Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Parents refuse medical help for children in the name of Christ

Parents That Refuse to Get Medical Help for their Children
in the Name of Christ-
Mariah who's
parents believed  only
in the power of pray for medicine
Hello my dears, Thank you so much for always being there for me and I pray that I have been
putting interesting posts. I have been trying to always keep my blog interesting with fantasy, Garden ideas and so many others too. I also like to mix it up with some more important issues too. Like this post that I am going to talked about. I heard a little about it on the news. How a young girl dis-own her parents & wanted them to pay for her medical bills now. because she blames them for all here health issue that she is going through now.
Its about this young woman Mariah Walton's who would like to see her parents prosecuted - Why? Mariah says in a very quiet voice 'They deserve it' 'And it might stop others.'
Part of the reason she is upset with her parents is that her lungs have been over come by her illness, & her respirator doesn't help her much anymore. However, Mariah tone in her voice is resolute when she talks about what has happen to her and her future too. Here is a little history about Mariah the young woman that I saw on T.V. I felt so much for the young girl and how here whole life has been basically taken to a life of permanently disability at a young age of only 20, I am 55 and I am permanently disabled but that is a lot different than 20 to 55 years. So this is why I wanted to tell her story and the many other children that have died because of Children die in the name of Christ. I truly don't understand this because I come from a very faithful family. And I just don't see God wanted us to make chooses like that. This is why God gives us the freedom of chose to do the right thing to help our love one.  And I Marah case she wasn't given that chose. Mariah is only 20years old as you can see in the image above, however she is very frail and is permanently disabled. The reason are do to her parents not taking her to the doctor as a child to fix her infancy small congenital hole in heart. If they had only did the prevented surgery  at the time she wouldn't be in the pickle that she is now. But they believe in only pray to fix her congenital hole and it would be fine. But it didn't and now the only way she has a change in life is a extremely risky procedure of a heart and lung transplant. So until the Heart and Lung transplant is found she is bedridden with pulmonary hypertension and has to carry an oxygen tank that allows her to breath. At times she has had screws in her bones to anchor her breathing devices too which can be quite painful. This could all have been prevented when she was a infant by closing the small congenital hole that was in her heart. It has been done many times to hundreds of infants with full recovery's and full successful lives as adults. It has been said that the success rate when treated successfully in later years is good too, only if its done before the irreversible damage is done. However, sadly in Mariah's case her parents were fundamentalist Mormons who went off the grid in Northern Idaho in the 1990's and refused to take their children to doctors. They believed that illnesses could be healed through faith and the power of prayer. Sadly Their infant Mariah grew sicker and sicker, Her parents world pray over her and use alternative medicine. Until she finally left home two years ago, she didn't have a social security number or a birth certificate either. Sadly If Mariah's parents been in neighboring Oregon, they could have been booked for medical neglect. However, in Mariah's case, as in hundreds of cases of other children and young adults like that of Mariah - of instances of preventable death among children in Idaho since the 70's, the laws exempt dogmatic faith healers from prosecution, and Mariah and her sister recently took part in a panel discussion with lawmakers at the state capitol about the issue. In Idaho there is one out of only six states that offer a faith-based shield for felony crimes such as manslaughter. Some of those enjoying the legal protection are the Mormon families just like in Mariah's case many of whom live in the states north.
There are also large numbers of children that have died in Southern Idaho, near Boise, do to the fact that these families belong to a reclusive, Pentecostal faith-healing section called the Followers of Christ. This is something I have never heard of, and have a hard time putting together in my heart that a parent would put their child or baby in danger, do all the gifts that god has by giving us Medicine to save our children and myself from cancer.
In the Canyon County, just west of the capital the section Peaceful Valley cemetery is full of graves, marking the deaths of children who lived a day-a week or maybe a month. Last year, a task force set up by Idaho governor Butch Otter estimated that the child mortality rate for the Followers of Christ was between 2002 and 2011.

After 12 Deaths in Idaho; Should Religious Exemptions on Faith
Healing be Repealed?
Well, I found another state which believes very much in Exemptions on Faith Healing-Idaho. The problem is it is also where 12 children are victims of faith healing. It is a growing problem in our country. In 32 of our states there is religious exemptions to certain crimes against children. I found out that 6 out of those 32 states allow religious exemptions in cases concerning manslaughter, capital murder & negligent homicide charges. However, only 6 of those states in the past two decades have had children die due to parental adherence to faith healing alone. Idaho has earned its own disturbing distinction: in the past 3years, at least 12+ children have died from easily treatable medical
conditions and that is only ones that we were able to discover. Who knows truly how many there are? The law, enacted in the 1970s after a series of high profile child deaths said that the parents can substituted prayer as a form of treatment, however if they are to use prayer, they lose their religious exemption if they do anything else to care for the child or children. 
This is what happened, according to Rita Swan, a co-founder of the Children's Health care Is a Legal Duty to Child group, the moment a parent uses another form of treatment such as antibiotics or even orange juice they lose their exemption.
