When Dr. Seth Asser saw row after row of flat headstones marking children's graves in a small cemetery not far from the end of the historic Oregon Trail, he knew many of these early deaths should not have happened.

The children's parents relied on faith healing, instead of doctors. The pediatrician published a landmark study concluding many of the deaths could have been prevented if the children had received medical care. His study 10 years ago brought attention to the issue, and yet today three criminal cases — two in Oregon and one in Wisconsin — have revived concerns about exemptions that most states grant to parents who rely on faith healing instead of doctors to treat sick children.

Faith healing has deep roots in American history, and yet it may seem surprising that in the 21st century, children still die because parents choose not to seek medical help from physicians.

State laws across the nation exempt members of religious groups from prosecution if they choose faith healing over science. Asser and a colleague, Rita Swan, have been trying to get states to repeal such laws, arguing that safety should always come first, no matter what the parents believe.

We can't legislate good parenting, but at least we shouldn't have laws allowing bad parenting, said Swan, who now heads the advocacy group Children's Healthcare. But Swan and Asser have been lonely voices, partly because tragedies are rare and partly because legislators are loath to challenge parental rights, especially when they are intertwined with the constitutional right to freedom of religion.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least 30 states have specific exemption laws on the books.

Some states have revised their laws, including Oregon in 1999. After a stormy debate in the Oregon Legislature, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber signed a compromise bill into law that eliminated the Oregon spiritual healing exemption in some manslaughter and criminal mistreatment cases.

Two pending criminal cases expected to test Oregon's revised law are against parents belonging to the Followers of Christ Church, the same religious sect that owns the cemetery visited by Asser in 2001.

Jeffrey Dean Beagley and his wife, Marci Rae Beagley, have been charged with failing to provide adequate medical care, in violation of their duties as parents. Their 16-year-old son, Neil, died in June from complications of a urinary-tract blockage that triggered heart failure. Doctors said a simple procedure could have saved his life.

In the other Oregon case, Carl Brent Worthington and his wife, Raylene, have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava, who died at home from bacterial pneumonia and a blood infection, conditions the state medical examiner said were treatable.

In a 1998 study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, Asser and Swan, herself a former Christian Scientist, documented 172 faith-related child deaths in the United States between 1975 and 1995. They found that 140 of the children died from conditions for which survival rates with medical care exceeded 90%.

Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.

After an aunt from California called the sheriff’s department here, frantically pleading that the sick child be rescued, an ambulance arrived at the Neumann’s rural home on the outskirts of Wausau and rushed Kara to the hospital. She was pronounced dead on arrival.

The county coroner ruled that she had died from diabetic ketoacidosis resulting from undiagnosed and untreated juvenile diabetes. The condition occurs when the body fails to produce insulin, which leads to severe dehydration and impairment of muscle, lung and heart function.

About a month after Kara’s death last March, the Marathon County state attorney, Jill Falstad, brought charges of reckless endangerment against her parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann. Despite the Neumanns’ claim that the charges violated their constitutional right to religious freedom, Judge Vincent Howard of Marathon County Circuit Court ordered Ms. Neumann to stand trial on May 14, and Mr. Neumann on June 23.

The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, the judge wrote in his ruling, but not necessarily conduct.

Wisconsin law, he noted, exempts a parent or guardian who treats a child with only prayer from being criminally charged with neglecting child welfare laws, but only as long as a condition is not life threatening. Kara’s parents, Judge Howard wrote, were very well aware of her deteriorating medical condition.

About 300 children have died in the United States in the last 25 years after medical care was withheld on religious grounds, said Rita Swan, executive director of Children’s Health Care Is a Legal Duty, a group based in Iowa that advocates punishment for parents who do not seek medical help when their children need it. Criminal codes in 30 states, including Wisconsin, provide some form of protection for practitioners of faith healing in cases of child neglect and other matters, protection that Ms. Swan’s group opposes.

