PORTLAND (AP) — A legislative leader says Oregon lawmakers will take another look at state laws in the light of the death of a 16-year-old boy who died of a treatable urinary tract disorder while family and church members prayed over him.

“We’re going to have to look at it again,” said Senate President Peter Courtney of Salem, who helped write the 1997 and 1999 state laws that address religious defenses in faith-healing death cases.

“I know that devotion to parents and devotion to religion can be a powerful influence on a child. And in these cases, you have religious freedom, parental rights, the health of a child and medical science. Mix all of that together and you have a tough, tough issue.”

Neil Beagley died Tuesday of complications from a urinary-tract blockage that a medical examiner said could have been treated with a catheter.

He was at his grandmother’s home in Gladstone, surrounded by his family and dozens of other members of Oregon City’s Followers of Christ Church. The nondenominational congregation shuns medical treatment in favor of spiritual healing.

Police said those in attendance said that Beagley chose to be treated solely with prayer.

Prosecutors said Thursday that it will take time to research how current Oregon laws on religious defense, parental responsibility and medical consent apply to this case.

The case is complicated by a 1971 law that gave children 15 and older the right to seek medical care independent of their parents. The law was intended, in part, to give girls access to birth-control information, contraceptives and abortions. It was twice expanded to include access to treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and to include mental health and substance abuse.

Some say that while the law though it does not expressly say so, grants the right to refuse medical care.

“The question boils down to: At what point is a person competent enough to exercise a treatment choice?” said Michael Rose, a Portland attorney who specializes in post-conviction relief and criminal defense. “If, under the law, you are competent enough to seek out needed treatment, then certainly you are competent enough to decline medical treatment.”

Silverton lawyer Doug Brown, who has taught medical malpractice and ethics at Chemeketa Community College, disagreed.

“The bottom line is the child can get medical care,” said Brown, who helps to train emergency medical technicians. “But in no way can you (the child) reject medical care.”

Beagley’s death came less than four months after his 15-month-old niece, Ava Worthington, died in similar circumstances. The girl died of treatable bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection that could have been cleared up with antibiotics. Her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, are facing charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.