WARSAW, Ind. -- At least 25 people have died because members of the Faith Assembly Church spurn doctors and drugs in favor of prayer and faith in Jesus Christ to cure illnesses, a nurse says.
In a recent confrontation with church members -- who say they don't need the trappings of modern medical science -- Kosciusko County officials last week made a ward of Leah Dawn Mudd, 5.
Her parents, Ron and Martha Mudd of Warsaw, refused medical help for the child because of their religious beliefs. She was suffering from a cancerous abdominal tumor that had grown to the size of a basketball.
She was in serious condition Tuesday following an operation last week to remove the tumor. Leah's sister, Natali, died in 1980 at age 4 from a cancerous tumor near her right eye.
Nurse Barbara Clouse said she's been collecting information about the Faith Assembly Church, founded in 1974 by a former theology professor and a county preacher, since the daughter of a friend died of a liver ailment.
'In 1973 I first started coming in contact with them,' Ms. Clouse said. 'Six years ago, the daughter of a friend of mine died. I can document between 25 and 26 deaths. I know there are more.'
Eighteen of the deathsoccured in northern Indiana and there also have been cases in Illinois and Kentucky, she said.
'They have no immunizations,' she said. 'They plead religious immunity. No hearing tests, no vision tests. You ask who their physician is and they say 'Jesus Christ.'
'We've got kids in our schools who are literally bumping into walls because their parents won't let them wear glasses,' Ms. Clouse said.
The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel reported an unnamed doctor said the Mudd girl would have had a chance for a normal life if the tumor had been found earlier.
'It's hard to say for sure, but by now it (cancer) has probably spread all over,' the doctor said.
'She's stable now so with radiation and chemotherapy, we can improve her for a while and make her feel better. But it's almost certain she eventually will succumb to it,' he said. Other deaths of Faith Assembly members have included two infants who died of suffocation or respiratory problems shortly after birth and a woman who bled to death while giving birth.
Kosciusko County Prosecutor Michael Miner said Faith Assembly members who refuse medical treatment for their children are protected from prosecution by the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion.
But Attorney General Linley Pearson said parents 'have no legal right to impose their religious beliefs on a child if those beliefs are contrary to the child's best interest.'