The Neumanns are known locally as followers of an online faith outreach group called Unleavened Bread Ministries, run by a preacher, David Eells. The site shares stories of faith healing and talks about the end of the world.

A link from the site, helptheneumanns.com, asserts that the couple is being persecuted and charged with the crime of praying. The site also allows people to contribute to a legal fund for the Neumanns.

A 12-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

The Gauteng Department of Health said doctors consulted the girl's parents and church elders to explain the need for the transfusion. When their explanations were rejected, they brought an urgent application before the High Court.

The court order was issued on the same day, and the girl was given a transfusion immediately. The girl is doing well.

SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen said that in such cases, the right to life took precedence over the right to religion. He said adults were regarded as fit to make informed decisions about their own bodies, but in the case of a child, state intervention was sometimes necessary.

Update: Bloody Battle in Court

Thanks to Alan
27th February 2009. See article from connpost.com

A Jehovah's Witness being treated at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgetown, Connecticut was administered a blood transfusion despite his explicit request not to be given that procedure, which violates his religious beliefs.

Hospital officials admit that Andrew Geye was given a transfusion last year, and apologized.

Geyer is not placated, however, and filed suit against St. Vincent's, claiming he fears he may contract a blood-borne illness.

St. Vincent's promptly apologized to Mr. Geyer and made immediate improvements to its procedures to prevent this from happening to anyone else, said Noreen McNicholas, director of marketing for the hospital: There was a proper medical reason for the transfusion, but we acknowledge the patient should not have received it because of his beliefs. The blood supply is very safe, but we are confident that a patient's wishes concerning blood transfusions will be honored.

In the lawsuit Geyer filed in Superior Court, he said he has suffered extreme emotional and physical trauma as a result of the transfusion. In addition to the transfusion being a violation of his beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, Geyer said he is concerned that he might contract a serious illness in the future as a result of the treatment, the lawsuit states.

A Maryland woman involved with a group described as a religious cult pleaded guilty in the starvation death of her son, but insisted that the charges be dropped when he is resurrected.

The condition was made a part of Ria Ramkissoon's plea agreement, officials said. She entered the plea in Baltimore, Maryland, to a first-degree felony count of child abuse resulting in death, her attorney, Steven Silverman, said.

Ramkissoon, a member of a group called One Mind Ministries, believes Javon Thompson, her year-old son, will rise again, and as part of her plea agreement, authorities agreed to the clause.

She certainly recognizes that her omissions caused the death of her son, Silverman said. To this day, she believes it was God's will and he will be resurrected and this will all take care of itself. She realizes if she's wrong, then everyone has to take responsibility ... and if she's wrong, then she's a failure as a mother and the worst thing imaginable has happened. I don't think that, mentally, she's ready to accept that.

Under the plea agreement, Ramkissoon must testify against four other One Mind Ministries members who are also facing charges, including first-degree murder, in Javon's death. At her sentencing, set for August, she will receive a 20-year sentence, which will be suspended except for the time she has already served behind bars, Silverman said. She must also undergo deprogramming and psychiatric counselling.

Ramkissoon and the others are accused of denying Javon food after the group's leader, a 40-year-old woman who goes by the name Queen Antoinette, decreed the boy was a demon since he refused to say amen after meals, Silverman said.

Ria would cling to him every day and try to get him to say 'amen,'  Silverman said. Eventually, Queen Antoinette ordered that Ramkissoon be separated from the child, he said.

Javon is believed to have died in December 2006, court documents allege. Following his death, the group members put the boy's body in a back room, and everyone was directed to come in and pray. The Queen told everyone that 'God was going to raise Javon from the dead. Javon remained in the room for an extended period of time (in excess of one week). The resurrection never took place.

Neurologist Fawzia Ba-Mogdam, who specializes in epilepsy and sleep disorders, disagrees with the layman’s understanding that epilepsy is caused by jinni (spirits) and should be treated with recitations from the Holy Qur’an rather than medication. Contrary to the advice given by some religious scholars, epilepsy is a physical condition that should be treated with the help of medical science.

