Death of newborn sparks new Followers case

CLACKAMAS COUNTY – KATU confirmed Tuesday that detectives are investigating the death of an infant born over the weekend in Clackamas County.

It has also been confirmed that the child’s family is a member of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City. There have been no charges filed against the family, as the medical examiner works to determine the cause of death.

KATU asked Portland Attorney Robin Runstein to examine the facts of this case:

The mother allegedly had complications before giving birth and church member’s prayed over her Friday night at a relative’s home. The baby was born Saturday afternoon but died hours later early Sunday morning.

“This child, there’s no history of illness, because the child was just born,” she said.

After being asked whether the law broken in the latest case, Runstein said, “I think in this case the issue will again be if this baby was born and this baby was healthy, could these parents have known that this child was in need of medical care?”

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death, and the state medical examiner is conducting an autopsy.

Some members of the Follower’s of Christ Church in Oregon City favor faith healing over modern medicine.

In a separate case, Carl Worthington, a member of the church, was convicted of criminal mistreatment on July 23 in the death of his daughter, 15-month-old Ava, who died of what the medical examiner called a treatable condition. Carl Worthington was sentenced to 60 days and was released last week.

Meanwhile, Ava’s grandparents Jeff and Marci Beagley are scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2008 death of their teenage son Neil. Dr. Cliff Nelson, with the State Medical Examiner’s office, said their 16-year-old could have survived with medical treatment.

A KATU investigation in the late 1990s, showed that a least two dozen children buried at a Clackamas County cemetery died from treatable causes but doctors were never called.

In 1999 Oregon lawmakers passed legislation which toughened the state’s faith-healing law. It required parents to get medical treatment for sick or injured children or face any number of criminal charges if the child died.