A Michigan couple who allowed their infant daughter to die of a treatable medical condition because they believed in faith healing has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Joshua and Rachel Piland, who had previously been found guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse by a jury, were sentenced in June by Ingham County Circuit Judge James Jamo, reported the Lansing State Journal.
The couple’s child, Abigail, born in February 2017, was only a few days old when she began suffering from a buildup of bilirubin, which can cause jaundice. The condition is treatable, and a midwife who noticed the condition advised the couple to get medical care for the child. But the Pilands, who belong to a Christian sect that shuns medical treatment, refused to seek medical help. After Abigail died, they prayed for her resurrection. The couple did not call the authorities, and police were informed about the dead child by relatives of the Pilands who live in California.
During the trial, the couple made it clear that they would not seek medical help for their children under any conditions.
Rachel Piland, who sought no prenatal care during the time she was pregnant with Abigail, testified that she and her husband believed praying “was the best thing we could possibly do for her. Even if she had died from some kind of struggle, we wouldn’t have called 911.”
The couple also made it clear that they would do the same thing again if confronted with a sick child. The couple had two other children after Abigail, and both had medical issues. However, these children were taken from the couple by Child Protective Services and survived.
“They adamantly failed to provide medical care without even consulting someone,” Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino said. He noted that Abigail died from “an essentially eradicated and easily preventable disease.”
“What you have done … has impacted multiple lives,” Jamo told Rachel Piland during the sentencing.
The State Journal reported that during the sentencing, Rachel Piland’s brother, Joel Kerr, said the Pilands “chose their beliefs over their children” and requested sentences “sufficiently long” so that the couple “can no longer bring life into the world just to snuff it out.”