In a seminar organized by King Fahd Medical City under the title Religious and Medical Viewpoints of Epilepsy, Ba-Mogdam explained that epilepsy is a medical condition due to excessive neurological activity in the brain, which can cause seizures: Believing in the power of Qur’an is not negotiable. It surely heals, and it is a part of our daily lives. Spiritual healing is very important, but medical treatment should accompany it. Epilepsy is a medical condition that needs to be controlled.

The neurologist cited a number of cases, some of them fatal, where epilepsy went untreated by doctors because faith healers advised against seeking scientific treatment.

Faith healer Sheikh Abdul Muhsen Al-Ahmed, who also spoke at the seminar, underscored his belief that roqia (Qur’an recitation as a medical treatment) has its place alongside medical treatment.

A delusional French father has been charged with starving and beating his eight children in the belief that it would make them good Muslims.

Police were alerted after a neighbour spotted one of the children, a boy of 13 who weighed just 70lbs, foraging in bins for food in the Mediterranean town of Banyuls-sur-Mer.

Searching the family apartment on Saturday police found seven other children, aged seven to 17, in a state of hunger and neglect, including two girls, aged 13 and 15, who each weighed just 22kg.

The boy and two sisters have been taken to hospital and the other siblings taken into care, while their parents have been detained on charges of depriving their children of food, and physical abuse.

The father, a market worker of Moroccan origin, and his wife, an east European Muslim convert, told police they sought to raise their family in strict obedience to Islam, which they said included going without food. The eldest girls had been taken out of class because of a French law banning headscarfs in public schools.

The parents explained that they practised their religion scrupulously, and with a very strict diet, said the prosecutor. The father told investigators he had beaten his son to cure him because he was possessed by lies.

Commenting on the case, the Paris Mosque said the father was clearly deluded in his interpretation of Islam, stressing that even during the fasting month of Ramadan, children are exempt, along with pregnant women and the elderly.

Taliban blocked the polio vaccination drive in parts Pakistan's North West Frontier Province by threatening to kidnap health officials if they go ahead with the campaign.

Many clerics in the region say the vaccination programme is part of a plot by the West to destroy Islam. They believe taking the vaccine will cause infertility .The Taliban leadership says this is not exactly true, but local leaders continue to oppose polio vaccination in children. Taliban had issued a similar threat in Afghanistan last year, but had to revoke it following protests from the parents.

Pakistan had started its polio vaccination campaign in 1994. Since then, the no. of cases reported every year had come down significantly from 20,000 in 1994 to 100 in 2004. But in the last couple of years the threat of polio has come back in the North West Frontier Province after many children were denied the vaccination due to threats from the militants.

Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman in the region said: It is a US tool to cut the population of the Muslims. It is against Islam that you take a medicine before the disease.

A US couple who refused chemotherapy for their 13-year-old son on religious grounds have been ordered to have the boy re-evaluated to see if he would still benefit from the cancer treatment.

A judge in Minnesota found that Daniel Hauser had been medically neglected by his parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser, who belong to a religious group that believes in using only natural healing methods practised by some American Indians.

Judge John Rodenberg allowed Daniel to stay with his parents, noting that they love him and had acted in good faith. But he gave them until Tuesday to get an updated chest X-ray and select an oncologist.

The State has successfully shown by clear and convincing evidence that continued chemotherapy is medically necessary, he said in a written judgment, adding he would not order chemotherapy if doctors find the cancer has advanced to a point where it is too late.

Calvin Johnson, an attorney for Daniel's parents, said the family is considering an appeal. For now, he said, Daniel is following the order and will have X-rays on Monday.

Update: On the Run from a Possible Cure

21st May 2009. See article from telegraph.co.uk

olleen Hauser and her son Daniel, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, have not been seen by the authorities since leaving their Minnesota home on Monday after a doctor's appointment revealed that the boy's tumour had spread.

A judge in New Ulm, Minnesota, has ordered Mrs Hauser's arrest for being in contempt of court after ruling last week that she and her husband were neglecting their son. He also called for Daniel to be placed in foster care.

