c. 2009 Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore.-Two high-profile deaths from 2008 will land in the courts in 2009 when the Oregon justice system determines whether members of an Oregon City faith-healing church acted criminally in the deaths of two children who were denied medical treatment.

The trials, in Clackamas County Circuit Court, could lead to the first legal tests of a 1999 state law disallowing faith-healing at the expense of a child’s life.

What’s more, the almost-certain appeals in the cases may ask the courts to redefine the balance between freedom of religion and parents’ legal responsibilities for the health and safety of minors.

The first trial, set for Jan. 26, will weigh manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges against Carl Brent Worthington, 38, and his wife, Raylene Marie Worthington, 26, in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava. The girl died last March of bronchial pneumonia and blood infections after she was denied conventional medical care.

In the second trial, set for June 23, Raylene Worthington’s parents, Jeffrey Dean Beagley, 50, and his wife, Marci Rae Beagley, 47, of Oregon City will face charges of criminally negligent homicide in the death of their 16-year-old son, Neil. The boy died in June of heart failure triggered by a urinary tract blockage.

In both deaths, state medical examiners said both children could have been treated with routine medical procedures or medicine.

The common thread in both cases is the Followers of Christ Church, a fundamentalist sect that bans medical attention for congregation members, instead relying on prayer vigils and the “laying on of hands.”

The Followers figured prominently in a state legislative battle that began in 1998 with the discovery of several young children’s graves in the church cemetery, just outside Oregon City, followed by the death of an 11-year-old from complications caused by diabetes. A pediatrician subsequently published a study concluding that many of the deaths could have been prevented through conventional medical care.

After an emotional debate in the Oregon Legislature, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber-an emergency-room physician-signed a compromise bill into law that eliminated Oregon’s faith-healing exemption in some manslaughter and criminal mistreatment cases.

(Rick Bella writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.)

A photo of Carl and Raylene Worthington arriving at court is available via https://religionnews.com. Search by “Worthington.”

KRE/DEA END BELLA