Faith-Healing Parents Charged in Baby’s Death

Doctors say Toddler’s Death Could Have Been Prevented With Antibiotics
March 29, 2008

A Clackamas County, Ore., couple are facing second degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges after their 15-month-old daughter died from what the state medical examiner said were easily cured illnesses.

The infant girl, Ava Worthington, died March 2 from bacterial bronchial pneumonia and an infection, both of which could have been cured with common antibiotics, the medical examiner said.

But police say that instead of going to a doctor, 28-year-old Carl Worthington and his wife, Raylene, 25, opted to pray for their daughter.

The two surrendered to police at Calackamas County Jail Friday night. Bail was set at $250,000 apiece, and they were released hours later after each posted $25,000 bond, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Det. Jim Strovink said.

They are scheduled to appear in Clackamas County Circuit Court on Monday.

A reporter from ABC News affiliate KATU-TV in Portland, Ore., went to the Worthington’s home before they turned themselves in, but the couple declined to comment.

The Worthingtons are members of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, that has a history of shunning medical care in favor of faith healing.

A decade ago the church received national attention after KATU reported that the state medical examiner believed approximately 20 children whose parents belonged to the church, had died from untreated illnesses that were curable.

After that story broke, the Oregon state legislature changed the law to bar defendants, in most cases, from claiming their religious beliefs prevented them from seeking medical help.

“Ten years ago I couldn’t express my feelings for what was going on out there, but I can now,” said Mark Hass, who as a KATU reporter worked on the story and is now a state senator. “This is child abuse. Pure and simple. There is no other way to say it.”

Though the revised law removed the so-called “spiritual-healing defense,” there is still a provision that allows judges to give parents a lighter sentence based on their beliefs.

Some veteran lawmakers who were in the legislature for that bitter fight a decade ago say that this case could be the first test of that law.

“This is the first time that they could be taking a shot at interpreting the law,” state Senate President Peter Courtney told The Oregonian newspaper.

Earlier this week authorities in Wisconsin said they were considering filing charges in the case of an 11-year-old girl who died on Easter Sunday of complications from diabetes that went untreated because police say her parents’ religious beliefs do not allow medical intervention. The girl, Madeline Kara Neumann, who went by the name Kara and was the youngest child of Leilani and Dale Neumann, died Sunday of “diabetic ketoacidosis,” according to a Marathon County autopsy report. The girl’s diabetes had never been diagnosed, officials say.

Dean Schabner contributed to this report.

Girl dies after parents prayed for a month

Nancy Grace investigates the case of an 11-year-old girl who died after her parents opted for prayer over medical care. The family is claiming freedom of religion. Watch the video here

By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer

Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl’s death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.

An autopsy showed Madeline Neumann died Sunday of diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that left too little insulin in her body, Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said.

She had probably been ill for about a month, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, the chief said Wednesday, noting that he expects to complete the investigation by Friday and forward the results to the district attorney.

The girl’s mother, Leilani Neumann, said that she and her family believe in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but that they do not belong to an organized religion or faith, are not fanatics and have nothing against doctors.

She insisted her youngest child, a wiry girl known to wear her straight brown hair in a ponytail, was in good health until recently.

“We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks,” she said Wednesday. “And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering.”

Her daughter — who hadn’t seen a doctor since she got some shots as a 3-year-old, according to Vergin — had no fever and there was warmth in her body, she said.

The girl’s father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he started CPR “as soon as the breath of life left” his daughter’s body.

Family members elsewhere called authorities to seek help for the girl.

“My sister-in-law, she’s very religious, she believes in faith instead of doctors …,” the girl’s aunt told a sheriff’s dispatcher Sunday afternoon in a call from California. “And she called my mother-in-law today … and she explained to us that she believes her daughter’s in a coma now and she’s relying on faith.”

The dispatcher got more information from the caller and asked whether an ambulance should be sent.

“Please,” the woman replied. “I mean, she’s refusing. She’s going to fight it. … We’ve been trying to get her to take her to the hospital for a week, a few days now.”

The aunt called back with more information on the family’s location, emergency logs show. Family friends also made a 911 call from the home. Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and immediately called for an ambulance that took her to a hospital.

But less than an hour after authorities reached the home, Madeline — a bright student who left public school for home schooling this semester — was declared dead.

She is survived by her parents and three older siblings.

“We are remaining strong for our children,” Leilani Neumann said. “Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time.”

