Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect

@article{Asser1998ChildFF,
  title={Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect},
  author={Seth Asser and Rita Swan},
  journal={Pediatrics},
  year={1998},
  volume={101},
  pages={625 - 629}
}
OBJECTIVE To evaluate deaths of children from families in which faith healing was practiced in lieu of medical care and to determine if such deaths were preventable. [] Key MethodDESIGN Cases of child fatality in faith-healing sects were reviewed. Probability of survival for each was then estimated based on expected survival rates for children with similar disorders who receive medical care.
View on AAP
childrenshealthcare.org
151 Citations
Background Citations
39
Results Citations
1

Tables from this paper

151 Citations

The Death of Children by Faith-Based Medical Neglect
  • R. Hughes
  • Philosophy
    Journal of Law and Religion
  • 2005
TLDR
According to one study, between 1975 and 1995, an estimated one hundred seventy-two children died after their parents rejected medical care on religious grounds; of these children, one hundred forty suffered conditions for which survival rates exceeded ninety percent; and eighteen more could have survived at a rate exceeding fifty percent.
Child Welfare Versus Parental Autonomy: Medical Ethics, The Law, and Faith-Based Healing
TLDR
This paper provides an ethical construct by which to begin a dialogue with the religious communities and others who share similar beliefs about spiritual healing, and provides a framework for these requirements.
Conflicts Between Religious or Spiritual Beliefs and Pediatric Care: Informed Refusal, Exemptions, and Public Funding
TLDR
Because religious exemptions to child abuse and neglect laws do not equally protect all children and may harm some children by causing confusion about the duty to provide medical treatment, these exemptions should be repealed.
Defending Child Medical Neglect: Christian Science Persuasive Rhetoric
In 1989 four-year-old Alex Morris of Oregon City contracted an unremarkable upper respiratory infection.1 Alex’s parents, members of the Followers of Christ Church, believing that true Christians…
Relationships Between Religious Characteristics and Response to Legal Action Against Parents Who Choose Faith Healing Practices for Their Children
Individuals’ religious characteristics (e.g., orthodox beliefs) are related to support for legal actions (e.g., the death penalty). The current study explores whether or not orthodoxy,…
Faith-Based Medical Neglect: for Providers and Policymakers
  • R. Swan
  • Medicine, Political Science
    Journal of child & adolescent trauma
  • 2020
TLDR
Religious exemptions from child health and safety laws should be repealed so that children have equal rights to medical care.
Mortality and Religion/Spirituality: A Brief Review of the Research
TLDR
An overview of findings regarding these various study populations and the potential relevance of religious/spiritual involvement to longevity is provided, with a consistent link between frequent religious attendance and increased chances of living longer found.
The Role of Government in Cases of Faith Based Child Medical Neglect
In the United States, parental rights have been defined by a strong liberal conception of individual rights, giving parents huge leeway in determining how their children are raised. In this paper, I…
Fatal Child Abuse
TLDR
No single effective strategy exists to prevent child abuse fatalities and global home visiting strategies as well as AHT counseling efforts in nurseries and communities are often employed but clear evidence to support a single intervention is lacking.
Court-mediated disputes between physicians and families over the medical care of children.
  • D. Ridgway
  • Medicine
    Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine
  • 2004
TLDR
The judiciary's approach to parent-physician disputes over the care of sick children is described to create precedents for future decisions and provide insight into the consequences of seeking court intervention for the physician who encounters parental refusal of care.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 34 REFERENCES
Religious Exemptions From Child Abuse Statutes
Children sometimes die or become disabled when they fail to receive medical treatment because of the strongly held religious or philosophical beliefs or practices of their parents. The numbers of…
Christian Scientists claim healing efficacy equal if not superior to that of medicine.
TLDR
Child protection advocates suggest that this new "more secular strategy" of the Christian Science Church is in response to the recent failure of some religious exemption statutes to protect church members from prosecution when their children die from medical neglect.
The Children We Abandon: Religious Exemptions to Child Welfare and Education Law as Denials of Equal Protection to Children of Religious Objectors
The story of children who die because their parents, in observance of their own religious principles, withhold conventional medical treatment from them is a familiar one. In this Article, James G.…
Allocating the costs of parental free exercise: striking a new balance between sincere religious belief and a child's right to medical treatment.
The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death.... Parents may be free to become…
High attack rates and case fatality during a measles outbreak in groups with religious exemption to vaccination.
TLDR
Lack of medical care and underlying disease appear to have contributed to the high case-fatality rate in the church communities, which spread rapidly in this group, sparing few susceptible individuals.
Should physicians prescribe prayer for health? Spiritual aspects of well-being considered.
TLDR
There is at work an integration of medicine with religion, of spirituality with medical practice, the twin guardians of healing through the ages, said Dale Matthews, MD at a meeting presented as "the first conference on Spiritual Dimensions in Clinical Research".
Religion and health: is there an association, is it valid, and is it causal?
Pertussis outbreaks in groups claiming religious exemptions to vaccinations.
TLDR
Parents and physicians should be aware that failure to immunize and to cooperate in follow-up preventive measures can have public health and potential medicolegal repercussions.
Improved survival among children with acute leukemia diagnosed in the 1970s.
Improvements in survival were observed among white children less than 15 years of age diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) between 1973 and 1978 in nine of the areas covered by the…
Improved survival among children with acute leukemia diagnosed in the 1970s.
Improvements in survival were observed among white children less than 15 years of age diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) between 1973 and 1978 in nine of the areas covered by the…
...
...