When Ava Worthington was born, she was an apparently healthy, good-sized baby girl, weighing 10 pounds – putting her in the top 95% of weight for newborns. When she died 15 months later, she weighed only 16 pounds – in the bottom 5% for children her age.
If Ava Worthington had not had the misfortune to be the child of two members of a bizarre religious cult called the “Followers of Christ,” she very likely would be alive today. Instead, she died of a series of treatable illnesses over the course of a year while her parents refused to get medical care for her, instead relying on prayer, laying on of hands, dabbing her with olive oil, giving her sips of wine and similar mumbo-jumbo.
Dr. Dan Leonhardt, a pediatrician who testified for the prosecution, said Ava Worthington developed a cyst on her neck at the age of three months that interfered with her breathing and set her up for the other health problems, including pneumonia, that eventually killed her. Her parents got her no treatment for the cyst or any of her other medical problems.
Dr. Leonhardt also testified that Ava could have been saved at almost any point during her ordeal, even after she stopped breathing on March 2, 2008. Her parents didn’t call 911. They didn’t administer CPR. Instead they kept praying and dribbling the olive oil.
Ava Worthington’s parents, Raylene and Carl Worthington, were the first to be prosecuted under an Oregon law that covers such cases – a law that the legislature was inspired to pass after it came to light that an unusual number of children of the Followers of Christ appeared to be dying.
According to a report in Time magazine in 1998, those deaths might be only a small fraction of the national toll. A study in the professional journal Pediatrics, Time reported, “documented 140 child deaths ‘from religion-motivated medical neglect’ between 1975 and 1995, attributed to 23 religious denominations in 34 states.” The co-author of the study, Texas pediatrician Seth Asser, said he believed hundreds of other such fatalities go unreported. “This is Jonestown in slow motion,” he said.
What happened to Ava Worthington was a crime. What happened in the courtroom yesterday was also a crime. Instead of getting convicted of manslaughter, Carl Worthington was found guilty of criminal mistreatment – a misdemeanor punishable by only a year in jail. His wife was acquitted.
Judging by some of the quotes reported in The Oregonian, the jurors in the case appear to have been almost as idiotic as the defendants. Even after Ava stopped breathing on a Sunday, jury president Ashlee Santos seemed to think there was no particular urgency in getting medical care: “It might be that a reasonable person might wait until Monday to take their kid to the doctor.”
How atrocities like the death of Ava Worthington can not only happen but go virtually unpunished in a supposedly civilized country is mind-blowing. If you had a sick dog or horse and you refused to give it any medical care you’d probably be hauled up on animal cruelty or neglect charges. Do the same thing to a child in the name of religion, though, and the law lets you skate.
Defenders of the Worthingtons and their fellow cultists like to paint this case as an issue of religious freedom. But this isn’t about religious freedom. It’s about child abuse, period. Children are not property, and religious beliefs don’t give parents the right to subject them to pain and death.
It’s curious how our peculiar American style of religious bigotry plays into this case too. If there was a bunch of nut cases calling themselves the “Followers of the Great God Juba-Juba” and they attempted to heal their sick children by having shamans rattle chicken bones over them, you can bet your ass some of them would end up in the state pen. But because the wackos in Oregon City do their thing in the name of “Christ,” we cut them more slack.
Meanwhile, the Clackamas County DA isn’t through with the Followers of Christ yet. Raylene Worthington’s parents, Jeff and Marci Beagley, face a charge of criminally negligent homicide for letting 16-year-old Neil Beagley die last June of an untreated urinary tract blockage.
The other bright note is that, according to news reports, the Followers of Christ are no longer accepting any new members, which means that in time this disgusting cult probably will die out. Unfortunately it’s impossible to predict how many children will suffer and die needlessly before it does.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2009.
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HBM–
It’s Darwin at work. The child may have been an innocent and died as a result of misguided neglect–but it is what it is: natural selection.
these parents should be put in prison for life and left to starve to death inhumanley like they left their child to die.they make me sick.
Stephen: Whoa, that’s pretty harsh, dude! I would prefer it if natural selection had worked by making the parents sterile.
The unfortunate fact is that we as a society STILL tend to take the attitude that children are the property of their parents and the parents can pretty much do what they want. If an adult, for whatever weird religious reason, wants to forgo medical treatment that’s his/her right, but a parent has NO RIGHT to make that decision for a minor who is not yet mature enough to make an informed decision for him/herself.
I wonder if you have children? or if that had been you fighting for air? natural selection my foot!
Romans 14:12,13, says that we must all give an account of ourselves to God. I can understand your frustration with, “Idiots”, who do not care for their children like you think they should. At the same time be careful, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. John 8:7. From the New Open Bible.
Stephen: Natural selection? You’re kidding, right?
The jury’s finding in this case is just baffling, and utterly wrong. Both parents should be in prison for what they did. I suppose they think their baby is with the Lord in heaven now. Too bad they’ll never see her again – in this life or the next.
While this case may offend our society(and me), is it right to play god ourselves in condeming others for playing/believing god or anything? If this same situation played out in a Native American, Amazon, Inuit, etc tribe, we would start a fundraiser for the family. If we even heard about it. Is it our job to tell others how to raise there kids or what to believe? Do you want to be told by the government that you must vaccinate your children or must resusitate termially ill folks over and over again? Next time you want to make a choice about your life or your child’s, decide if you would rather make the decision yourself or leave it to the government. before you comment on this case. I guess if society decides it needs/wants less choices and freedoms, that is where we will go.
It may be harsh, but that is the way it works. If a genetic line survives it is because it has demonstrated the will, intelligence and ability to do so.
Yes, we still consider children chattel. Regardless of the ‘character’ of the parent(s) they remain with the worst and are returned by social service departments to abusive situations time after time–until they sometimes die.
