healing, Parents' Rights To Decide How To Raise Their Children, Children's Rights To Medical Care

Legal experts are watching the trial of an Oregon couple charged with second degree manslaughter and second degree criminal mistreatment in the death of their daughter. The couple are members of a sect called the Followers of Christ Church and believe in faith healing. Oregon changed its laws nearly ten years ago to permit criminal charges to be filed in such cases after a boy died after his parents did not seek medical care for him, instead relying on prayer. Meanwhile, Wisconsin authorities are investigating the death of an eleven-year-old who suffered from diabeties and died a few days ago after slipping into a coma. Her parents did not take her to any health care provider, apparently preferring to rely on prayer. Such case highlight the clashes that exist among all sorts of rights: the parent's right to raise her child, the parent's right to worship, the child's freedom of religion, the child's rights to make decisions about his or her medical care, and the state's asserted right to intervene when it believes the child is not getting appropriate care. These matters are extremely difficult, particularly for religious parents who love their children and sincerely believe that they are making the best decisions for them.

Shawn Edward Peters of the University of Wisconsin has written a new book (which I haven't read) on the subject: When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law (Oxford University Press, 2007). Here's the blurb from the OUP website.

Relying on traditions that are as old as their faith itself, many devout Christians turn to prayer rather than medicine when their children fall victim to illness or injury. Faith healers claim that their practices are effective in restoring health - more effective, they say, than modern medicine. But, over the past century, hundreds of children have died after being denied the basic medical treatments furnished by physicians because of their parents' intense religious beliefs. The tragic deaths of these youngsters have received intense scrutiny both from the news media and from public authorities seeking to protect the health and welfare of children.

When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law is the first book to fully examine the complex web of legal and ethical questions that arise when criminal prosecutions are mounted against parents whose children die as a result of what experts term religion-based medical neglect. Do constitutional protections for religious liberty shield parents who fail to provide adequate medical treatment for their sick children? Are parents likewise shielded by state child-neglect laws that seem to include exemptions for faith healing practices? What purpose do prosecutions serve when it's clear that many deeply religious parents harbor no fear of temporal punishment? Peters devotes special attention to cases involving Christian Science, the source of many religion-based medical neglect deaths, and also considers cases arising from the refusal of Jehovah's Witnesses to allow blood transfusions or inoculations.

Based on a wide array of primary and secondary sources- among them judicial opinions, trial transcripts, police and medical examiner reports, news accounts, personal interviews, and scholarly studies - this book explores not only the legal issues at stake, but also the profound human drama of religion-based medical neglect of children.

Dr. Peters has written a number of books on religion and law.

Faith Healing, Associated Activities, and Law in Russia

Here's an article from 2005 by BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg about magic practitioners in Russia--faith healers and sorcerers, not stage magicians--and some legislators who are trying to introduce law to curb, if not outlaw their activities.