The death of children by faith-based medical neglect

Journal of Law and Religion

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 247-265

  Hughes, Richard A ^a  

^a LYCOMING COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BEHAVIOR; CASE REPORT; CHILD; DEATH AND EUTHANASIA; FAITH ASSEMBLY; FATALITY; GOVERNMENT; HUMAN; LEGAL APPROACH; LEGAL ASPECT; PARENT; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; RELIGION; RELIGIOUS APPROACH; SPIRITUAL HEALING; TREATMENT REFUSAL; UNITED STATES;

DEATH AND EUTHANASIA; FAITH ASSEMBLY; LEGAL APPROACH; RELIGIOUS APPROACH;

CHILD; CHRISTIAN SCIENCE; FAITH HEALING; FATAL OUTCOME; HUMANS; INTENTION; PARENTS; RELIGION; STATE GOVERNMENT; TREATMENT REFUSAL; UNITED STATES;

EID: 32944472911     PISSN: 07480814     EISSN: 21633088     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/4144687     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. Seth Asser & Rita Swan, Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect, 101 Pediatrics 625, 626–629 (Apr. 1998). The information compiled in this study reflects publicly documented sources, and the actual number of child deaths may be more extensive.
2. Id. at 625–626.
3. Id. at 628.
4. Mark Larabee & Peter Sleeth, Faith Healing Raises Questions of Law's Duty—Belief or Life?, 6 The Oregonian 1 (June 7, 1998) (accessed Feb. 2, 2003).
5. The Oregonian reported subsequently that Callahan Shippy, age fourteen, whose parents belonged to the Followers of Christ branch in Canada, suffered deteriorating health for two to four weeks and then died from diabetic complications. Mark Larabee, Couple Faces Charges in Faith-Healing Death, 3 The Oregonian C07 (Dec. 3, 1999) (accessed Feb. 2, 2003).
6. E-mail from Rita Swan to author, Comments on Hughes' Paper (June 14, 2004).
7. U.S. Code, Title 42, § 5106i(a)(1).
8. E-mail from Rita Swan to author, Some Comments on Your Paper (May 20, 2003).
9. Children's Health is a Legal Duty, Inc. (accessed Feb. 21, 2003)
10. E-mail from Rita Swan to author, List of “Clean States” (Apr. 9,2005).
11. E-mail from Rita Swan to author, Comments on Hughes' Paper (June 14, 2004).
12. Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health viii (The First Church of Christ Scientist 1994).
13. Craig Spence et al., The Faith Assembly: A Study of Perinatal and Maternal Mortality, 77 Ind. Med. 180,180(1984).
14. John Davis, Faith Assembly: A Look into the Future (Warsaw) 230 Times-Union 1 (Sept. 30, 1983).
15. For a discussion of the Freeman biography, see my essay Psychological Perspectives on Infanticide in a Faith Healing Sect, 27 Psychotherapy 107, 107–115 (Spring 1990).
16. Hobart Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets 11 (Moody Press 1968).
17. Isa 52:13–53:12.
18. Hobart Freeman, Faith 5 (Faith Publications n.d.) (Freeman's emphases).
19. Freeman, Faith, at 210.
20. Hobart Freeman, Did Jesus Die Spiritually? 2–10 (Faith Publications n.d.).
21. Id. at 26–27.
22. Id. at 28–30.
23. Freeman, Id, at 4.
24. Hobart Freeman, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk 41 (Moody Press 1973).
25. Hobart Freeman, The Three Words God Hates the Most: Because of Unbelief (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-154).
26. Hobart Freeman, Son of Man or Medicine Man? (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-171.
27. Howard Kee, Medicine, Miracle, and Magic in New Testament Times 29–31, 68–79 (Cambridge U. Press 1986).
28. Hippocrate, Du Regime xiv (Robert Joly ed., Budé 1967)
29. Wesley D. Smith, The Hippocratic Tradition 48 (Cornell U. Press 1979).
30. Owsei Temkin, The Falling Sickness 51 (2d rev. ed., Johns Hopkins U. Press 1994).
31. Hobart Freeman, Charismatic Body Ministry 39–40 (Faith Publications n.d.).
32. Freeman, Charismatic Body Ministry, at 31.
33. Charismatic Body Ministry.
34. Freeman, Charismatic Body Ministry, at 56.
35. Id. at 60.
36. Id, at 33.
37. Hobart Freeman, The O.R.C. Healing and Health Plan (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-172). The three tapes cited in these notes were decisive in the anti-medical message of Freeman's radio ministry.
38. Andrew Kaunitz et al., Perinatal and Maternal Mortality in a Religious Group Avoiding Obstetric Care, 150:7 Am. J. Obstetric Gynecology 826, 830 (1984).
39. Freeman, Am. J. Obstetric Gynecology.
40. Henry Abraham, Abraham, Isaac and the State, 27 U. Rich. L. Rev. 951, 963 (1993).
41. American appellate courts had upheld convictions for charges other than homicide in the twentieth century, beginning with that for child endangerment in People v. Pierson, 68 N.E. 243, 246–247 (N.Y. 1903).
