Trial set to begin in faith-healing case

Sunday, September 11, 2011

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon couple who belong to a faith-healing church will go on trial this week in Clackamas County, accused of rejecting medical care that could have saved their newborn child.

Dale and Shannon Hickman are charged with second-degree manslaughter.

The Oregonian http://bit.ly/nLMQu9 reports the Hickmans are members of the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City faith-healing church that has a history of children dying from curable conditions because parents rejected medical care.

The baby, David Hickman, was born two months premature and weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces. His lungs were underdeveloped. He lived just nine hours.

An autopsy determined that the baby died of a bacterial infection.

Defense attorneys John Neidig and Mark Cogan are expected to argue that the infant's death was unforeseeable and almost instant.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com