Religion and Refusal of Medical Care for Children

Two children (Kent and Brandon Schaible) have died of
treatable pneumonia and dehydration because their parents (Herbert and
Catherine Schaible) resorted to prayer instead of medical care.  In another particularly egregious case,
members of the Faith Assembly Church denied medical care to a 4-year-old with
an eye tumor the size of the child’s head. 
Law enforcement officials found blood trails along the walls of the
girl’s home where she, nearly blind, used the walls to support her head while
navigating from room to room.  Seth Asser
and Rita Swan have documented 172 cases of child deaths from preventable
medical complication between 1975-1995.  The
report does not include seventy-eight faith healing deaths reported in Oregon
from 1955-1998, or the twelve deaths in Idaho from 1980-1998.  As recently as 2013, five child deaths in
Idaho were reported from families whose religious beliefs prevented them from
seeking medical treatment.  What sort of
religious beliefs might possess a parent to refuse medical treatment for their
child?  

Christian Scientists base their
refusal on the religious belief that medicine is fundamentally mistaken in
thinking the ultimate cause of disease is biological, seeing the real source of
disease as spiritual disorder; and a spiritual problem calls for a spiritual
solution.  The reality of sickness is not
denied (e.g., you really do have pneumonia), however, the ultimate cause of
that pneumo...

Source: blog.bioethics.net - February 10, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bioethics Today Tags: Health Care Pediatrics Author: Brummett religion syndicated Source Type: blogs