Prosecutors: Religion central to girl's death

[doggie]

not much can be said but whole families killing their children. I hate these christians so bad who they try to force god to fix them and when he does not they blame him. I am sure god thinks they assholes too.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - A Linn County judge will soon decide whether a family's religious beliefs are relevant to the death of their daughter.

Syble Rossiter, 12, died of complications from diabetes, and she endured such a dramatic weight loss in the month before she died that a teacher confronted her mother about the issue.

The family is part of the Church of the First Born, a fundamentalist sect that believes traditional medical treatment is sinful, and instead trusts in God to heal them through faith, The Albany Democrat-Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1jS23gm ).

Syble's parents, Travis and Wenona Rossiter, face manslaughter charges.

Their attorneys want to exclude evidence of the couple's beliefs from the trial, arguing that such evidence would be prejudicial.

Prosecutors said the family's beliefs are the reason they failed to seek medical care.

"They knew she was in great peril. (They) didn't seek out medical care, and the reason they didn't do it was their religious beliefs," Prosecutor Keith Stein said. "This is what the case is about, and in truth, this is what happened."

Mark Heslinga, defense attorney for Wenona Rossiter, said evidence of religious beliefs would be prejudicial.

"My client is requesting he be tried for the actions of that day, not for his religious beliefs," said Tim Felling, Travis Rossiter's attorney.

Wenona Rossiter's family made history in the 1990s, when her brother, Anthony Hays, 7, died of leukemia in 1994 after his parents failed to provide medical care for him.

Two years later, a Linn County jury convicted his father, Loyd Hays of Brownsville, on charges of criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to five years' probation. Hays' wife, Christina, was acquitted.

They were the first people in Oregon to be prosecuted for following their religion rather than taking a sick child for medical care.

___

[PennySycamore]

Oy! I can't believe that a parent would just let their daughter waste away from untreated diabetes! We've been able to treat Type I diabetes since the 20s when Banting and Best started treating diabetic kids with injections of bovine insulin. Before that a diagnosis of diabetes was a death sentence. I don't understand why some people can't believe that God made some doctors smart/ wise enough to figure out why people were getting sick and how to treat them.

[niagarahauls]

So Wenona Rossiter follows a family tradition of allowing their children to die needless deaths from treatable medical conditions.

I hope she and her husband face a harsher penalty than 5 years of probation for this death.

I also hope that any remaining children are removed from the home so this tradition does not continue for a third generation.

[doggie]

well hopefully they are headed down rather then up. to have a god that would let your children die when they can be treaded is one evil god indeed.

[nana sew dear]

I hate this kind of thing. I get that they want to trust in "God" but perhaps your "God" wants you to do your part too.

Pray until you turn blue, it is your right, but imagine how terrifying it was for a 12 year-old to be so ill. She wasn't a baby, knew she was sick and was probably suffering.

As much as I'd love to see these murderers rot in jail, I don't think uprooting a family is the best option. I think if I were in charge, mandatory monthly visits by a social worker and RN until the kids are 18 would be a good option. I would also see to it that the kids, if not sick otherwise, get a full physical 2X a year.

It's scary to think if this child had been homeschooled this might have slipped under the radar. (I'm not knocking homeschool, though I'm not a fan, just that these particular parents should never be allowed to homeschool.)

ETA: I hate when this kind of shit happens in my own state, a state that I'm so proud of. :cry:

[doggie]

it is even worse to have a law passed just because of this horrible church.The parents should not have their kids they put faith above the chords welfare it is not better then a parent that does drugs or does crime while having children. They may love their children but they don't care about them. They are in a cult and one that lets people die for no reason but to force gods hand. They treat god like he is stupid.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I never understood how you could believe that prayer would save your child/yourself but not think that maybe medicines are gods answers. I imagine that if there really is a god and he's listening to these people, he's probably quite angry at them.

And no where in the bible does it say anything about medicines being bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. The bible talks about medicines in a positive light.

[pamplemousse]

If medicines and medical care were so wrong in God's eyes, He'd ensure that they wouldn't do anyone any good! The parents clearly were negligent and deserve the manslaughter charges they may face. :angry-banghead:

[nana sew dear]

it is even worse to have a law passed just because of this horrible church.The parents should not have their kids they put faith above the chords welfare it is not better then a parent that does drugs or does crime while having children. They may love their children but they don't care about them. They are in a cult and one that lets people die for no reason but to force gods hand. They treat god like he is stupid.

I think I may have been unclear. I didn't mean all children, or all children from that particular church should be medically monitored, just the children in that one family.

[doggie]

All the children in that church are at risk. I am sure some people sneak to doctors but most don't.

[BravaAmica]

What does this mean?

"My client is requesting he be tried for the actions of that day, not for his religious beliefs," said Tim Felling, Travis Rossiter's attorney.

Um, no, he's on trial because his religious beliefs resulted in the deaths of TWO of his children. Why do parents get to steal their children's health, well being, education and lives, just because of their religion?!

[doggie]

Just a way of trying to get off they know the state dos not put up with this since his church has had several families in jail or in trouble with child welfare.

[canbritam]

What does this mean?

Um, no, he's on trial because his religious beliefs resulted in the deaths of TWO of his children. Why do parents get to steal their children's health, well being, education and lives, just because of their religion?!

I totally believe that his religious beliefs should play a part in it, but wasn't the second child mentioned actually the wife's brother, not a second child of the person currently on trial, or am I missing something?

