Via CNN:

He probably had a congenital condition that constricted his urinary tract where the bladder empties into the urethra, and the condition of his organs indicates that he had multiple blockages during his life, said Dr. Clifford Nelson, deputy state medical examiner for Clackamas County.

“You just build up so much urea in your bloodstream that it begins to poison your organs, and the heart is particularly susceptible,” Nelson said.

Nelson said a catheter would have saved the boy’s life. If the condition had been dealt with earlier, a urologist could easily have removed the blockage and avoided the kidney damage that came with the repeated illnesses, Nelson said.

Benton said a board member of the Followers of Christ church contacted the authorities after Beagley died at his family’s home. The teen had been sick about a week, and church members and his family had gathered to pray Sunday when his condition worsened, Benton said.

OK, the lad may have been 16 and it may have been lawful for him to refuse treatment, but given that this was a chronic condition that predated his ability to make that decision lawfully, he was preconditioned (brainwashed) into believing that a myth would make him well.

This is sick, unethical, immoral, and criminal. If freedom of speech has to have boundaries so then too does freedom of religion, particularly to protect those who are least able to protect themselves, children and the elderly.

Even Atheists, who according to those of faith lack a “moral compass”, can see that this is wrong. Why can’t the believers?