Mariah Walton was diagnosed with congential heart disease aged 18
Mariah Walton says parents and guardians in Idaho should be required by law to treat ill children. Screenshot from KTVB footage
A woman whose life is threatened by heart and lung complications was left permanently disabled after her parents rejected medical treatment and prayed for her recovery instead.
Mariah Walton was born with a small hole in her heart, which could have been repaired in early life, but is now in and out of hospital for her condition, which has become life-threatening.
The 21-year-old and her siblings, from the US state of Idaho, are now campaigning for a change in the law so parents such as theirs who choose to follow “faith healing” can be prosecuted.
“My lungs burn because I can’t get the oxygen I need,” she told local news channel KTVB. “They used to pray over me. The’d say: ‘God’s going to heal you, just have faith’ and all kinds of stuff… I think it’s time to prosecute them”
Ms Walton, who has nine siblings in total, was raised in the Mormon church. She was diagnosed with congenital heart disease aged 18.
Her sister Emily told the broadcaster their parents would tell the children “we needed to pray for Mariah, that she wasn’t growing or doing well, and the evil spirits would leave her”.
Mariah’s mother said she used natural remedies such as herbs and essential oils as well as prayer.
In Idaho, parents cannot be prosecuted for neglect if they refuse medical care before their faith, and state senator Lee Heider said last year there were no plans to change the law, as freedom of religion is a right under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Campaign group Children’s Right to Live said efforts to change the law are still ongoing, but warned new proposals could in fact put lives further at risk.
A spokesperson for the group told The Independent lawmakers had “considered two bills on the topic”. One aimed to “rearrange the left language in the laws to create the appearance of making reforms without actually changing anything substantive,” they said.
“Another would have made things worse by expanding the loophole to cover parents who neglect their children in the name of ideological as well as religious beliefs and practices.”
#1: rlk To: Willie Green (#0)
Only fools believe there is a god that intercedes in the affairs of people.
rlk posted on 2017-06-01 20:26:00 Reply Private Reply
#2: jeremiad To: rlk (#1)
Only fools don't believe there is a God that intercedes in the affairs of man.
If medical care is mandated under force and penalty of law, there is no freedom, no liberty in this country. I personally would have rolled the dice and helped her to have the operation, but she could have died on the table too. Should the fact that she died getting "standard of care" result in more than a lawsuit? Maybe the doctors and hospitals should be subject to manslaughter or murder conviction for a death. Felonious assault for injury?
You see, people must be free to live or die of their own accord, or they are slaves. If the State is to control, then they are the master.
jeremiad posted on 2017-06-01 21:39:59 Reply Private Reply
#3: rlk To: jeremiad (#2)
History refutes that statement!
rlk posted on 2017-06-01 22:36:08 Reply Private Reply
#4: Vicomte13 To: rlk (#1)
He healed my broken neck, undid my paralysis and saved me from drowning. So color me a fool.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-06-01 23:21:34 Reply Private Reply
#5: rlk To: Vicomte13 (#4)
We've been through this before. It was a temporary hysterical hallucination from a bump on the head. I thought you'd got over it.
I didn't believe it several years ago, when you tried to impress us with your special relationship with devine presence. I don't believe it now.
That's as kind as I can be.
rlk posted on 2017-06-01 23:54:26 Reply Private Reply
#6: A K A Stone To: rlk (#1)
Then why don't you go fuck a monkey if that is where you think you came from idiot.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-06-02 07:54:47 Reply Private Reply
#7: A K A Stone To: jeremiad (#2)
Wise words. I agree with you.
I believe in God. I also believe God gave us brains so that we could have doctors and such.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-06-02 07:56:33 Reply Private Reply
#8: A K A Stone To: rlk (#3)
George Washington would think you are a dumb ass. Just because you got the short stick in life doesn't mean you have to blame it on God.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-06-02 07:58:04 Reply Private Reply
#9: Vicomte13 To: rlk (#5)
Impress you?
I envision you as an obese Social Security recipient, living in a run-down house.
I come here to alleviate boredom, not for validation.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-06-02 08:37:49 Reply Private Reply
#10: misterwhite To: Willie Green (#0)
It's obvious she didn't use marijuana. Otherwise, Mariah would be cured.
misterwhite posted on 2017-06-02 11:05:39 Reply Private Reply
#11: rlk To: Vicomte13 (#9)
Great! We are now blessed with visitation by a French nobleman who comes here to amuse himself by demonstrating his hereditary mental superiority over the serfs.
rlk posted on 2017-06-03 15:23:03 Reply Private Reply