An ongoing series of preventable deaths among children of parents who belong to a religious sect, have prompted an Idaho lawmaker to draft a bill that addresses how the state deals with the issue of faith healing when minors are involved.
In 2011 the State of Oregon passed a similar bill in response to numerous child deaths at the same church.
The parents of a newborn who died while they and Followers of Christ members prayed for him to be healed have received the maximum jail terms allowed by law and three years of post-prison probation following their conviction on manslaughter charges.
Dale and Shannon Hickman, who are members of the controversial church and are related to the founder, were both sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
Jurors deliberated less than four hours and their verdict sent another resounding warning to the members of the Hickmans’ church, the Followers of Christ, that failing to provide medical care to critically ill children is unacceptable and will be punished.
The ‘faith healing’ church has a long history of children dying from treatable medical conditions.
Dale and Shannon Hickman have been convicted of second degree manslaughter in the death of their newborn son. Members of the Followers of Christ church, they elected to attempt faith healing rather than get their son medical aid.
Following testimony Tuesday in the latest case involving the death of a child whose parents are members of Followers of Christ — a controversial Oregon City church — a decades-old rift in the tight-knit religious group over using modern medicine has come to the forefront.
Several former church members left the church after seeing children die from illnesses that could have been remedied with medical care.
Dale and Shannon Hickman are charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of their son, David, who was born two months early and lived less than nine hours.
They are members of the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that uses faith-healing rituals and rejects medical treatment.
On Tuesday — the second anniversary of David Hickman’s death — his parents took the witness stand and told jurors that there was nothing they could have done to save their newborn boy.
Even now, they said, they would do nothing differently.
The maternal grandmother of a premature baby that died less than nine hours after birth said Tuesday that she was not concerned with the infant’s health and would not have called an ambulance when he struggled for breath because it was not her decision.
Shannon and Dale Hickman are accused of second-degree manslaughter for failing to provide medical care to their baby.
A pediatrician who specializes in newborns and premature infants testified Monday that David Hickman would have survived if his parents had called for help.
Dale and Shannon Hickman took “a real and avoidable risk” with their child’s life, Dr. Joseph Kaempf, a neonatologist and prosecution witness, said.
Dale and Shannon Hickman made “a horrible choice” for their child when they decided to go to a relative’s house for the premature birth instead of immediately heading to a hospital, a pediatrician testified Friday at the faith healing couple’s manslaughter trial.
The Hickmans’ son, David, was born two months prematurely and lived less than nine hours.