Just because of this action it is known among the faith healing practiced  by their families, and all of whom were members of the Followers of Christ Pentecostal groups in Idaho have been buried at the Peaceful Valley Cemetery, A follower's cemetery just outs. A taskforce was set-up by the Idaho governor to find out an estimate of what the child mortality rate is for the 'Followers of the Christ ' between 2002 and 2011 and it was 10x over other states as a whole. While the Idaho legislators were stonewalling, the children of the in faith-healing communities continue to suffer. The older the child the more they suffered. According to the coroners reports these include a 15year old Arrian who died in 2012 after contracting food poisoning [which is quite common because of the teens eating poison berries etc.] She vomited so much that her esophagus ruptured and she bled to death. This is what I was saying that the older children have more pain.
In one Canyon County a report on the death of an infant called Asher Sevy we see the difficulty that
THE CASE OF BABY SEVY  THAT
OPEN UP THE FOLLOWERS SECRET WORLD
the shield laws create for local authorities. When Sevy died in 2006, a Canyon County coroner deputy attended by two sheriffs deputies asked to take the body away for an autopsy. According to the Coroner's account, the family 'were very much against this for any reason', and informed the deputy that she was not going with me or anyone else! and removal would have be done FORCEFULLY! 
After a liaison with the county's chief deputy and the prosecutor's office the assembled county officials decided to leave, rather than escalate a problem that could be worse than it was now. The conclusion? of Baby boy/girl Sevy? Well, The cause -of dearth? will go down as undetermined sadly as so many others in the state of Idaho in 2012. In the case of baby Sevy in 2012 the Autopsies are at the coroners discretion and the deputy at the time Bill Kirby did write that 'there was no evidence of a crime as to the death of Sevy' The incident is unsettling though. Since the death of Baby Sevy the county coroner Vicki DeGeus-Morriss who has been in office since 1991 has refused to speak directly with the Followers. However, Joe Decker, the county spokesman insisted that Vicki and other officials had been successful in building a better relationship with the Followers.{creepy} It is said that when Vickie first took office the Followers rarely if ever reported a death. If there ever was the Followers were always often uncooperative with both the Coroner and law enforcement when they arrive on the scene. It would seem since this case of Baby Sevy with every single death is reported and autopsies are almost always performed. It is a start for a very uncooperative group of people.
For outsiders this whole thing probably may seem very unsettling, I know it does for me! A lingering impression that exemptions from child abuse prosecutions have led Followers to form the impression that the law can be negotiated with? Sadly the local officials of Canyon County Idaho can't make laws, only enforce them. It doesn't mean that the local officials aren't frustrated at the effects of the laws. Even so, Campaigner like Linda Martin and Brian Hoyt are determined to not let this rest in the next legislative session.
There is a new campaign that involve a television ad campaign featuring Mariah who is at the top of this post. Its called 'Let Them Live'. by Bruce Wingate 'Protect Idaho Kids'
Wingate is confident that improved of public awareness will build pressure on the legislators. And they have confidence that his bill will be back next year.
'Its not going to go away, 'DEAD CHILDREN DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FIRST AMENDMENT'
ide of Boise Idaho. It is said that 35% of the graves are of children. Also roughly 70% of the 208 children were buried after Idaho's adoption of the religious defense to manslaughter. 
Through all the madness of this and the loss of so many lives of children, there is a glimmer of hope.
A former member of the group is fighting for a change, along with a few select advocates too.
She was the one to urge KATU News to dig deeper into Idaho, despite the punishment of shunning from her church and family. KATU discovered that most of the children's deaths go unreported. The coroner- Vicki DeGeus-Morris, told reporters she completely stopped autopsying the children of the Followers altogether. However, one father apart of the Followers, Dan Sevy, had on comment to share after his son, a 14-year old who died from pneumonia in 2011.
"I would like to say, I picture freedom as a full object. It's not like you can take 'a' freedom away. It's that you chip at the entire thing. Freedom is freedom. Yours and mine."
Mark Jerome, the grandfather of a newborn girl who lived for 20 minutes before her death of untreated pneumonia, shared the same views..."That's the way we believe. We believe in God and the way God handles the situation, the way we do things. "Most of the children died from causes like pneumonia, sepsis and an 'easily treatable case of food poisoning." 
Some states, such as Oregon, held on longer until there was a high-profile death within 'The
Followers of Christ Church' in Oregon City. It happened to attracted the attention of local media & over time the state reversed the course. As a result, several of the Followers of the Christ members in Oregon have been successfully prosecuted! 
In 2010, Jeffrey & Marci Beagley were convicted of criminally negligent homicide after the death of their toddler, Neal who died from a congenital bladder blockage.
Then another case happened in 2011, Timothy & Rebbecca Wyland were convicted of criminal mistreatment & the court ordered that their daughter Aylana be medically treated for the growth that had been threatening to blind her.
