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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 21099
[Religious]
Date Posted:
8/27/2009
5:49:51 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 2,909
RSS: 19,036
Comments: 10
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Okanogan Teen's Faith-Healing Death Under Review
Author: The Associated Press Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Title: OKANOGAN TEEN'S FAITH-HEALING DEATH UNDER REVIEW
The Okanogan County prosecutor is waiting for the sheriff to complete the investigation into the death of a 17-year-old boy who died at home of a burst appendix.
Zachery "Zakk" Swezey had no medical care during a three-day illness in March because his family, members of the Church of the First Born, believe in faith healing.
In a story published Thursday the documents say the parents, Greg and JaLea Swezey, gave their son the choice of calling an ambulance and seeing a doctor.
"We don't force our kids, our kids have a choice. At no time did Zachery ask to go to the doctor," Greg Swezey told investigators.
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Community Thoughts: There are 10 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Oh, Dear... | Aug 29th. at 2:38:32 pm EDT
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Yanueh (Melba, Idaho) - Email Me
As tragic as this is, I don't think most people fully understand the mentality of these people. They believe that injuries and illnesses are trials to suffer through. They believe that if they seek medical care, they "fail" the test and that they may lose salvation over it. There's no way that boy would have sought medical care believing that going to a doctor could damn him for eternity.
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| Faith Healing Only Works In Storybooks..... | Aug 29th. at 12:16:33 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Faith healing is fine psychologically, it makes- some- patients feel better to know that there are people who care- even peripherally, but it does very little physically. Praying over a skin rash won't make it go away any quicker than a round of medications actually designed to fight it. And serious diseases do demand very serious treatment, which a pastor and his group are not capable of giving through "faith healing" alone. While good thoughts are nice, they only work when coupled with a real treatment from qualified medics- otherwise, "good thoughts" is all that they are.
House had it right. When things go wrong, they blame the doctor. When things go right, they praise god, and the doctor gets very little credit in between. What they tend to forget, was that "god" gave them the problem in the first place. If he hadn't, there would be no need to pray.
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| Monstrous | Aug 28th. at 6:54:21 pm EDT
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Aritimi Morgana (RotterdamJct/Schdy/Scotia, New York) - Email Me
...it shows the arrogance that their 'faith' will prevail over illness. They let their child die, a human being in order to satisfy their beliefs. How selfish is that?
I have been the recipient of faith healing; when I was young, some friends of one of my aunts said they wanted to help me and offered to pray over me to heal my medical problems. I was born with maxillofacial hypoplasia and blind in one eye. My parents were leery, but went along so not to disrespect my aunt. The adults stood in a circle around me and prayed in tongues, babbling gibberish and making strange noises. It scared the daylights out of me. My parents were extremely embarrassed and never spoke of the incident again. Result? Nothing. My vision didn't come back in the one eye, I still had a cleft palate and scars. Faith healing is bunk.
What that family did to their child by letting him die was nothing short of murder; it means their offspring are at their mercy to live or die to prmomote their faith. I hope they go to jail and they lose custody of their other children.
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| Focus Should Have Been On Child's Health | Aug 28th. at 3:12:18 pm EDT
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Maeven (Los Angeles, California) - Email Me
not their religion. A parent is responsible for the well-being of their child. A good parent would use whatever tools are necessary to ensure their child's health, welfare and happiness. The child's well-being should have been their first priority.
I am a strong advocate of alternative therapies, but only if they work and not to the exclusion of any other treatments that might be necessary or could work. It should be an adjunct to regular healthcare, but not to the exclusion of any other tool or therapy that could work. Again, their focus should be on their child's well-being, not on their faith, even at the risk of their child dying for it. In my opinion, these parents should be prosecuted for homicide. They were there, they were responsible (don't pass the buck on a 13-year old--what do they know?) , they saw the pain and suffering, they CHOSE religion over and at the expense of this child's LIFE--that makes them responsible for his death. Withholding treatment and refusing to save him when they had the power and responsibility to do so, in my opinion, is murder.
Perhaps Jesus would have saved this child through the medical help they denied him. How would their Jesus judge them for killing their son? I think they should burn.
