Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2015
According to one study, between 1975 and 1995, an estimated one hundred seventy-two (172) children died after their parents rejected medical care on religious grounds. Of these children, one hundred forty (140) suffered conditions for which survival rates exceeded ninety percent, if there had been timely medical intervention; and eighteen more could have survived at a rate exceeding fifty percent. Parents belonging to five churches that practice faith or spiritual healing methods accounted for eighty-three percent of these child deaths: the Indiana-based Faith Assembly, Christian Science Church, Church of the First Born in the Western states, Faith Tabernacle of Philadelphia, and the End Time Ministry of South Dakota. This survey did not include the seventy-eight child deaths reported in Oregon from 1955-98 or the twelve deaths in Idaho between 1980-98, resulting from faith healing practices that occurred within the Oregon-based Followers of Christ Church; of the Oregon children, probably twenty-one could have lived if they had received medical treatment, according to reporters from The Oregonian.
1. Asser, Seth & Swan, Rita, Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect, 101 Pediatrics 625, 626–629 (04 1998)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed. 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. Larabee, Mark & Sleeth, Peter, Faith Healing Raises Questions of Law's Duty—Belief or Life?, 6 The Oregonian 1 (06 7, 1998) <http://www.oregonlive.com> (accessed Feb. 2, 2003)Google Scholar.
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 (12 3, 1999) <http://www.oregonlive.com> (accessed Feb. 2, 2003)Google Scholar.
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. <http://www.childrenshealthcare.org/legal.html> (accessed Feb. 21, 2003); E-mail from Rita Swan to author, Ust of “Clean States” (Apr. 9, 2005).
10. E-mail from Rita Swan to author, Comments on Hughes' Paper (June 14, 2004).
11. Eddy, Mary Baker, Science and Health viii (The First Church of Christ Scientist 1994)Google Scholar.
12. Spence, Craiget al., The Faith Assembly: A Study of Perinatal and Maternal Mortality, 77 Ind. Med. 180, 180 (1984)Google ScholarPubMed.
13. Davis, John, Faith Assembly: A Look into the Future (Warsaw) 230 Times-Union 1 (09 30, 1983)Google Scholar. 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)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14. Freeman, Hobart, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets 11 (Moody Press 1968)Google Scholar.
15. Isa 52:13-53:12.
16. Freeman, Hobart, Faith 5 (Faith Publications n.d.) (Freeman's emphases)Google Scholar.
17. Freeman, supra n. 14, at 210.
18. Freeman, Hobart, Did Jesus Die Spiritually? 2–10 (Faith Publications n.d.)Google Scholar.
19. Id. at 26-27.
20. Id. at 28-30.
21. Freeman, supra n. 16, at 4.
22. Freeman, Hobart, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk 41 (Moody Press 1973)Google Scholar.
23. Freeman, Hobart, The Three Words Cod Hates the Most: Because of Unbelief (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-154)Google Scholar.
24. Freeman, Hobart, Son of Man or Medicine Man? (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-171Google Scholar.
25. Id.
26. Kee, Howard, Medicine, Miracle, and Magic in New Testament Times 29-31, 68–79 (Cambridge U. Press 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
27. Hippocrate, Du Regime xiv (Joly, Robert ed., Budé 1967)Google Scholar; Smith, Wesley D., The Hippocratic Tradition 48 (Cornell U. Press 1979)Google Scholar.
28. Temkin, Owsei, The Falling Sickness 51 (2d rev. ed., Johns Hopkins U. Press 1994)Google Scholar.
29. Freeman, Hobart, Charismatic Body Ministry 39–40 (Faith Publications n.d.)Google Scholar.
30. Freeman, supra n. 16, at 31.
31. Supra n. 23.
32. Freeman, supra n. 29, at 56.
33. Id. at 60.
34. Supra n. 16, at 33.
35. Freeman, Hobart, The O.R.C. Healing and Health Plan (Faith Publications 1985) (cassette tape F-172)Google Scholar. The three tapes cited in these notes were decisive in the anti-medical message of Freeman's radio ministry.
36. Id.
37. Kaunitz, Andrewet al., Perinatal and Maternal Mortality in a Religious Group Avoiding Obstetric Care, 150:7Am. J. Obstetric Gynecology 826, 830 (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
38. Freeman, supra n. 24.
39. Abraham, Henry, Abraham, Isaac and the State, 27 U. Rich. L. Rev. 951, 963 (1993)Google Scholar. 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)Google Scholar.
40. Id. at 965.
41. Larabee, Mark, The Battle Over Faith Healing, The Oregonian (11 28, 1998) http://www.oregonlive.com (accessed Feb. 21, 2003)Google Scholar. For a further discussion of the resistance to prosecute in Indiana, see Malecha, Wayne, Faith Healing Exemptions to Child Protection Laws, 12 J. Legis 246, 259 (1985)Google Scholar.
42. Id.
43. Spence, et al., 77 The Faith Assembly: A Study of Perinatal and Maternal Mortality at 182Google Scholar; Telephone Conversation with Bill Zlatos, Investigative Reporter, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (Jan. 9, 1986); CHILD Inc., supra n. 9 (Feb. 9, 2004).
