Oregon Public Broadcasting

Doctors testifying in an Oregon faith-healing case said today that Brent and Raylene Worthington could have saved their toddler's life by seeking medical treatment for her.

A Clackamas County medical examiner testified that a large benign cyst was the cause of Ava Worthington’s death – but that pneumonia and other infections contributed.

Portland pediatrician Sayonara Mato testified that the cystic hygroma on the child’s neck forced her to work harder to breathe – meaning she burned more calories. That, in turn, meant she had to eat more.

Sayonara Mato: “One can see how she had increased caloric needs because of the rapid respirations and increased efforts, and then difficulty to meet those needs given how well or not she could swallow through an esophagus that was partially compressed by a cystic hygroma.”

The Worthingtons prayed for Ava’s recovery, rather than taking her to a doctor.

They told detectives that she appeared to be stabilizing in her last hours. Mato says what they were witnessing was the girl entering carbon dioxide narcosis. In other words, she was dying.

Defense attorneys have argued that Ava Worthington died from a fast-acting infection that doctors would’ve been hard-pressed to catch.