The family have refused chemotherapy on religious grounds. They say they are Roman Catholic but are also members of a Missouri-based sect called the Nemenhah Band, which favours natural healing methods such as alternative medicines and herbal remedies.

A fanatical Christian mother from a family who describe themselves as Bible-believing, God-believing, Holy Ghost-filled people – has been convicted of killing her 11-year-old daughter.

A Wisconsin jury found Leilani Neumann guilty of killing Madeline Kara Neumann by praying for her to heal instead of rushing her to the doctor.

According to this report, Madeline died of untreated diabetes March 23, 2008, surrounded by people praying for her. When she suddenly stopped breathing, her parents’ business and Bible study partners finally called 911.

Prosecutors insisted that a reasonable parent would have known something was gravely wrong with Madeline, and that her mother recklessly killed her by ignoring obvious signs of how gravely ill she was.

During closing arguments, Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad described Neumann as a religious zealot who let her daughter, known by the nickname Kara, die as a test of faith.

Madeline’s father, Dale Neumann, faces the same charge of unlawful killing and is scheduled to stand trial in July.

Leilani, convicted of second degree reckless homicide, will be sentenced at a later date.

Despite the deaths of numerous children from medical neglect, the members of an Oregon church insist that government intervention is unconstitutional. In a statement released Sunday, the Followers of Christ Church made clear that it stands by Carl and Raylene Worthington, who withheld medical care from their fifteen-month-old daughter Ava last year. The church believes that seeking medical treatment is a sign of weak faith.

Ava died in March of 2008 from bacterial pneumonia and a blood infection, and doctors believe both of these could easily have been treated with antibiotics. Ava’s parents will go to trial for manslaughter and criminal mistreatment on June 23rd .

The church said in the statement released by their counsel, Concerning the question of parental prerogative in making decisions for children, where core religious beliefs are invoked: Family autonomy is a deeply respected value and tradition in our country, as is religious freedom.

Raylene Worthington also lost her teenage brother to death from an easily treatable medical condition in 2008. Ava’s 16-year-old uncle, Neil Beagley, died of an easily treatable urinary tract infection in November. Neil’s parents will probably not be charged criminally because he was legally old enough to refuse treatment. He chose instead to die of heart failure as his body filled up with urine.

If convicted, Carl and Raylene may be treated as heroes in the faith, according to one former member of the church. In an article in religionnewsblog, the former member said> They’ll probably be looked up to, that they made this sacrifice for the love of God, for the church and for all of the members.

A juror in the trial of an Oregon couple acquitted of manslaughter in their daughter's pneumonia death says she felt the pair were loving people who didn't mean to harm the 15-month-old girl.

But the jury did convict Carl Worthington of criminal mistreatment, a misdemeanor, for not taking his daughter, Ava, to see a doctor. He faces a maximum of a year in jail when he is sentenced on July 31.

Raylene Worthington was acquitted of the same misdemeanor charge after six days of jury deliberations that resulted in a deadlock at one point.

Juror Santos said she and others felt Carl Worthington was more accountable for the decisions about the child's care. The Worthingtons are members of a small church that favors faith healing over doctors. During the trial, the defense made a point of noting that in families of the Worthingtons' church, the Followers of Christ, husbands make all important decisions.

A man in the US accused of killing his 11-year-old diabetic daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care has been found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann was convicted over the death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes.

Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called an ambulance when she stopped breathing.

Defence attorney Jay Kronenwetter said the verdict would be appealed. He would not comment further.

If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God, Neumann testified: I am not believing what he said he would do.

Leilani Neumann was convicted on the same charge in the spring. Marathon county circuit judge Vincent Howard set October 6 as the date for sentencing for both parents, who face up to 25 years in prison.

An Australian husband and wife have been jailed for the manslaughter of their baby, who died after they chose to use homeopathic remedies rather than conventional medicine to treat her severe skin disorder.

