Church, Father Sued in Death of Diabetic Boy : Courts: Mother alleges her ex-husband, his mother and Christian Science leaders let treatable illness become fatal by using prayer but not medicine.

Twelve-year-old James Andrew Wantland was suffering from diabetes, but he was treated with prayers not insulin, according to his mother.

The La Habra boy died last year. Now the Orange County district attorney’s office is considering criminal charges against the boy’s father, his grandmother and other members of their Christian Science church in Orange County.

On Tuesday, the boy’s mother, Gayle Quigley, filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that her ex-husband, his mother and other church members rejected medical care for her son. The boy, known as Andrew, was living with his father, James Richard Wantland, when he became ill.

“I don’t object to a person using Christian Science healing methods to heal themselves,” said Santa Ana Heights lawyer Jim Wakefield, who is representing Quigley. “But I don’t believe anyone should practice this religion so as to endanger the life of a child. In this case, it killed the boy. This should not be permissible in a a civilized society.”

The boy’s grandmother, Ruth Ann Wantland, on Wednesday denied any wrongdoing. During a brief interview, she said she and other family members did not know he was gravely ill.

“He just fell ill and died,” said the grandmother, a Whittier resident. “If there was any indication he was ill, he would have been with the medical people.”

James Wantland could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Michael Born, a spokesman for the First Church of Christian Science in Boston, declined to comment, saying church officials had not seen the suit and were unaware of the criminal investigation.

He referred The Times to the church’s policy on spiritual healing which states in part that “Christian Science teaches that material methods of healing turn us away from trusting entirely in God. . . . However, the choice between material and spiritual methods is always left to the individual or to the family, never to any church official.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Tanizaki confirmed Wednesday that his office is investigating Andrew’s death, but declined to talk about the case in any detail, saying only, “Religion doesn’t absolve them of their responsibilities.”

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The prosecutor cited a 1988 California Supreme Court ruling that upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of a Sacramento woman who withheld medical treatment for her 4-year-old daughter who suffered from acute meningitis. The woman, a Christian Scientist, also was convicted of felony child endangerment.

The Church of Christian Science has faced increasing pressure on the issue of eschewing medical treatment for the sick.

In August, a Minneapolis jury ordered the church to pay $9 million in punitive damages in the 1989 death of a diabetic 11-year-old boy whose parents treated him only with prayer. In that case, the court ordered the divorced mother of the dead boy, her new husband and the church to pay another $5.2 million in compensatory damages. The verdict is being appealed.

The lawyers who represented the family in that case have teamed with Wakefield’s law firm to pursue Quigley’s civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. The mother now lives in King of Prussia, Pa., and is no longer a practicing Christian Scientist, according to Wakefield. The boy’s father, who had primary custody, still lives in La Habra with Andrew’s sister, 17.

Wakefield said Quigley expressed fears during child custody proceedings that her ex-husband would withhold medical care from their children. The court decided to return custody of the two children to Wantland when Quigley remarried and moved from California in 1989.

Quigley’s lawyers say there was no way that the boy’s father could not have known that Andrew was seriously ill.

The lawsuit alleges that this is what happened:

Andrew, a seventh-grader at Rancho-Starbuck Intermediate School in La Habra, became ill sometime in late 1992. He received care from his father, grandmother and Christian Science nurses.

But the boy’s condition became progressively worse through the week of Dec. 14 until his death on Dec. 20, the lawsuit states.

“At no time did Andrew receive medical care until just prior to his death when an ambulance was called,” Quigley’s suit alleged. She said he was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.

Included in Quigley’s lawsuit is a copy of her son’s death certificate, which states that Andrew died of complications from juvenile diabetes. “Such complications could have easily been treated with routine medical care,” Quigley said.