Couple jailed for praying for their sick child instead of taking him to hospital

The couple during their initial trial in 2011.

A couple will each serve out a six-year-jail term after a Supreme Court in Oregon upheld their manslaughter charge.

In 2009, Dave and Shannon Hickman, both members of a controversial faith-healing church in Oregon, prayed and rubbed oil on their dying baby instead of taking him to hospital.

The boy, David, was born two months early at his grandmother’s home with undeveloped lungs, and died after having trouble breathing and turning blue, Dailymail reports.

                                      

A court found them both guilty of manslaughter in 2011 but the couple appealed the judgement saying the prosecution had the burden to prove they knew their religious belief would lead to the death of their child.

The Oregon Supreme Court upheld the judgement saying the couple could have done more to try and save their son.

Doctors told court during the 2011 trial that little David would have had a 99 percent chance of survival had the couple sought medical attention for him.

Mr. Hickman said he didn’t call 911 because he was praying while his wife said she must defer to her husband because of church rules.

The couple never considered taking the baby to the hospital, prosecutors said.

In the couple’s defence, their lawyer told the court that the baby boy died quickly and that there was no evidence that medical care would have saved him.

According to Dailymail, the Followers of Christ Church has a history of rejecting medical care for children and relying on prayer and anointing the sick with oils.

Five other church members have been convicted in Clackamas County for crimes related to the rejection of medical care for their children.