Mariah Walton, a 20-year-old woman awaiting a heart and lung transplant, said she thinks her parents and other faith healers should face criminal charges for “treating” her with prayer instead of medicine.
It’s a tale as old as time: girl is born with a small hole in her heart, her parents refuse to get it fixed and instead ask God to oversee her well-being, girl is now permanently disabled due to years of being refused care. The twist, however, is that Walton — unlike many faith healing victims — lived on to call for her parents’ prosecution and to condemn the practice in general.
“It would have been solved. If I had a surgery when I was one year old, I would have been just fine,” Walton said in an interview with KTVB News. She said she can’t run, misses a lot of school, and gets sick easily because of her weakened immune system.
Instead of getting her the simple medical procedure that she needed Mariah's parents subjected her to "alternative medicines" and faith healing which allowed her condition to worsen until it was life threatening.
Oddly enough her parents did not "trust" modern medicine, but had no problem trusting that God existed and would heal their child if only they had enough faith.
Fortunate this young woman survived, and now those same parents can pray that they do not end up in jail for condemning their daughter to a lifetime of unnecessary suffering.
We do not get to pick our parents or relatives. Parents make decisions that can change our life forever. Unfortunately there is no test or regulation, rule or law that qualifies a human to breed or become a parent, grandparent or relative. And there is very little a child can do as they become aware. Until recent years child did not speak up at all. The old quote, children are to be seen and not heard and so on. There is no perfect parent, child or human. Normal healthy education, empathy, humanity, honesty and compassion usually helps parents make good decisions and to raise healthy happy kids. We are born innocent until exposed.
ReplyDeleteWe are all born........atheist, until 'exposed'.
DeleteNo child is born with a religion, or a set of prejudices, No child anywhere, in any time period.
Damn right 5:43. I used to tel my mother that if she was born in Japan, she'd be the best, most devout Shintoist. Instead she was indoctrinated as catholic. They can't all be right, so none of them are right lol.
Delete...Unfortunately there is no test or regulation, rule or law that qualifies a human to breed or become a parent, grandparent or relative.
DeleteYet there are those who would pass a law forcing a pregnant woman to carry a fetus to term, even if she knew the fetus had no chance of living a full and healthy life.
Actually there is. We have freedom "of" religion in this country, and while adults can make there decisions for themselves I do not think it extends to others.
DeleteNext time someone tells you they are blessed by, God, ask them what about those who weren't so fortunate as them because they starved, were raped or murdered and many were like them, Christians who also believed they were blessed? Ask them why the Sandy Hook victims had to die according to their God. By their rationale it was Gods decision and do not question him. What a complete load of bs religion is.
ReplyDeleteI have late-term Lyme disease, which has debilitated me to the point of being handicapped and unemployable. I was formerly a super-woman, who could do it all, and now I'm a shut-in, and it only took about 10 years to do this. I'm not quite 50, but I look and move like I'm 90.
DeleteA talky kreeeschun neighbor the other day expounded on "Why would god make some vegetables so tasty, and they aggravate my arthritis", blah blah.
I asked him why his god didn't make those ticks full of mega vitamins to inject us with, instead of filthy bacteria he created which has turned me from a previous capable, smart person to what I am today, a stuttering, stumbling wreck of pain?
I also reminded him I didn't contract this killer in a bar, or a dance club, but in the woods, enjoying his god's creation.
Neighbor said "bye" as fast as he could, and split post-haste from my presence, lest I form even more god-doubt in his pea-brain.
Fuck him, and his 'god'.
I like this paraphrased jewel:
DeleteHere's the difference between me and your 'god', xtian.
If I saw a child being raped, I would stop it.
I would die trying to stop it, and bring the child rapist to justice IMMEDIATELY, and get that child some qualified help PRONTO.
Your xtian 'god, he just watches, and says when the rapist is thru with his victim, he says, I'll punish you some day, maybe.
