Ava Pauline Worthington
By flutter1. Filed in Child Abuse, Negligent Homicide |Tags: Ava Worthington
Update 7/23/09 – 
After a week of deliberations, the jury in Ava’s trial returned acquitted her parents on all charges except one. Her father was found guilty of criminal mistreatment, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to two months in jail and five years probation.
When fifteen month-old Ava developed a cough, her parents didn’t take her to the doctor, but instead called on their faith to heal the toddler. Within a few days, a doctor was called, but not to treat the child but to sign her death certificate.
In the first detailed public accounting of the night Ava Worthington died, deputy medical examiner Jeffrey Mayer described arriving at the Worthington home to find as many as 200 fellow church members and sacraments from a faith-healing session.
The house was jammed, with relatives and other members of the Followers of Christ church lining the hallway to the master bedroom. The body of 15-month-old Ava rested on her parents’ bed.
“It was standing room only,” said Mayer, testifying Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court as the first witness in the trial of Ava’s parents, Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington. The couple are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal neglect for failing to provide their daughter with adequate medical care.
Mayer, who works for Clackamas County, was the first investigator to arrive March 2, 2008, the night Ava died. The Worthingtons and others filed out of the bedroom as he entered.
Ava, dressed in pajamas, lay on the bed on her right side. Her head was resting on a pillow. Next to the bed was a tray that held a bowl of Cheerios, a bottle of olive oil and a baby bottle with red liquid. Mayer suspected it was wine, which church members often used as a sacrament during sessions of spiritual healing.
Ava’s face was shiny, likely from being anointed with oil, Mayer said.
He immediately noticed a large discolored growth, “approximately the size of a baseball,” on the right side of her neck. The child also appeared to be malnourished, with her ribs protruding, he said.
Prosecutors displayed a photo for jurors that showed a swollen area from the girl’s ear to her collarbone.
“I had never seen anything like that,” said Mayer, who has investigated more than 1,000 deaths, including 40 or 50 involving children.
Mayer is often the first person called when a church member dies.
“I always respond to Followers of Christ deaths because they don’t have a primary care physician involved in their life,” he said. State law requires a doctor to sign a death certificate, a service the doctors Mayer works with can provide.
Mayer’s testimony was part of the evidence presented in the trial of Ava’s parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington. They faced charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment of the toddler. They contended that prayer for their daughter was guaranteed to them under the Constitution and that their prosecution was a vindictive act by the prosecution. Another case involving other relatives and members of their church for Ava’s death as well as the death of another child is awaiting trial.
Ava’s death could have easily been avoided had only simple medical treatment been sought. The Worthington’s right to their religious beliefs is guaranteed but only to the point where it doesn’t interfere with the safety of others. Their daughter should not have been a sacrifice to the test of their faith.