A fundamentalist Christian couple who prayed instead of calling a doctor while their two-year-old son was left to die of pneumonia have been spared jail.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible told homicide detectives: ‘We tried to fight the devil, but in the end the devil won’ after Kent Schaible was found dead.
The parents are members of the controversial First Century Gospel Church which tells members it is a sin to use medicine.
They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in December after their son Kent died from bacterial pneumonia.
A judge spared them jail, but said they must take their remaining seven children for regular check-ups with a doctor.
They were also sentenced to ten years probation.
The Philadelphia court heard that in January 2009 the couple refused to call a doctor during the two weeks their son was sick with a cold, which eventually led to pneumonia.
His symptoms included coughing, congestion, fatigue and a loss of appetite, although his parents claimed he was eating and drinking until his final day.
Faith-healing: First Century Gospel Church, where the parents are members, says using medicine is a sin
The 42-year-old father teaches at a school affiliated with the church.
His wife, 41, previously taught there, but now stays at home with the couple's children.
They both grew up in the church and have never received medical care, apart from help from an 84-year-old lay midwife who attends home births, according to pastor Nelson A. Clark.
Clarke explained that the church did not shun members who seek medical care, but prayed that they make a different choice next time.
Using medicine is considered a sin by the church.Following the guilty verdict Clark said: ‘The legal community is trying to force our church group to put them in the hands of this flawed medical system, when they have chosen to put them in the hands of a perfect God, who does not make mistakes.’
About a dozen US children die in faith-healing cases each year, a handful of which spawn criminal charges, according to experts.
It is not the first time the First Century Gospel Church of Philadelphia’s teachings has clashed with the authorities.In 1991 eight children died in a measles epidemic. All the parents were members of either First Century Gospel Church or the nearby Faith Tabernacle of Nicetown, which also preaches faith healing.
The tragedies are not isolated to Pennsylvania. In Oregon Jeff and Marci Beagley, were sentenced to 16 months in prison last year for the death of their 16-year-old son.
The couple refused to use medicine for their son Neil, who was suffering from a preventable urinary tract blockage.
Instead, they prayed and used anointing oils in the hope of divine intervention.
'The fact is, too many children have died unnecessarily - a graveyard full,' Judge Steven Maurer said at their March sentencing. 'This has to stop.'