Is this a heath? Couple's son dies after only praying

[TrickyBob]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A couple serving probation for the 2009 death of their toddler after they turned to prayer instead of a doctor could face new charges now that another son has died.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible belong to a fundamentalist Christian church that believes in faith healing. They lost their 8-month-old son, Brandon, last week after he suffered from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week, and stopped eating. Four years ago, another son died from bacterial pneumonia.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that a decision on charges will be made after they get the results of an autopsy.
Catherine Schaible's attorney, Mythri Jayaraman, cautioned against a rush to judgment, and said the couple are good parents deeply distraught over the loss of another child.
"There are way more questions than answers at this point. We haven't seen the autopsy report. We don't know the cause of death of this child," Jayaraman told The Associated Press. "What we do know is Mr. and Mrs. Schaible are distraught, they are grieving, they are tremendously sad about the loss of their most recent baby."
A man who answered the phone at a listing for Herbert Schaible declined to comment and hung up.
A jury convicted the Schaibles of involuntary manslaughter in the January 2009 death of their 2-year-old son, Kent. The boy's symptoms had included coughing, congestion, crankiness and a loss of appetite. His parents said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and they had thought he was getting better.
The Schaibles were sentenced to 10 years' probation.
At a hearing Monday, a judge told the couple they had violated the terms of their probation, noting the Schaibles had told investigators that they prayed to God to make Brandon well instead of seeking medical attention.
"You did that once, and the consequences were tragic," Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
Prosecutors on Monday sought to have the couple jailed, but Lerner permitted them to remain free because their seven other children had been placed in foster care.
"He feels they are a danger to their children — not to the community, but to their own children," Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted the couple in 2010, said Tuesday.
Herbert Schaible, 44, and his 43-year-old wife grew up in the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia and have served as teachers there. The church's website has a sermon titled "Healing — From God or Medicine?" that quotes Bible verses purportedly forbidding Christians from visiting doctors or taking medicine.
"It is a definite sin to trust in medical help and pills; and it is real faith to trust on the Name of Jesus for healing," says the message, from last May.
A phone message left with the church on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
The church's pastor said in 2010 that the couple had never received medical care themselves beyond the help of a lay midwife who attends home births.
The Schaibles did take their children for medical checkups as required by their probation, according to Jayaraman, the defense attorney. Jayaraman said that Brandon was checked by a doctor when he was 10 days old, but she did not know whether the child had seen a doctor since.
"Nobody argues that these aren't very loving, nurturing parents," she said Tuesday. "Whether their religion had anything to do with the death of their baby, we don't know."

This has happened to them TWICE now; I don't think I would live with myself, religion or not, if I didn't seek out medical help. 

[Deleted]

What is wrong with people?

[TrickyBob]

And I don't give a flying rats ass about the autopsy report, the child was SICK and they didn't bother to take him to a doctor!

[Deleted]

Apr 23, 2013 14:44:07 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

I wish the leaders of the church could be prosecuted.

SERIOUSLY.

Shit like that drives me mad.

[textbookcase]

Holy shit.

[Kore]

So disgusting.

[anlo]

I saw that. So infuriating. I really feel for their other children.

[Deleted]

I have no words.

[anlo]

Apr 23, 2013 14:49:02 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

Apr 23, 2013 14:47:06 GMT -5 anlo said:

I saw that. So infuriating. I really feel for their other children.

I wonder how many more are going to die before someone steps in and says "you know what, let's NOT let you keep your children" 

I know. I saw that they are in foster care for the moment, but who knows what will happen. And how are these kids coping with the deaths of two siblings? I just can't imagine.

[Deleted]

This makes me ragey!

[bania]

Seriously? This is so sad.

[Deleted]

This happened in the last year or so to a child who came down with Type 1 (around 9 years old). The parents refused medical attention and insisted if prayer did not heal them, then they were meant to die. And they did. A trip to the ER and insulin would've saved them.

[muffin0]

I didn't read it all, and I'm all about praying for healing, but I'm also about getting to the dr and letting modern medicine do it's job.

So sad.

[BAMFMrsB]

One of the other articles I read said that a couple from the same church was in trouble for praying for their child's broken leg. An injury suffered when he got hit by a car!

articles.philly.com/2013-04-21/news/38695278_1_herbert-schaible-faith-healing-child

Even before Kent Schaible died, the church had come under scrutiny for the death of a child from measles and parents who prayed over their child's broken leg after he was hit by a car.

[wrathofkuus]

Seven other children.

This is what happens when religion is exempt from logical rigor.

[Captain Serious]

When I'm ragey thinking about cases like these, I wonder why we can't impose mandatory sterilization. Their current children are in state care, and any new children cannot be guaranteed safety in their home, and so they will also be ravaged by loss and foster care. Not to mention the cost (far beyond financial) to the state and society. It's so much better for these people to not be allowed to reproduce anymore.

But damn, human rights and slippery slope and all that....

[pantsparty]

Sterilization should be part of their probation. Absolutely disgusting.