camren

DESIREE CAMREN


"SEVENTH UNTREATED DEATH ADDS TO LEGAL JIGSAW"
By Joe Stumpe, Tribune State Writer


From "The Tulsa Tribune," Tulsa, Oklahoma, September 10, 1987

CUSHING -- If a child of Jerry Pruitt's became sick and asked for a doctor, Pruitt says he would find one -- even though it goes against beliefs of the Church of the First Born, where he is an elder.

But if the child was too young to talk and the decision was Pruitt's alone, he says he would not seek medical help even if it meant his youngster would die.

The church's doctrine has caused more than consternation on the part of authorities in Payne County. On Wednesday, it led to a trial order on charges of second-degree manslaughter for two church members whose 3-month-old child died of pneumonia on Valentine's Day.

Desiree Camren's death is at least the seventh in Oklahoma in the last decade to have been attributed to church members refusing medical care for themselves or their children, according to newspaper accounts.

One of these, the death of 3-month-old Benjamin Funkhouser in Purcell July 15, 1983, resulted in the parents' conviction for manslaughter.

The couple was sentenced to two years and remains free while the case is appealed.

Payne County District Attorney Paul Anderson, who filed the charges against Dean and Sheilla Camren of Cushing, says it's one thing if an adult refuses medical care. But parents, he said, are responsible for the welvare of their children.

"Does that make sense?" Anderson said after Pruitt testified during a preliminary hearing for the Camrens Wednesday in Stillwater. "If you can talk, you can go to a doctor; if you can't, you can't?"

Little can be learned quickly about the size, origins and beliefs of the church, which is not included in standard reference guides to religious denominations. Newspaper accounts from the early 1980s estimated there were 4,000 members and 40 churches in Oklahoma, with more in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado.

The accounts said much of the church's teachings are based on the writings of a 17th century German mystic and heretic whose works later were published in London. Considered equally important is their interpretation of the biblical passage Mark 16:18, which reads in part, "they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

In 1983, when the Legislature removed a religious exemption from a law requiring parents to get medical help for their children, members of the church packed the 250-seat House gallery in vain protest.

Anderson said he believes the Cushing church is the largest of three of its kind in the county. After Special District Judge Lois Belden's order for a trial Wednesday, the Camrens and about 20 other members met for nearly a half-hour with court-appointed defense attorney Jimmie Wilcoxon.

Wilcoxon said the Camrens were upset, as most people would be in the situation, though he had prepared them by telling them that most people are ordered to trial at their preliminary hearing.

"They just don't believe a court will find them guilty," Wilcoxon said.

Anderson said he found Wilcoxon's statement that the child might have died of pneumonia even if she had been treated by a doctor ludicrous.

"It's like standing out in front of a car going 65 miles per hour and saying it's possible you wouldn't be injured," he said.

The mother, Sheilla Camren, 23, is a life-long member of the church who married her 30-year-old husband in 1980, had three children, and according to testimony, greeted her youngest child's death after a weeklong illness with "calm acceptance."

"She said progressively the child worsened," said Cherri Scanlon, a Depeartment of Human Services supervisor who found the Camrens willing to talk about the death during an interview in March.

"She (Mrs. Camren) said the child's arms went limp," Scanlon said. "Her eyes rolled back in her head. Then she looked purple and white."

Three church elders joined the infant's parents and grandparents at the Camren's house on the north side of Cushing late Feb. 13, some four hours before the child's death.

The elders "laid hands" on the child, and, about an hour before her labored breathing stopped, fed her a small amount of wine, Pruitt said.

"Apparently, after we prayed for it (her recovery), she was some better. The other two elders left. We thought she improved," Pruitt said.

The child died soon after without anyone suggesting that a physician be called, Pruitt said.

Dale Sparks, an agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation who investigated the death, said Mrs. Camren "indicated to me that nobody in the church would have done that."

Though Sheilla Camren was aware that medical care might have saved her child, Scanlon said she appeared not to regret the decision to deny it medical care.

"She felt that God meant that to be," Scanlon said.

Pruitt seemed confident that, had Desiree Camren been old enough to make up her own mind, she wouldn't have asked for a physician.

"I don't know of any cases where the child (of a church member) asked to go to a doctor," he said. "We teach them very strongly."



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