The Neumanns said they moved from California to a modern, middle-class home in woodsy Weston, just outside Wassau in central Wisconsin, about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. A basketball hoop is set up in the driveway.

Leilani Neumann said she and her husband are not worried about the investigation because “our lives are in God’s hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do.”

Atheists are becoming more visible and vocal in America

Going Godless: Atheists Rise

Good Morning America Story
Atheists are becoming more visible and vocal in America

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3671279&affil=ktvx

Angry Goat Kills Pastor

A Tennessee pastor suffered a fatal heart attack after being rammed by his pet goat. What this story fails to say, rather than the cause of death being an angry, possessed, mean-spirited goat, it was probably due to the Pastor being overweight with a history of heart trouble. Hmm, maybe farm animal love had something to do with it. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4488779&affil=ktvx

Dad forces 7 year old daughter to kill pet cat

Story Highlights

• Indiana man told children he wanted them to learn how to kill, police say
• After boy tried to hide cat, father held knife in girl’s hand, detective says
• Siblings, who live with grandparents, told authorities that their father was drunk
• Man charged with battery, animal cruelty and neglect of a dependent

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A man was jailed Thursday on charges that he forced his 7-year-old daughter to kill the family cat by holding a knife in her hand and making her stab the pet.

Danield J. Collins, 39, told his children during a visit to his home Sunday that he wanted them to “learn how to kill” and gave his 11-year-old son a knife to do it, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

The boy tried to save the cat by hiding it under a sofa bed and putting ketchup on a knife when Collins went to the bathroom. But when the father realized that the cat was not dead, he forced his daughter to hold the knife and then held her hand tightly as he drove the knife into the animal, Muncie police Detective Jami Brown said.

Police said Collins stabbed and strangled the cat himself, and told his son to throw the dead pet in the trash. Officers retrieved the carcass to be used as evidence.

The children told family members about the incident Monday, the day after the alleged killing, according to the affidavit. The children told police that their father was drunk when they arrived at his home and that he’s a different person when he’s sober, it said.

The siblings live with their grandparents.

Collins was being held in the Delaware County Jail in lieu of $40,000 bail. He’s charged with one count each of animal cruelty and battery and two counts of neglect of a dependent. The battery charge alleges that the girl was injured because Collins held her hand so hard that it ached.

The jail had no record of an attorney representing Collins, and there were no published phone listings for him in Muncie.

Brown said the case was particularly troubling because Collins involved his children in killing the animal, an 8-month-old tuxedo-type cat named Boots.

“I’ve been doing investigations for 10 years, and this is really bothering me,” the detective said.

Inspectors say meat safety is threatened

By GILLIAN FLACCUS,
Associated Press Writer

Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis.

The ranks of inspectors are so thin that slaughterhouse workers often figure out when “surprise” visits are about to take place, and make sure they are on their best behavior.

These allegations were raised by former and current U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors in the wake of the biggest beef recall in history — 143 million pounds from a California meatpacker accused of sending lame “downer” cows to slaughter.

The inspectors told The Associated Press that they fear chronic staff shortages in their ranks are allowing sick cows to get into the nation’s food supply, endangering the public. According to USDA’s own figures, the inspector ranks nationwide had vacancy rates of 10 percent or more in 2006-07.

“They’re not covering all their bases. There’s a possibility that something could go through because you don’t have the manpower to check everything,” said Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinary inspector at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa.

Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, acknowledged that the department has been struggling to fill vacancies but denied the food supply is at risk.

“Every single animal must past antemortem inspection before it’s presented for slaughter, so only healthy animals are going to pass,” she said. “We do have continuous inspection at slaughter facilities.”

Similarly, Janet Riley, a spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute, defended the meatpacking industry’s safety record. “It is interesting to keep in mind how heavily regulated we are,” she said. “Nobody has this level of inspection.”

The current and former inspectors and other industry critics charged that the staff shortages are also resulting in the mistreatment of animals on the way to slaughter, and may have contributed to the recall announced earlier this week.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, said Thursday that his Senate Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a Feb. 28 hearing on the recall.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and the presidents of the Humane Society and the American Meat Institute, among others, will testify, he said in a printed statement.

The USDA recalled the beef after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video that showed slaughterhouse workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.

Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society’s president and chief executive, said the video was filmed over a six-week period last fall and all the abuse happened when USDA inspectors were not present.

“The inspection system obviously has enormous gaps if these routine abuses could happen,” he said. “The inspector would show up and if there were downed animals, the workers would try to get them up before the inspectors got there.”