44. Hughes, Richard, The Judge and the Faith Healer 74–75 (U. Press Am. 1989)Google Scholar.
45. State v. Halt, S-84-13 Whiteley Cty. Ct. Ind. (1984)Google Scholar.
46. State v. Bergmann, SCR-84-17, Noble Cty. Sup. Ct. (1984)Google Scholar.
47. Hughes, supra n. 44, at 73.
48. Personal Correspondence from Honorable Roger Cosbey, Noble Superior Court, Noble County, Albion, Ind., to author (Jan. 5, 1988).
49. Hughes, supra n. 44, at 75.
50. Id. at 75, 91.
51. Id. at 78.
52. Memorandum from G. David Laur, Prosecuting Attorney, Noble County, Albion, Ind., to author, 8 (Aug. 27, 1984) (on file with the Noble Cty. Super. Ct. Ind.).
53. Id. at 9.
54. Id. at 10.
55. Id.
56. Bergmann v. St., 486 N.E. 2d 653, 662 (Ind. App. 1985)Google Scholar.
57. Id.
58. Hall v. St., 493 N.E. 2d 433, 435 (Ind. 1986)Google Scholar.
59. St. v. Irwin, SCR-84-37 Kosciusko Cty., Ind. (1985)Google Scholar; e-mail from Miner, Michael to author, Reply (02 23, 2004)Google ScholarPubMed.
60. Shneidman, Edwin, The Deaths of Man 87 (Penguin Books 1974)Google Scholar.
61. Hermanson v. St., 604 So.2d 775, 776 (Fla. 1992)Google Scholar.
62. Id.
63. Freedom and Responsibility 7 (The First Church of Christ, Scientist 1989)Google Scholar; Eddy, supra n. 11, at 1-17, 497; Virginia Harris, Spiritual Essence of the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy http://www.churchofchristscientist.org/spiritualessence_1.html> (accessed July 7, 2004).
64. Eddy, supra n. 11, at 18-20.
65. Peel, Robert, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age 49 (Harper & Row 1988)Google Scholar.
66. Freedom and Responsibility, supra n. 63, at 93.
67. Walker v. Super. Ct., 763 P.d, 873 (Cal. 1988)Google Scholar.
68. Id. at 856.
69. Temkin, Owsei, Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians 182 (Johns Hopkins U. Press 1991)Google Scholar.
70. Smith, Wesley J., Culture of Death 19 (Encounter Books 2000)Google Scholar.
71. Id. at 10.
72. Fraser, Caroline, God's Perfect Child 13, 306 (Henry Holt 1999)Google Scholar.
73. Williams, Davida, Punishing the Faithful, 24 Cardozo L. Rev. 2188, 2217 (2003)Google Scholar.
74. Id. at 2199-2201.
75. Id. at 2200-2202.
76. Id. at 2203-2205.
77. Johnstone, Gerry, Restorative Justice 172 (Willan Publg. 2002)Google Scholar.
78. Id. at 172.
79. Snyder, J. Richard, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Punishment 70 (W.B. Eerdmans 2001)Google Scholar.
80. Id. at 75-76.
81. Johnstone, supra n. 77, at 13-14.
82. Marshall, Christopher, Beyond Retribution 133–134 (W.B. Eerdmans 2001)Google Scholar.
83. Johnstone, supra n. 77, at 93, 96.
84. Rynearson, Edward, Retelling Violent Death 149–152 (Brunner-Routledge 2001)Google Scholar.
85. Fraser, supra n. 72, at 305; Commonwealth v. Twitchell, 617 N.E. 2d 609 (Mass. 1993)Google Scholar.
86. Id. at 305.
87. Anatomy of an Acquittal, 4 Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, Inc. 1, 1–2 (2000)Google Scholar.
88. Id. at 4-5, 10-12; Carol Balizet, A Short Biography http://www.homeinzion.con/carolbalizet.html> (last updated Nov. 4, 2004).
89. St. v. Johnson, 99–7731, 13thJud. Dist. Ct. Fla. (2001)Google Scholar.
90. Zlatos, Bill, Couple who left Faith Assembly get probation, The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel 1 (06 4, 1986)Google Scholar.
91. Zlatos, Bill, Couple recount break with Faith Assembly, The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel 2B (03 3, 1986)Google Scholar.
92. Knopp, Dave, Professor writes book on trial of Faith Assembly couple, The (Kendallville) News-Sun A10 (12 10 & 11, 1988)Google Scholar.
93. St. v. Bates, Mesa Cty. Dist. Ct. Colo. 01CR243 (2001)Google Scholar; Colorado Parents Sentenced in Diabetic Child's Death, 3 Children's Health Care is a Legal Duty, Inc. 1, 10–12 (2001)Google Scholar.
94. Hansell, Jennifer, Mother May I … Live? 66 Tenn. L. Rev. 499, 527 (1999)Google Scholar.
95. Lingle, Elizabeth, Treating Children by Faith, 17 J. Leg. Med. 301, 330 (1996)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.
96. Perry, Michael, Love and Power 33 (Oxford U. Press 1991)Google Scholar.
97. Fuller, Lon, The Morality of Law 195 (Yale U. Press 1964)Google Scholar; Alexander, Frank, Beyond Positivism: A Theological Perspective, in The Weightier Matters of the Law 251, 270–271 (Witte, John Jr. & Alexander, Frank eds., Scholars Press 1988)Google Scholar; Perry, Michael, The Constitution in the Courts 203 (Oxford U. Press 1994)Google Scholar.
98. Berman, Harold, Law and Revolution 5 (Harv. U. Press 1983)Google Scholar.