Doctor: Adults should face charges in teen's death

SALEM, Ore. – A Salem pediatrician who helped draft an Oregon law to remove protections for faith healing said Thursday he believes criminal charges should be filed in a recent case involving the death of a 16-year-old from an easily treatable health condition.

Neil Beagley died Tuesday at his home in Gladstone from heart failure that resulted from a blockage in his urethra that prevented him from urinating. Officials said a catheter could have relieved the blockage.

But Beagley's Followers of Christ Church rejects modern medical care in favor of prayer – or "faith healing." And Beagley's family told investigators the teen refused treatment for the illness, as he was entitled to do under Oregon law, which allows minors 14 and older to make such a decision.

However, Dr. James Lace, the pediatrician who lobbied lawmakers to remove faith healing protections from the law in 1999, believes there was no way the teen made his own medical choices in the minutes or hours before his death.  

Lace believes church members knew what they were doing as Beagley edged closer and closer to death.

"They did commit a crime by neglecting what I would call very simple medical intervention for that child," the doctor said.

Despite the law allowing teens over 14 some control over medical decisions, Lace said Beagley lost that ability hours – maybe even days – before he died.

"Not only do you get dopey, you just get very lethargic and very sleepy," he said about the teen's condition. "And so at the very end, you're going to be in a coma."

That means an adult had to be making medical decisions for Beagley, Lace said.

Oregon law says someone commits "criminal nonsupport" if someone "…being the parent, lawful guardian or other person lawfully charged with the support of a child under 18 years of age knowingly fails to provide support for such child."

Lace said that when you deprive a child of that ability, then you have broken the law.

Officials with the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office said they are waiting for police to finish reports on the case. That means it may be another week before they decide whether charges are warranted in the case or whether a grand jury should decide whether someone should face charges.