Attorney: Charges likely vs. faith-healing couple

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By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A couple who believe in faith healing and who were on probation in their son’s pneumonia death will likely face new criminal charges over the death of a second child, the mother’s lawyer said.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible’s 8-month old son, Brandon, died in April after suffering from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams planned a news conference Wednesday afternoon to discuss the case, but his office declined to comment on the case beforehand.

The Schaibles, who quit school after ninth grade, have worked as teachers at their fundamentalist Christian church, First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia. They are in their mid-40s, and their oldest child will soon turn 18.

Their seven surviving children have been placed in foster care amid a parole violation hearing last month, when a judge rebuked them for failing to seek medical care for Brandon.

A jury had convicted them of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the January 2009 death of 2-year-old Kent, who died of bacterial pneumonia. The boy’s symptoms had included coughing, congestion, crankiness and a loss of appetite. His parents said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and his lawyers argued that they had thought he was getting better.

Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner sentenced them to 10 years’ probation, which included a requirement that their children receive medical care.

“I am sorry for your loss. Deeply sorry,” Lerner told the couple after Brandon’s death last month. “But in all honesty, I am more sorry for the fact that this innocent little child will not be able to grow up to be what he wanted to be.”

Prosecutors were awaiting autopsy results on the infant before determining what charges, if any, to file.

Public defender Mythri Jayaraman, who represents Catherine Schaible, said charges are likely.

Jayaraman said Brandon had seen a doctor at least once in his life.

“When he was 10 days old, he had been taken to a doctor for a checkup, and to make sure everything was OK. We don’t know beyond that,” Jayaraman told The Associated Press.

Her client declined to comment when reached at her home Wednesday afternoon.

“I really don’t want to discuss anything,” Catherine Schaible said.

About a dozen children a year die in the U.S. when their parents choose prayer over medical care, according to Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who wrote “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law.”

In a handful of cases, the parents later watch a second child die.

“One of the building blocks of our legal system is the idea that people will be afraid of being punished,” Peters said. But people who trust in faith healing fear “a different kind of punishment,” he said. “It’s not an earthly punishment meted out by the state of Pennsylvania. It’s punishment going to be delivered by the Almighty on Judgment Day. It’s difficult to find a legal regime that can change that.”

Bobby Hoof, the lawyer who represented Herbert Schaible in the earlier case, described the couple as loving parents who grieved over Kent’s death.

“He’s a father just like the rest of us. He loves his children, wants to see them educated,” said Hoof, who does not know if he will be appointed if more charges are filed. “It’s hard to indict someone for what they believe.”