News item from Pittsburgh, PA - A 16-year-old girl with diabetes who died as her family prayed for her wasn't mature enough to reject doctors on her own, the state Supreme Court ruled. It upheld the convictions of her parents.
Shannon Nixon died at her Altoona home on June 27, 1996, of complications from diabetes.
In the 7-0 ruling made public Tuesday, Justice Stephen Zappala rejected the defenses that Shannon was a "mature minor" and that taking her to a doctor would have violated her privacy.
Her parents, Dennis and Lori Nixon, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 1997. They were each sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison but have been free during their appeals.
This is all the information I saw in the newspaper. Being a diabetic myself, this stirred some deep emotions in me. Every time I hear something on the subject of faith healing, I think of the horrors of diabetes, and all the times I've seen faith healers proclaim that they've healed diabetics.
The problem with diabetes is that many times, the damage is done without any pain or unusual symptoms. Having high glucose levels in the blood doesn't show any real signs, not until major damage is done to capillaries and extremities are being cut off and you're going blind. That's what I'd have had to look forward to as a type II diabetic.
A person in my situation could go to some schmuck like Bennie Hinn and come away assured that they could toss away their pills or needles. I've seen the results of untreated type II diabetes, and its ugly. I'm not sure what other issues type I diabetics face (surely it's worse and more intense than simple ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia, but I've never studied it in detail).
I look at the above news item, and I wonder at the convictions these parents were given. "Involuntary manslaughter"? That death took years. They had every chance to learn what they were doing to their daughter's body and how simple it would have been to correct the problem. In a sane world, those two would have been charged with first degree murder, and put away for life. A truly fitting punishment would be to remove their pancreas and let them pray for the miracle healing they thought they could get for their daughter.
This is truly one of the most disgusting things about religion.
