OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) A couple who tried to heal their gravely ill son with prayer surrendered to authorities on Thursday (Oct. 2), a day after they were indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminally negligent homicide.
The couple, Jeffrey Dean Beagley, 50, and Marci Rae Beagley, 46, could not be reached for comment.
Their son, 16-year-old Neil Jeffrey Beagley, died June 17 of complications from a urinary-tract blockage. A deputy state medical examiner said the boy apparently suffered for years from the intensely painful but medically treatable condition. The blockage ultimately caused kidney failure, uremic poisoning and heart failure, according to autopsy results.
When the teen died at his grandmother’s home, he was surrounded by dozens of relatives and church members of the Followers of Christ. Some of those present told police that Neil Beagley, despite his prolonged suffering, chose faith healing over medical care.
Beagley’s death came less than four months after his 15-month-old niece, Ava Worthington, died in similar circumstances from treatable bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection that could have been cleared up with antibiotics.
Her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, go to trial Jan. 26 on charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.
If the Beagley case goes to trial, it is likely to draw national attention, said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor and author of the book “God vs. the Gavel,” which explores conflicts between society and the laws intended to protect religious freedoms.
“Increasingly, prosecutors and grand juries are becoming less willing to turn a blind eye to child suffering or death when it is religiously motivated,” said Hamilton, who teaches at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. “We are in the midst of a coming civil rights movement for children. The willingness to prosecute for the death of a child in a religious circumstance is part and parcel of that.”
Under a state law passed in 1971, children 15 and older have the right to seek medical care independent of their parents. While not expressly stated in state statutes, some legal experts believe the right to seek medical care also grants the right to refuse medical care.
In 1999, after a series of faith-healing deaths involving the Followers of Christ, legislators eliminated Oregon’s “spiritual-healing defense” in certain cases of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.
Prosecutors will have to prove that reasonable medical care was withheld, and the defense may have to show that Neil Beagley made an independent decision to forgo medical treatment, said Jenny Cooke, an Oregon City defense attorney who has handled numerous homicide cases.
By Steve Mayes
Religion News Service
Copyright 2008 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted October 3, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Last year when all of this was in the Oregon newspapers. I remember this church had a cemetary that had 80 something graves of children, and aprox. 45 of them were of children who could have been treated by doctors. This is beyond sad in 2008. I hope the law will finally stop this.
posted October 3, 2008 at 8:50 pm
It never ceases to amaze me that parents can allow a child, no matter what age the child is, to die for lack of medical care, and say it is “God’s will”? I’m sorry, but that excuse just makes me angry. They do deserve to go to jail, and there they can live with the fact they allowed that child to die. Let’s hope they don’t have any more children at home.
I think the “Followers of Christ” misread the meaning of Love that Christ was supposed to represent.
posted October 4, 2008 at 12:31 am
I hope this kid had no younger siblings. They would bear an awful load after this, no mater what their faith may be. This is the kind of abusive faith that outsiders look at and cannot help but dismiss as wrong at every turn. I am sad for the parents, and extended family, and I think their pastor has a lot to answer for.
posted October 4, 2008 at 12:37 am
It’s hard to imagine what parenthood means to people like that. Certainly not what it means to me.
posted October 5, 2008 at 3:14 pm
So, god will step in and tell Bush to go to war, and god will tell Pat Robertson that he made 9-11 happen because he (god) was angry at the Atheists, abortionists and gays, but god won’t step in to save a life?
It’s time religion was exposed for what it is; harmful, delusional brainwashing!
posted October 5, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Yup.
posted October 5, 2008 at 7:18 pm
God is God, and man has made Him their reason for doing whatever they want to do or say. It’s the peoples beliefs that make their faith harmful and delusional. The Atheists say look at these stupid religious people knocking themselves out for what can’t be proved. I think it’s just as stupid to discount God and the world he made because some of the religious people act they way they do. Seek and you’ll be surprised with what you’ll discover. I just read an article in a NJ paper about what Atheists think, and that now they are cluturally accepted by the American public, big change from years ago. The national chapter for Atheists is in NJ., Clemson I think. These parents who believe that God alone has to heal or it is going against the will of God have made this up in their own minds and are a perfect picture of being delusionally brainwashed by themselves.
posted October 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Henrietta22– Great post. These people are not representative of most followers of any faith.
posted October 7, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Well said, Henrietta!