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| Peritonitis Is Not A "test"... | Aug 28th. at 12:27:22 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Granted, there may have been some coersion involved. In a family raised to believe that only God need care for them, it is entirely possible, even with the option of a doctor visit. However, if he didn't want a doctor on his own, he was old enough at the time to make that decision for himself.
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| Hrm... | Aug 28th. at 11:32:11 am EDT
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RavenLight (Arlington, Virginia) - Email Me
This is a tough one because at seventeen, many (but not all) young people are quite capable of making their own medical decisions. I know that I, as an active equestrian, made the decision whether or not to go to the ER after a fall starting at the age of 13-14.
This isn't a baby we're talking about. And as much as I have a strong dislike for people who go 'God will take care of it' and refuse to take care of themselves...the key here was whether this young man was old enough to take his own risks...albeit stupid ones.
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| Sorry, But No... | Aug 28th. at 11:27:59 am EDT
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Lorca (Longview, Washington) - Email Me
Hell no!
Adults are allowed (mostly) to make life and death decisions for themselves because it is assumed that they are able to rationally assess the consequences of a given course of action. With that in mind, we don't stop adults with an irrational, superstitious belief in faith-healing from indulging their beliefs and eschewing medical care.
Children, in general, do not have the insight and wisdom to weigh such things rationally. They are most certainly not their parents' "property". They are individuals, with rights. Their parents are supposed to be looking out for their well being, but when parents impose their irrational beliefs on their children, the rest of us have a moral obligation to step in. Always. Our laws SHOULD reflect this, but alas, they do not. We are, as a society, afraid of being accused of infringing someone's "religious freedom" if we were to make it plain in statute that preventing your child from receiving medical care on religious grounds is a crime. That is sad.
Forcing religion on children is, at best, indoctrination. At worst, it is negligent homicide.
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| The Right To Die | Aug 28th. at 11:11:39 am EDT
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Finn (San Marcos, Texas) - Email Me
This is an interesting situation as far as I'm concerned. It is my opinion that people have the right to die if they so choose. They can choose to die because they are in pain. They can choose to die for their religious beliefs. They can check out for any old reason they want. Children is the sticky point. The question is whether or not you have the right to raise your children to believe in a faith and whether or not they have any rights to follow said beliefs.
1. If you say children do not have the right to follow the religion of their choice until they turn the legal age of an adult, you are saying they are chattel property of the State. I can't say I'm down with that.
2. If you say only the parents get to decide, you have made the children their property. I can't say I'm down with that either. Although if given a choice between children being "property" I'd always lean toward the parents over the state.
The only other option is to grant children the same rights as adults when it comes to the matter of religion and their own person. You have to ask the child his/her wishes. You have to honor them. If the child has been raised to believe God will heal him/her if it is right and not if that is as it should be, then who am I to question it? I have enough to worry about trying to help those people who want medical attention but can't afford it, those who want to live but have people trying to kill them, and so on... you get the idea. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Ultimately, is it our responsibility or right to do so?
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| Sad | Aug 27th. at 10:25:30 pm EDT
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NightLad (Toronto, Ontario) - Email Me
The parents claim they gave the boy a "choice." Ha.
They raised him to believe that when a person is ill or injured it is a test of faith. Then he gets ill and they give him a 'choice', which, I'm sure, to him was more a question of, "do you want to believe in God like we've raised you to, or do you want to be weak and go to the godless hospital?"
What choice?
And a minor, at that. What a joke.
I was shocked to learn about the ridiculous exemption law for "Christian Science" practitioners -- to the exclusion of every other religion.
Christian Science... what a joke. How many more kids have to die?
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| Claims Of Faith Healing Really Disturb Me | Aug 27th. at 9:43:52 pm EDT
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Arie Willow (Sydney, New South Wales) - Email Me
I can't understand me how people in the modern era could still fail to see the appalling failure rate of faith healing. Does it have a place. Sure it does but as a complementary component to be used in addition to the best treatments available.
Failure to take a your sick child to a doctor for religious reasons should be grounds for loosing custody, and I don't care what religion you subscribe to. I say this as a parent. Yes I'm not perfect but such stories of neglect and narrow mindedness really upset me.
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