.
The severity of the boy's autism left him hardly able to speak and unable to walk on his own, Jones says.
"'They were trying to exorcise him. That's why he had the autism, he had a demon in him,'" Jones recounted what the teacher told her to The Huffington Post. "The cleaning lady was trying to cast out the demons."
Rick Santorum-Linked Universal Health Alleged 'Exorcism'
It did not have approval to perform an "exorcism."
But that is what appeared to be happening in an empty room at Marion in May 2007, according to a facility teacher who passed by the room, which was occupied by at least one nurse, a supervisor, a janitor and a boy with autism. Several in the room appeared to be hovering over the boy and praying, according to the teacher, who recounted the incident shortly after to Barbara Jones, the center's director of education at the time. The severity of the boy's autism left him hardly able to speak and unable to walk on his own, Jones says.
"'They were trying to exorcise him. That's why he had the autism, he had a demon in him,'" Jones recounted what the teacher told her to The Huffington Post. "The cleaning lady was trying to cast out the demons."