The Worthingtons still have one child at home and one on the way–any concern for their ultimate well being? Not a lot.
You’re right about one thing–if Ava were a cute puppy, there would be more concern and a surer, swifter justice than the little girl received.
And I am not surprised by the juror comments, in light of the verdict. After all, it was a jury of ‘peers.’
While the death of these children is tragic, so are the deaths of millions of children by abortion. The religion is secular humanism and God will judge you justly for it. Have a nice eternity.
“I can tell the author of this is not a believer”
If you mean I don’t believe in that mumbo-jumbo faith healing bullshit, you’re absolutely right.
“If a genetic line survives it is because it has demonstrated the will, intelligence and ability to do so.”
Don’t forget the luck factor, Stephen. If Ava Worthington had different parents she might well be alive today. It was not some flaw in her genetics that killed her.
“Is it our job to tell others how to raise there [sic] kids or what to believe?”
Yes it definitely is, when the parents are abusive and/or neglectful and/or homicidal. Do you think parents have an absolute right to raise their children any way they choose regardless of the consequences to the children? Suppose the parents believe their child has been possessed by demons and must be killed? Suppose the parents are pagans and believe their child must be sacrificed so the corn will grow? Are you cool with all that, or do you think that just perhaps the government should intervene in such cases?
“Do you want to be told by the government that you must vaccinate your children”
The government DOES tell people they must vaccinate their children before they can enter school, it has EXCELLENT reasons for doing so and I am GLAD it does.
The government also tells me I must vaccinate my dogs against rabies. Maybe you disapprove of that too.
H. Bruce Miller – I think I love you.
Other posts seem to boil down to three types:
1. People who believe it was a criminal act that should be punished–very harshly as some write. This was an act of stupidity and ignorance, centered on a misguided superstition.
2. People who believe this was worth it because it is the inevitable right of their freedom–to believe what they want regardless of the impact because it is their right to do so. Children are ‘theirs’ to inform, care, and treat as they will. The right of the parent to ‘parent’ supercedes the right of the child to survive.
3. People unwilling to pass judgment because it is the un-christian thing to do and they can quote scripture chapter and verse to justify their POV. These same people don’t want anyone else to take moral high ground either–let’s throw abortion in as a non sequitur–and will do what they can to ignore what has happened.
HBM–yeah, luck has a lot to do with natural selection. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. As a society we generate an environment where wrong-headed and misguided belief and value structures are protected and allowed to inculcate the same into generation after generation. The Followers of Christ are no different than the followers of Jim Jones. Where else could someone rise to their defense but here? Somali suicide bombers are indoctrinated, recruited and trained in the Midwest. Abortion doctors are murdered and those murders justified by anti-abortion followers of christ!
Natural selection is also a social process. I see our society devolving in so many ways it is scary. I don’t think I have a right path to follow, but I sure as hell don’t think any of the others above have given one either.
“I see our society devolving in so many ways it is scary.”
Couldn’t agree more. One of the roots of the problem is the idea (first promulgated by liberals, I must say) that all opinions have a place in the free marketplace of ideas and deserve to be heard. But that notion has devolved into the idea that ALL opinions, no matter how nonsensical, are EQUAL and equally deserving of respect.
An opinion based on misinformation, non-information, faulty logic or outright deceit is NOT deserving of respect. It is worthless and deserves scorn and ridicule.
The Bible, even Jesus’ own words, tells us “Many will come in my name but I know them not.” Religious cults often use the name of Jesus but are NOT of him, and this deception is the work of Satan.
Separation of church and state.
I respect the right of any Adult to believe as they choose.
If you do not believe in abortion; then do not have an abortion.
If you do not believe in medical treatment; then do not have medical treatment.
I doubt that God said, รข Go and forcibly impose your opinion on other people.รข ย
As a รข civilizationรข ย we have decided that children are not able to make all the right decisions for themselves. Therefore someone must make decisions for them until they are old enough to make their own.
I do not believe that any loving God would punish a child for the decisions imposed on them by parents or state.
Therefore I believe that Eva should have been allowed to live to an age where she could make her own decisions, good or bad.
I believe that the parents should have been punished far more severely. They would not have been the first to consider themselves martyrs for their beliefs. But that was their choice.
To HBM re your comment..
รข Suppose the parents are pagans and believe their child must be sacrificed so the corn will grow?รข ย
You are obviously either a bigot or completely ignorant about the Pagan belief system. All living things are respected. Be it a child or the planet. Your remark was offensive. I doubt your God would approve.
The above are my opinions. Thank you for reading them and may your God go with you.
Blessed be.
…and Winston has just created category number four.
“You are obviously either a bigot or completely ignorant about the Pagan belief system. All living things are respected. Be it a child or the planet. Your remark was offensive. I doubt your God would approve.”
I didn’t mean to offend modern pagans, whom I know don’t practice human sacrifice; perhaps I should have chosen a different word. The point was that human sacrifice HAS been practiced in the past in the name of religion, and presumably could be practiced again if somebody got the weird idea that god or the gods demanded it. Should it then be protected in the name of religious freedom? Few, I think, would agree.
“While the death of these children is tragic, so are the deaths of millions of children by abortion.”
The difference being that Ava Worthington was a 15-month-old human being. She saw, she heard, she spoke, she walked, she played, she laughed, she loved. Find me a fetus that can do these things and I might agree that its death would be equally tragic.
I just finished reading about a case in Wisconsin, where an 11 year old girl died.
Over the years, we have heard of many cases of this sort and it seems to me that they have all been girls. Please comment about this.
Thank you for your correction. I agree with your revised comment. Perhaps we should also mention the number of wars that have been started in the name of religion.