(iWIDK By Andrew Urban) - Brandi and Russel Bellew pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter and received only probation after they would not allow their sixteen-year-old son treatment for his easily curable appendicitis.

According to the NY Daily News, the family is part of the General Assembly and Church of the First Born, which doesn’t believe in using modern medicine.
In Oregon faith healing is not a legal excuse for child abuse.
While managing to avoid jail time with a guilty plea, the parents must now follow a court mandated health regimen for their other six children.


{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The article didn’t say he would have required surgery. Antibiotics might have sufficed. However, if his appendix had burst or become septic, emergency surgery would have been necessary, if his “parents” had actually had any desire to save his life. His “parents” murdered him as surely as if they had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
I’m alive 2 day 2 tell my survival story, it IS possible 2 survive it w/o surgery
I had appendicitis 2x & survived w/o surgery
You did, most don’t , and that is a medical fact, if an adult wants to make that choice for his or herself, that’s their prerogative, but they do not have the right to do this to their children. That is criminal and deserves hard time..