Thomas Sam,a lecturer in homeopathy, and his wife Manju of Sydney, were convicted in June after the death of their nine-month-old daughter Gloria from septicaemia and malnutrition in May 2002. The New South Wales state supreme court justice, Peter Johnson, ordered Thomas Sam to serve at least six years in jail, with a maximum sentence of eight years, and Manju to serve at least four years in jail with a maximum of five years and four months.

Johnson said there was a wide chasm between the couple's approach and the action a reasonable parent would have taken. Thomas Sam's arrogant approach to his preference for homeopathy and Manju Sam's deference to her husband led to their daughter's death, he said.

Prosecutors said Thomas Sam continued to consult homeopaths and natural medicine practitioners after his daughter was diagnosed at four months old. Her health continued to deteriorate and her black hair turned white. Gloria became malnourished by battles against infections that invaded her bloodstream through skin broken by rashes.

Her parents finally took her to a hospital and doctors gave her morphine and began treating an eye infection that had started to melt her corneas. She died three days later.

A Wisconsin couple who prayed rather than seeking medical care for their 11-year-old dying daughter were sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years probation..

Dale and Leilani Neumann were convicted of second-degree homicide over the death in March 2008 of Madeline Neumann, who died of an undiagnosed but treatable form of diabetes.

Marathon county circuit court Judge Vincent Howard told the Neumanns they were very good people, raising their family who made a bad decision, a reckless decision .

Prosecutors claimed that the Neumanns recklessly killed their youngest of four children by ignoring obvious symptoms of severe illness as she became too weak to speak, eat, drink or walk. They said the couple had a legal duty to take their daughter to a doctor but relied totally on prayer for healing.

The girl, known as Kara, died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called the emergency dispatcher only after she stopped breathing.

Prosecutors had asked for a three-year suspended prison sentence and 10 years probation. Defence lawyers had sought four years probation.

The judge ordered the couple to serve one month in jail each year for six years so that the parents can think about Kara and what God wants you to learn from this . One parent would serve the term in March and the other in September. Howard suspended the jail sentences until the appeal is heard.

As part of their probation, the parents must allow a public health nurse to examine their two underage children at least once every three months and must immediately take their children to a doctor for any serious injuries.

A fundamentalist couple who prayed over their sick toddler rather than get medical help before his pneumonia death have been ordered to stand trial on manslaughter charges.

Prosecutors believe 2-year-old Kent Schaible succumbed because his parents chose prayer over modern medicine.

But defense lawyers deny the case hinges on religious freedom. They say Herbert and Catherine Schaible did not know their son was dying: We're talking about symptoms that mirrored the flu and the common cold, said public defender Francis Carmen, who represents the mother. The Commonwealth is dragging this (issue) into the courtroom, to persecute them for their minority religious beliefs.

At least 30 children have died in eastern Zimbabwe where members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Faith church have refused to allow their children to be vaccinated against the deadly communicable disease.

World Health Organization Country Representative Custodia Mandhlate said it is tragic that children are dying of a preventable disease. The outbreak is also affecting other provinces with 340 cases of measles reported.

Health Minister Henry Madzorera told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sandra Nyaira his ministry has been frustrated by the denial of access to children for vaccination by members of the Apostolic Faith Church and other religious sects.

Dr. Madzorera said health officials will be moving into these areas to persuade parents to allow their children to be vaccinated to avoid more deaths.

Jurors sent a clear signal on Feb. 2 that parents who rely solely on faith healing to treat their children face prison if a child dies.

Jeffrey and Marci Beagley were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of their 16-year-old son, Neil, who died in June 2008 of complications from an undiagnosed congenital urinary blockage.

His parents attempted to heal him with prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands.

They are the first members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church to be convicted of homicide in the congregation's long history of children dying from treatable medical conditions.

This is a signal to the religious community that they should be on notice that their activities will be scrutinized, said Steven K. Green, director of Willamette University's Center for Religion and Democracy.

The Beagleys will be sentenced Feb. 18.