An article in today’s The Guardian reports on a British woman that lay dead in her mother’s home for five months after visiting Lourdes, France.

The body of a British woman lay concealed by her mother for nearly five months at their home near the Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes, it emerged yesterday.

French police discovered the body of Marian Therese Kearney, 46, last Thursday after being alerted by her 11-year-old daughter’s teacher, who suspected from the child’s demeanour that something was wrong within the family.

Sources close to the French investigation told Agence France-Presse that Ms Kearney had been suffering from cancer and had moved to Lourdes, where her mother lived, in the hope of finding a cure from the spring waters. Investigators say the woman and her mother, Irene Kearney, were religious mystics who shunned conventional medicine and sought help instead from the healing powers of the Catholic shrine.

Needless to say, the prayers and the Lourdes visit didn’t have the desired effect, and is another piece of evidence against putting your trust in faith-based medicine.

This entry was posted Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under The Guardian. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.