Then there was the case of Dale & Shannon Hickman a year later, who were convicted of second-degree manslaughter two years after their newborn son died of a simple infection.
Next door in Idaho presents a polar opposition to Oregon.
Basically it was harder to get through the state of Idaho then any other state - with these
Followers of Christ Church...
Even the Republicans, who enjoy an effective permanent majority in the state house,
are surprisingly reluctant to even consider to reform the state of Idaho. Last year, the governor's
"Task Force on Children at Risk Recommended Change''. However, religious freedoms must be protected but vulnerable children must also be appropriately protected form unnecessary harm and death! So an Democratic Legislator John Gannon proposed a repeal bill which he 'never thought would really be that controversial'.
Sadly the Chairman of the senate of health and welfare, refused to even grant a hearing which in effect killed the bill. 
Then there is the story of Brian Hoyt who lived in Boise Idaho - as a child in the
Followers of Christ Church until he escape as a teenager...
BRIAN HOYT
Brian Hoyt, who lives in Boise, grew up in the Followers of Christ church
Hoyt is a fit 43 year old male and lives now in a nice suburban neighborhood. As of now he runs a
successful window cleaning business that he started with only a squeegee mop and a bucket after, as a teenager escape from his home in Idaho - And the Followers of Christ Church. He had no cash & only a few educational opportunities. When they had a chat with Brian, his home was 
being renovated - what was once a 'barebones bachelor pad' was now accommodates his partner and his step-children too. Slowly Brian has developed the capacity for a family life, after a life in 
secret that he left behind. "unable to relate to families before for a long time because of his upbringing . He said he didn't understand the concept'. He lost his faith around the age of 5years old , when a baby died in his arms in the course of a failed healing with the Followers of Christ Church. While the elders prayed, Hoyt was in charge of removing the mucus with a suction device from the baby mouth or toddler. He was told that the child died because of his own lack of faith. Something snapped that day and he remembers thinking 'How can this possibly be God's work?'
His apostasy set up lifelong conflicts with his parents and the Church elders.
In just one incident when Brian was just 12years old - He had broken his ankle during a wrestling
tryout. Brian ended up shattering two bones in his foot. His parents approached the situation with the usual Followers remedies - rubbing the injury with rancid olive oil and having him swing on Kosher wine. Intermittently, they would have him attempt to walk. Each time, his body would just go into shock and I would pass out. Later Brian would wake up to his step-dad, uncles and the other elders of the church kicking me and beating me, calling me a fag, because I didn't have enough faith to let God come in to heal me, while my mom and Aunts were sitting there watching. That's what you call faith healing? He had so much time off with the untreated fracture that his school demanded a medical
certificate to cover the absence. Forced to take him to a doctor, his mother spent most of the consultation accusing the doctor of being a pedophile. He was given a cast and medication but
immediately upon returning home, the medication was flushed down the toilet, leaving him with
no pain relief. His second walking cast was quickly cut off by male relatives at home with a circular saw. Other people who have left the group, such as Linda Martin, told similar tales of coercion, failed healing using only rancid olive oil and a high level of infant mortality, isolation and secrecy is their key to their faith of their church and practises. Violence was the reason he left home at a young age, even though he had no money or no where to go. In the Church of Christ they believe that 'Death from untreated illness are attributed to 'God's will. Their lives are dominated by God's will.''  
Both Hoyt & his friend Martin have lobbied to change the laws in Idaho. Martin devoting years of patient research to documenting deaths and other church activities. Hoyt has faced harassment online, at his new home. Also church members have even tried to undermine his new business too! So far Hoyt & Martins testimonies of abuse have not convinced Idaho's Republican legislators.
One of the Idaho Republican Senators Heider have described the Followers of Christ as
'very nice people'. In my opinion, how are they going to get anywhere if the government of Idaho isn't standing for the innocent Children that have no voice. There is a Child advocate and a author 
Janet Heimlich who have campaigned against exemptions around the country. As I read more about the bill, I found that Senator Heider told Heimlich that before the legislative session began that he would carry the bill and help with the production of a draft, however by the time the session began in October, Senator Heider indicated that no bill would be passed or even heard at this time. [ How do we trust the Senator's of the legislative if they don't follow through with their lies?]
This is what happen next sadly...
After telling the... [The Guardian-Linda Martin/ Brian Hoyt+] that no bill was going to be lodged [John Gannon confirmed this that he did, what he was suppose to report in local media in February] that he had been told by the Canyon County prosecuting attorney that the laws did not need to change [both men deny saying this] Senator Heider took refuge in the US Constitution. 'Republicans didn't feel that the need to change the laws. We believe in the first amendment to the constitution. I don't think that states have a right to interfere in religions.' I hope that you all find the post interesting my dears. I did my self yet I wish I had a more happy ending but then again not all post's will have happy endings I just hope that this will some day. love and peace WENDY

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