Pediatric Urology Expert Witness Testifies In Faith Healing Trial

The obvious signs of Neil Beagley’s failing health gave his parents ample warning that the teenager needed immediate medical treatment, a doctor testified Friday. Pediatric urology expert witness Dr. Edward Guillery, who specializes in childhood kidney disease, said that a record of the boy’s food consumption clearly signaled his decline. “The fact that there was (a record) is what really caught my attention,” Guillery said. Food journals “usually reflect a significant concern that something is wrong.”

The boy’s parents, Jeffrey and Marci Beagley, are charged with criminally negligent homicide for failing to provide medical care for Neil, who died in June 2008. The family belong to Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that generally relies on faith-healing rather than doctors and medicine.

For more, see oregonlive.com.