But if you ask for forgiveness, you'll get it.
As many times as you rape a child, I'll forgive you if you ask me. As for the child rape victim, just pray. That's all the help you get for what you suffered. Praying not enough to relieve the soulcrushing horror? your faith must be too weak, too bad for you.
If i were an all powerful, all seeing god, i would put an end to child rape. I'd put an end to rape, period. Justice would be SWIFT for rapists, and there would be no forgiveness for rape, which is NEVER an 'oops', it is an intended horror/cruelty committed against a vulnerable being.
How strange that the 'god of love' is so pro-rape.
@6:01 drumpfs IS a child rapist.
DeleteYou dont undersand christianity, u will pay for your deeds on earth in death. God does not forget bad deeds, you might but he does not. Maybe that explains it.
DeleteJust because u dont see God punish evil, it does not mean there are no consequences for sin. Us living life in these mortal bodies is only the beginning. None of us have ever spoken to the dead, we have no idea what is waiting for us on the other side.
DeleteOther side of what, sanity?
Delete@7:54
DeleteI understand the stupidity and cruelty of your stupid belief system perfectly.
I was forcibly raised in the church of christ, and have read your stupid buybull from cover to cover, not simply letting the preacher read verse after verse out of order and context to suit his 'whatever' that day.
I'm a proud atheist now, and better off for thinking my way out of your pretzel logic prison.
Paying for 'sins' committed during one's life after death is The Stupidest Form of 'justice' ever.
It's why we have a judicial system and courts, no matter how flawed that system is, it's in response to the bullshit idea that somehow some ambiguous skygod will spank you after death for all the kiddie raping you've been doing.
Go back to church, @7:54. It's the only place you'll feel safe and you can enjoy sniffing your smug farts there. Maybe that explains it.
@7:54/8:10
DeleteThat ambiguous after-death punishment REALLY deters all the child raping, doesn't it. And all those pedophiles living it up in this life MUST be frighty over that impending spanking after death, uh huh.
Yeah, all those children who've been raped by adults they trusted, sure those kids have 'forgotten' about it. Good thing your skygod daddy won't forget.
What the fuck is wrong with you, 754/810?
DeleteApologize for child rapists much?
You must be into it. Go to hell.
Anonymous 7:54 AM wrote: You dont undersand christianity, u will pay for your deeds on earth in death.
DeleteEverybody dies. Even Jesus "ascended into heaven." I challenge you to show ANY correlation between how a person "pays" for their deeds in death and how their deeds on earth did or did not meet with your approval.
http://www.jhuger.com/kissing-hanks-ass
8:19 AM - my sister speaks to the dead all the time. Yikes.
Delete8:35 "pretzel logic prison" is a perfect description of the affliction called religion. All forms. As one who was raised in a religious faith (that could only be described as patriarchal and controlling) I still sense its negativity, despite long ago shedding its presence in my life. Loving parents would never avoid a lifesaving and common surgery such as the one described in this post. I assume they are sociopaths and insane. There was nothing I wouldn’t have done as a parent to assure my children’s healthcare needs were met. Nothing.
DeleteRape is God's will.
DeleteRepublicans need to be Raped.
A lifetime of unnecessary suffering as well as, I assume, millions of dollars spent on her care that could have gone elsewhere. And a heart/lung transplant means millions more spent to save her life. Nice work, Christian parents. When Trump takes away insurance, this girl will die.
ReplyDelete"Religion poisons everything," said Christopher Hitchens.
ReplyDeleteHow could her parents let her suffer like that? Too bad they couldn't pray away their own stupidity. I hope Mariah finds the necessary medical care as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteBecause it was all about them, and not about the well being of their child.
DeleteThese people should not be allowed to breed.
They shouldn't be in charge of a single goldfish, much less a child.