42. Id. at 965.
43. Mark Larabee, The Battle Over Faith Healing, The Oregonian (Nov. 28, 1998) http://www.oregonlive.com (accessed Feb. 21, 2003).
44. For a further discussion of the resistance to prosecute in Indiana, see Wayne Malecha, Faith Healing Exemptions to Child Protection Laws, 12 J. Legis 246, 259 (1985).
45. Spence et al., 77 The Faith Assembly: A Study of Perinatal and Maternal Mortality at 182
46. Telephone Conversation with Bill Zlatos, Investigative Reporter, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (Jan. 9, 1986)
47. CHILD Inc., Investigative Reporter, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (Feb. 9, 2004).
48. Richard Hughes, The Judge and the Faith Healer 74–75 (U. Press Am. 1989).
49. State v. Halt, S-84–13 Whiteley Cty. Ct. Ind. (1984).
50. State v. Bergmann, SCR-84–17, Noble Cty. Sup. Ct. (1984).
51. Hughes, Noble Cty. Sup. Ct., at 73.
52. Hughes, Noble Cty. Sup. Ct., at 75.
53. Id. at 75, 91.
54. Id. at 78.
55. Id. at 9.
56. Id. at 10.
57. Bergmann v. St., 486 N.E. 2d 653, 662 (Ind. App. 1985).
58. Hall v. St., 493 N.E. 2d 433,435 (Ind. 1986).
59. St. v. Irwin, SCR-84–37 Kosciusko Cty., Ind. (1985)
60. e-mail from Michael Miner to author, Reply (Feb. 23, 2004).
61. Edwin Shneidman, The Deaths of Man 87 (Penguin Books 1974).
62. Hermanson v. St., 604 So.2d 775, 776 (Ha. 1992).
63. Freedom and Responsibility 7 (The First Church of Christ, Scientist 1989)
64. Eddy, Freedom and Responsibility, at 1–17, 497
65. Virginia Harris, Spiritual Essence of the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy http://www.churchofchristscientist.org/spiritualessence_l.html> (accessed July 7, 2004).
66. Eddy, Spiritual Essence of the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, at 18–20.
67. Robert Peel, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age 49 (Harper & Row 1988).
68. Freedom and Responsibility, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age, at 93.
69. Walker v. Super. Ct., 763 P.d, 873 (Cal. 1988).
70. Id. at 856.
71. Owsei Temkin, Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians 182 (Johns Hopkins U. Press 1991).
72. Wesley J. Smith, Culture of Death 19 (Encounter Books 2000).
73. Id. at 10.
74. Caroline Fraser, God's Perfect Child 13, 306 (Henry Holt 1999).
75. Davida Williams, Punishing the Faithful, 24 Cardozo L. Rev. 2188, 2217 (2003).
76. Id. at 2199–2201.
77. Id. at 2200–2202.
78. Id. at 2203–2205.
79. Gerry Johnstone, Restorative Justice 172 (Willan Publg. 2002).
80. Id. at 172.
81. J. Richard Snyder, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Punishment 70 (W.B. Eerdmans 2001).
82. Id. at 75–76.
83. Johnstone, Id, at 13–14.
84. Christopher Marshall, Beyond Retribution 133–134 (W.B. Eerdmans 2001).
85. Johnstone, Beyond Retribution, at 93, 96.
86. Edward Rynearson, Retelling Violent Death 149–152 (Brunner-Routledge 2001).
87. Fraser, Retelling Violent Death, at 305
88. Commonwealth v. Twitchell, 617 N.E. 2d 609 (Mass. 1993).
89. Id. at 305.
90. Anatomy of an Acquittal, 4 Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, Inc. 1,1–2 (2000).
91. Id. at 4–5, 10–12
92. Carol Balizet, A Short Biography http://www.homeinzion.com/ carolbalizet.html> (last updated Nov. 4, 2004).
93. St. v. Johnson, 99–7731, 13th Jud. Dist. Ct. Fla. (2001).
94. Bill Zlatos, Couple who left Faith Assembly get probation, The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel 1 (June 4, 1986).
95. Bill Zlatos, Couple recount break with Faith Assembly, The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel 2B (Mar. 3, 1986).
96. Dave Knopp, Professor writes book on trial of Faith Assembly couple, The (Kendallville) News-Sun A10 (Dec. 10 & 11, 1988).
97. St. v. Bates, Mesa Cty. Dist. Ct. Colo. 01CR243 (2001)
98. Colorado Parents Sentenced in Diabetic Child's Death, 3 Children's Health Care is a Legal Duty, Inc. 1, 10–12 (2001).
99. Jennifer Hartsell, Mother May I … Live? 66 Tenn. L. Rev. 499, 527 (1999).
100. Elizabeth Lingle, Treating Children by Faith, 17 J. Leg. Med. 301, 330 (1996).
101. Michael Perry, Love and Power 33 (Oxford U. Press 1991).
102. Lon Fuller, The Morality of Law 195 (Yale U. Press 1964)
103. Frank Alexander, Beyond Positivism: A Theological Perspective, in The Weightier Matters of the Law 251, 270–271 (John Witte, Jr. & Frank Alexander eds., Scholars Press 1988)
104. Michael Perry, The Constitution in the Courts 203 (Oxford U. Press 1994).
105. Harold Berman, Law and Revolution 5 (Harv. U. Press 1983).