Generally, downer cows — those too sickly to stand, even with coaxing — are banned from the food supply under federal regulations. Downer cows carry a higher risk of mad cow disease. And because sickly animals typically wallow in feces and have weakened immune systems, downer cows are more likely to carry E. coli and salmonella, too.

Veterinary inspector looks for such symptoms as an unsteady gait, swollen lymph nodes, sores and poor muscle tone.

Industry critics say the staff shortages are compounded by a change in USDA regulations in the late 1990s that gave slaughterhouses more responsibility for devising their own safety checklists and for reporting downer cows to the USDA when inspectors are not present.

That policy places slaughterhouses on an honor system that can lead to abuse in an industry that thrives on close attention to costs, said Stan Painter, chairman for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, which represents 6,000 inspectors nationwide.

“The fox is guarding its own henhouse,” said Painter, who also works as a part-time inspector at hog and poultry packing plants in the South. “If you throw a three-pound chicken away, so what? But if you throw a cow away that’s 300 pounds of meat, and you can’t get any money out of it, that’s a big issue.”

Inspectors whose job is to make sure that the cattle are treated humanely said staff shortages mean they are forced to adopt routine hours for their checks, removing the element of surprise.

USDA numbers show anywhere between 10 and 12 percent of inspector and veterinarian positions at poultry, beef and pork slaughterhouses nationwide were vacant between October 2006 and September 2007. In some regions, including Colorado and Texas, a major beef-producing state, the rate hovered around 15 percent. In New York, vacancy rates hit nearly 22 percent last July.

To bolster its ranks, the department is offering big signing bonuses of at least $2,500 to inspectors willing to relocate to 15 states. The agency has 7,800 inspectors covering 6,200 federally inspected establishments, 900 of which slaughter livestock.

USDA’s Eamich blamed the vacancies on competition with private-sector wages, high costs of living and the often-undesirable rural locations of many slaughterhouses.

The agency hired 200 new inspectors in the past year, bringing staffing levels to their highest point since 2003, and cut veterinarian vacancies by half through hiring incentives, the spokeswoman said.

Felicia Nestor, a policy analyst with Washington-based Food and Water Watch, said the food supply may be at risk.

“I have talked to so many inspectors who used to work for the industry, and part of the training is how to get around the inspection. They’ve got walkies-talkies to alert each other to where the inspector is, they double-team the inspector,” she said.

At two packing houses in Nebraska, veterinarians monitor up to 700 head of cattle at a time for signs of illness — just enough to make sure all the cows are standing, said one veteran inspector who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.

The inspector has worked for 15 years as an inspector at two plants in Lexington and Grand Island, Neb. One-quarter of the inspection positions at one of his plants have been vacant now for two years, he said.

“There are so many vet shortages out in the field right now, they can’t keep it properly staffed,” the inspector said. “When they come into these big slaughter facilities, they’ll put 200 head in a pen. All you can tell is they’re moving.”

Friedlander, who left the USDA in 1995, said he recalled checking up to 220 cows an hour by standing on a catwalk above a pen of hundreds of animals. He would also check to see if cows could walk by having workers drive them from one pen to another, six or seven cows abreast.

“If you’re a vet, you see the first cow, you might see the second cow, but the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh cow you might not see,” he said. “How can we tell if there’s any facial paralysis or droopy ears? You can’t tell.”

USDA’s Eamich said that there is no limit to the number of animals an inspector is allowed to look at at one time, “but they have to look at every single one.”

Beef Recall Videos – Watch them here

Humane Society video here

ABC News video here

Warning: This video contains graphic and disturbing footage. In it, an Humane Society investigator describes his experience working undercover at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. slaughterhouse in Southern California.

Humane Society Undercover Video Prompts Nation’s Largest Beef Recall

Government Recalls Record 143 Million Pounds of Beef From a Southern California Slaughterhouse, Westland/Hallmark Meat Co

Humane Society Undercover Video Prompts Nation’s Largest Beef Recall

Click here to watch the video

Government Recalls Record 143 Million Pounds of Beef From a Southern California Slaughterhouse

By LISA STARK, JESSICA HOFFMAN AND IMAEYEN IBANGA
Feb. 18, 2008

A disturbing undercover video showing cows too sick to stand being shoved with forklifts or dragged with chains across a cement floor at a Southern California slaughterhouse has sparked the largest beef recall in the nation’s history.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of beef Sunday evening from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation. The recall affects beef products dating back to Feb. 1, 2006 that came from the company.

“Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection,” the Food Safety and Inspection Service said, “[it] has determined them to be unfit for human food.”

The USDA insists the threat is small.

Westland/Hallmark provides meat to the National School Lunch Program and about 150 school districts have stopped using its products. Now officials are scrambling to prevent the questionable beef from reaching school lunch counters. They estimate about 37 million pounds of the beef has gone to schools.

Westland/Hallmark also provided products to two fast food companies. Both Jack-in-the-Box and In-N-Out said they would not use beef from Westland/Hallmark.

The USDA said it had evidence Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became nonambulatory after passing inspection, which violates health regulations.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher contamination risk from E. coli, mad cow disease or salmonella.

So far, no illnesses have been linked to the recalled beef and officials said they believe the majority of it already has been consumed.

Most of the beef was sent to distribution centers in bulk packages. The USDA said it will work with distributors to determine how much meat remains.

Agriculture officials said the massive recall surpasses a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats.

Critical Response

Critics scolded the USDA upon learning of the recall, saying the federal agency should conduct more thorough inspections to ensure tainted beef doesn’t get into the public’s food supply.

“It’s clear that USDA’s system failed and it allowed this company to engage in long-term inhumane practices,” said Carolyn Smith DeWaal, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Animal activists said if it hadn’t been for the Humane Society’s undercover footage, the Westland/Hallmark may have continued produce meat.

The video showed downed cows struggling to get on their feet as operators shoved them into position with forklifts.

Criminal Charges

The recall’s fallout included criminal charges against two former workers Friday.

Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager.

Also, three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a nonambulatory animal were filed against another employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

Ethics panel says Larry Craig has brought discredit on the Senate

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer

The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men’s room sex sting last year and had brought discredit on the Senate.

In a letter to the Republican senator, the ethics panel said Craig’s attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after his arrest at a Minneapolis airport was an effort to evade legal consequences of his own actions.

A spokesman for Craig had no immediate comment.

The six members of the committee — three Democrats and three Republicans — told Craig they believed he “committed the offense to which you pled guilty” and that “you entered your plea knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently.”

The panel said Craig only tried to remove his guilty plea after his attempts to avoid public disclosure had failed.

“Your claims to the court … to the effect that your guilty plea resulted from improper pressure or coercion, or that you did not, as a legal matter, know what you were doing when you pled guilty do not appear credible,” the letter said.

The panel also said Craig should have received permission from the ethics panel before using campaign funds to pay his legal bills. Craig, who is not running for re-election, has spent more than $213,000 in campaign money for legal expense and public relations work in the wake of his arrest and conviction last summer.

The committee said it had reached no conclusion about whether use of campaign funds was proper, but it said “it is clear that you never sought the committee’s approval, as required,” to use the money for legal expenses.

Any future use of campaign money for legal bills will be seen as “demonstrating your continuing disregard of ethics requirements,” the ethics committee wrote in its three-page letter.

The panel also admonished Craig for showing the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a U.S. senator. Craig has been reported to have told the officer at the time, “What do you think about that?”

The committee wrote, “You knew or should have known that a reasonable person in the position of the arresting officer could view your action and statement as an improper attempt by you to use your position and status … to receive special and favorable treatment.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the ethics panel, declined to comment. A spokeswoman said the panel’s letter of admonition cannot be appealed.

The ethics panel took no further action against Craig.

Craig, a three-term Republican, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August after he was accused of soliciting sex in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in June.

After the matter became public, Craig tried to withdraw his plea. A judge in Minnesota refused, saying Craig’s plea “was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and … supported by the evidence.” Craig has appealed that ruling to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

Senate Republicans demanded the ethics investigation after news broke of Craig’s conviction last August. Craig first promised to resign Sept. 30, then reversed his decision. He now says he will stay in office until his term expires in January.

Craig has said an undercover police officer misinterpreted his foot and hand movements as signals that he wanted sex.

Craig, who lost several GOP leadership positions on Senate committees and subcommittees in the wake of the scandal, has been working with Boxer and other members of the Senate’s environment committee on a global warming bill and other matters.

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report

Florida Police Dump Quadriplegic Man From His Wheelchair

I would say this is a case of police brutality. In Hillsborough County, Florida, police were caught, by their own surveillance cameras, dumping a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair and onto the ground. Apparently they were trying to determine whether or not he actually needed the chair.

Vodpod videos no longer available.  posted with vodpod