Well, expanding on their delusion. Since their child is not only NOT cured but worse than ever, these parents not only didn't have enough faith to heal their child, they also didn't have enough faith to keep her from getting sicker. So you could say they are lousy Christians who must have less and less faith as time went on, otherwise their child would have gotten better, not worse. Right? I mean, that is the logic they're using. If they have enough faith? Well, obviously, they not only didn't have enough, they must have really piss poor faith. Horrible faith.
DeleteOr there is no God.
Guess which one is the reality.
I hope this judge slaps these parents upside the head. This girl is now 20 and legally they are not obligated to pay for any of her medical bills now. So I hope the judge not only finds them guilty of child neglect and whatever else he can throw at them, but that he makes them legally responsible for ALL of her medical bills for her entire life, as well as living expenses and anything else she needs because she is now permanently disabled because of them. Why should the taxpayers be burdened with their "lack of enough faith?" Let these parents pay for it ALL out of pocket.
I'll bet her parents just love Trump's AHCA. The Repub health plan: if you get sick die quickly. Except sometimes people survive to get much sicker.
ReplyDeleteThis is great. Every set of parents who let a child die because of "faith" needs to have mandatory supervision of how they treat any surviving children and undergo surgical sterilization to drain that diseased gene pool.
ReplyDeleteHELL YEAH!
DeleteHELL YEAH times 1 million.
DeleteSounds like she had the same thing as Jimmie Fallon's son, Tetralogy of Fallot.
ReplyDeleteI have been a user of alternative medicines for over 40 years. They can be quite successful. BUT there are some things it just can't fix, and it's stupid and dangerous to think/act otherwise. In this case, the stupidity was amplified by the ridiculous religious beliefs. So sad.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:41 AM wrote: I have been a user of alternative medicines for over 40 years. They can be quite successful.
DeleteAny "alternative" medicine that gets a track record of being "quite successful"—better than expected by chance— is called "medicine".
Uhm, no, it isn't Ted
DeleteNot until it is tested and the causative, not just the correlative connection explained. Among those things caffeine, neti pots, topical salicylic acid.
Anonymous 9:20 AM wrote: Uhm, no, it isn't Ted
DeleteYou've certainly spelled it out better. My apologies for the sloppy term "track record" and my failure to qualify "is called". (Still on my first cup of coffee.)
Prayer is not an alternative medicine. Plants, bacteria, other natural sources are alternative medicines, many tried and true for millennia, prayer is not one of them.
DeleteAnd this young woman has lots of "pre-existing conditions" that insurers can use to make it impossible for her to have adequate, if any, medical insurance coverage. The GOP is that political party that supports only the "pre-born" among us. Why do any of the "already born" vote for them?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Truly tragic.
ReplyDeletei wonder why the medical community never filed cps charges?
She never saw a Dr or a nurse so it would be quite hard for them to file anything. My guess she was home schooled so her contact with anyone that would be an advocate for her was poorly limited.
Deletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/fearing-for-her-life-iowa-democrat-abandons-race-to-unseat-gop-rep-steve-king/
ReplyDeleteWe're going to hear more and more along these lines, especially with more women entering politics. Republicans and their alt right sheet wearing brethren won't think twice about intimidating or threatening a candidate who opposes them.
DeleteIs it any wonder the Republicans in Oregon were thinking of hiring white supremacist thugs as "body guards?"
We are slipping into 1930s Germany and no one seems to notice or even care.
Because, like science, medicine is the work of the devil. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteALL fanatical fundies who cause harm, because religion ...should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and be fined enough to take care of their victims for life.
ReplyDeleteThat includes palin's neglect of Trig's needs when the affects of the DS could have been mitigated.
If God responds to prayer to fix a hole in the heart, then why did God put the hole in the heart in the first place?
ReplyDeleteAll babies are born with a hole in the heart, because they are circulating their mother's blood until birth. In the overwhelming majority of babies this closes soon after delivery, but when it doesn't it can be surgically fixed.
Delete