Religion: Matters of Faith and Death

Courts move against parents who deny children medical care

Slumped in a chair, twelve-year-old her face Pamela Hamil with ton of La Follette, Tenn., asked a state judge to grant a seemingly suicidal wish: not to have medical treatment for her rare form of bone cancer. Doctors had testified that without chemotherapy and radiation treatment she would die within months. But Pamela’s father Larry is a minister in the Church of God of the Union Assembly, a fundamentalist sect that does not permit its members to seek medical treatment and counsels them to rely instead on the power of prayer. Despite her dramatic plea seven months ago, the judge ordered hospital care to begin. Last week her doctor an nounced that there was no longer any evidence of the disease. But Pamela’s father clings to his belief in the inefficacy of science. “The medi cine didn’t do it,” he insists. “It came through God.”

Although the judge’s ruling probably saved Pamela’s life, it has again put the American legal system at odds with the Constitution’s guarantee of religious free dom. State courts have routinely intervened against the antimedicine doctrines of some religious groups in or dering treatment for the chil dren of church members when death is imminent. Now states are beginning to bring charges of neglect or abuse against parents who endanger their children’s lives by adhering to religious teachings.

In some Christian sects, opposition to medicine is sweeping: Herbert W. Armstrong, leader of the Worldwide Church of God, calls vaccines “monkey pus” and likens the use of physicians to worship of pagan gods. Christian Science urges its adherents to conquer illness by prayer, but allows them, if they insist, to consult doctors. Jehovah’s Witnesses are forbidden blood transfusions but are allowed other medical procedures. Ironically, because Witnesses are permitted to consult doctors, they have been involved in many legal cases: if the ailing child of a church member requires a transfusion after being hospitalized, a court order is quickly obtained. At a Long Island hospital last week, a New York State judge heard late-night testimony from James and Theresa Tuomey, both Jehovah’s Witnesses; then, over their objections, he ordered a lifesaving transfusion for their prematurely born, one-day-old daughter.

In many instances, though, courts do not hear about children’s untreated illnesses until it is too late. In the past, states rarely charged parents with child neglect or abuse if religious beliefs were involved. Washington until recently also evaded the problem: in 1974, a federal child protection program required participating states to exempt from prosecution parents who refuse medical treatment for their children on religious grounds.

In response to a number of well-publicized cases in which children died, seemingly unnecessarily, from accidents or disease, state legislators are calling for change. Indiana has a new law that as of June will no longer allow parents or anyone else to cite religious beliefs as a defense for failure to report a case of child abuse or neglect. Tennessee’s senate last week voted down a religious exemption bill. The federal Department of Health and Human Services last year dropped the 1974 religious exemption demands and issued a new regulation to states, requiring that all cases of child neglect be reported. (An amendment to restore that exemption could pass Congress this year.) A burgeoning movement to change state laws is being led by two former Christian Scientists, Rita and Douglas Swan, who saw their 15-month-old son die from untreated meningitis in 1977. Traumatized by that experience, the Swans have become implacable foes of their former faith. Now teaching at Morningside College in Iowa, they have founded CHILD (Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty), Inc. to work for new laws. Says Rita: “I think people are getting more disgusted.”

Popular revulsion against parents who let their children suffer for reasons of faith led to the change in Indiana’s law. The state is headquarters of the Faith Assembly, whose 1,500 members nationwide n are strictly enjoined from using doctors. The Fort Wayne ‘News-Sentinel, which closely follows the church, estimates —that 63 followers in eight states have died since 1976 because they would not accept medical treatment. Of these, 43 were children. In a particularly shocking incident in 1981, one-year-old Evie Swanson of Attica, Ind., received second-and third-degree burns when scalding tea spilled over her. Infection set in, was left untreated, and Evie died two days later. In another case, newborn Joel David Hall of Whitley County, Ind., died in February from pneumonia even though, as County Coroner Alfred Allina noted, $5 worth of antibiotics might have saved his life. A grand jury is considering an indictment against the parents. It would be the first such criminal case in Indiana.

Allina believes it is “naive” to think that fear of punishment will persuade zealots to report cases of sick children who are denied medical care. Certainly that was the case last September when C.D. Long and his wife Judy of Summerville, Ga., were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of their 16-year-old foster son. The boy died of a ruptured appendix after days of agony; during that period the parents, both members of the Union Assembly, had not sought medical help. But neighbors of the Longs in the close-knit northwestern Georgia community were reluctant to testify, and in February a state judge dismissed the case. The dead boy’s aunt, Glenda Eden, who complained about his suffering to the authorities, cannot understand the claims of religious liberty in such cases. Says she: “When it comes to letting little children die, that’s beyond religion.” —By Richard N. Ostling. Reported by Barbara B. Dolan/Atlanta, with other bureaus