[BravaAmica]

I totally believe that his religious beliefs should play a part in it, but wasn't the second child mentioned actually the wife's brother, not a second child of the person currently on trial, or am I missing something?

I agree, the religious beliefs should play a part in the trial. It was their motive for allowing their child to die of a treatable disease.

[AuntCloud]

Religion means you believe in God, not that you actually are one.

[Trynn]

Religion means you believe in God, not that you actually are one.

or that you have the right to kill your children.

I like to frequent toy stores, because I'm an overgrown 5 year old. There were a lot of children here, since it was Sunday and I just... I hoped they were all getting adequate medical care.

[Snarknado]

As the mother of a diabetic child this both infuriates and saddens me.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I hate this kind of thing. I get that they want to trust in "God" but perhaps your "God" wants you to do your part too.

Pray until you turn blue, it is your right, but imagine how terrifying it was for a 12 year-old to be so ill. She wasn't a baby, knew she was sick and was probably suffering.

As much as I'd love to see these murderers rot in jail, I don't think uprooting a family is the best option. I think if I were in charge, mandatory monthly visits by a social worker and RN until the kids are 18 would be a good option. I would also see to it that the kids, if not sick otherwise, get a full physical 2X a year.

It's scary to think if this child had been homeschooled this might have slipped under the radar. (I'm not knocking homeschool, though I'm not a fan, just that these particular parents should never be allowed to homeschool.)

ETA: I hate when this kind of shit happens in my own state, a state that I'm so proud of. :cry:

I doubt that monthly visits would be enough to protect the remaining children.

We discussed a similar case back in February, where a SECOND child in a family died of medical neglect: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21000

Monthly visits may not catch an acute medical problem, like a high fever or an injury.

You also have to wonder if these parents are likely to cooperate with social workers and nurses, if they are so ideologically opposed to medical treatment. In simple neglect cases, where parents are simply clueless, the fear of losing their children is often enough to motivate them to cooperate. Here, though, they rejected clear advice before their daughter died, and it would have been clear that their child was dying before their eyes. How do you monitor someone who would do that? How do you know that they wouldn't skip out of the jurisdiction and try to slip under the radar?

[ariel9]

I heard about this in the morning. You sort of have to think of how much a cult this really is. They must not have anyone they know outside of it. Wouldn't any normal person be concerned if one of your friends kids just began to look less than healthy? I'm sorry but I believe their beliefs are irrational. Do they not put gas in their vehicles? Or do they know they are in great peril of being stranded and pray for more gasoline.

[GeoBQn]

If you want to go hoarse from shouting at a book, read When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law. The worst case I read was of a 2-year-old girl who died because her parents prayed instead of giving her the Heimlich maneuver when she started choking on a banana.

[Sugarbob]

I read this recently, it compares "faith healing" sects to the people described in the bible who sacrificed their children to Molek. Sacrificing children in the hopes of gaining divine favour through obedience.

faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/04/25/for-sect-in-idaho-faith-healing-becomes-faith-killing/31811

[2xx1xy1JD]

What does this mean?

Um, no, he's on trial because his religious beliefs resulted in the deaths of TWO of his children. Why do parents get to steal their children's health, well being, education and lives, just because of their religion?!

It means that he's NOT going to claim that he had some right to refuse medical treatment for his child due to religious beliefs, but will try to somehow argue that he can't be held responsible if his child died of a disease and how was a simple guy like him suppose to realize that his daughter was close to death.

If you are on a jury, and you don't get to hear the evidence of the religious beliefs or the fact that the dead child's uncle also died as a result of failed faith healing, you might feel sorry for these people and "it would be awful if my child died of medical causes and people blamed me". You don't expect normal, loving parents to deliberately ignore serious symptoms, so the faith healing belief evidence is needed to explain how an otherwise loving set of parents could do that. It shows that they likely knew the risks, and deliberately failed to get treatment.

[DGayle]

I never understood how you could believe that prayer would save your child/yourself but not think that maybe medicines are gods answers.

When I was in high school, a teacher told my class the following joke:

A floor destroyed a small town, and a man stood on his roof, staring around, and decided to pray for help. Eventually a motorboat came by and the driver offered to take the man to dry land. The man shook his head and waited for the boat to leave. He continued to pray. Along came a helicopter, and the pilot offered a lift. Again the man declined and went back to praying. Soon the water level reached over the roof, and the man drowned to death.

At the pearly gates the man asked god why god didn't save him even though he prayed relentlessly. God asked him why he didn't get in the boat or helicopter he sent.

In this case, the boat and helicopter were medical care and insulin.

[DGayle]

As much as I'd love to see these murderers rot in jail, I don't think uprooting a family is the best option. I think if I were in charge, mandatory monthly visits by a social worker and RN until the kids are 18 would be a good option. I would also see to it that the kids, if not sick otherwise, get a full physical 2X a year.

The parents need to go to jail. It wouldn't do those kids any good to have monthly social worker visits. The parents would probably use that as proof that the secular world is evil and oppressive, and make the kids scared to ever seek help for anything.

The punishment for killing your kids via neglect is jail. What happens if a kid get sick with something that kills within days if left untreated? Every with monthly visits, you've now got a kid who died in the cracks.

[Trynn]

Sorry, no. Rare is the circumstance in which you TRULY do not notice your kid is dying until the last minute.

In order for the kid to get to the point where I'm assuming they FINALLY south help, the problem had to have been going on for a very VERY long time.