Early last year, an 11-year-old Wausau girl died of diabetic ketoacidosis, a medically-treatable complication that arises when a person with diabetes fails to monitor and control their blood-sugar levels. What made this case of particular public interest was the fact that the girl had failed to receive any medical treatment whatsoever despite her quickly deteriorating condition that progressed through three weeks until her death in April. Her parents refused to contact any medical professional for treatment for their daughter because they relied solely on prayer to heal her.
Under Wisconsin law, however, it is impossible to charge parents for child negligence or abuse if the parents relied solely on faith healing - but only if the condition of the child is not life-threatening. Thus the girl's parents were charged with second-degree reckless homicide. Whether or not the parents in this case will be found guilty remains to be seen, but now the Church of Christ, Scientist in Wisconsin and Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, are working together to clarify the Wisconsin laws concerning faith healing and children who die as a result.
Although the existing law is just in its ruling regarding such cases, it is important that the law retains its current ability to bring about justice to parents who forego a child's physical safety in the name of faith.
According to Shawn Peters, a University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer and author of several books on the interplay between law and religion, a few of the proposed changes to the current statute on faith healing would actually make it somewhat harder for prosecutors to charge parents with a crime if their child dies due to untreated medical ailments. Specifically, the law will be unable to punish parents relying solely on prayer and faith for a child's health issues. The need to make the law more clear is understandable; however, we need to be cautious that the changes do not mean creating a more lenient version of the law.
Of course, many people will argue that parents of children who forego medical treatment in lieu of prayer should not be given the break that Wisconsin and about 30 other states offer them. They feel that these people need to be held accountable and should be punished - and they should be - but only if a child's life is in jeopardy. Kara Neumann, the 11-year-old Wausau girl who died last year, was obviously dangerously close to death and her parents still refused to seek medical treatment. In this circumstance, the parents should be brought before a court and tried for their failure to respond with medical treatment. However, in the event of a non-life threatening case, parents are - and should be - free to exercise their First Amendment rights in the treatment of their child. If a child is getting severely ill, then parents do need to contact medical authorities immediately because reliance solely on faith is not an acceptable venue in that regard.
Faith healing cases which include the death of a child are especially hard for everyone involved. In the eyes of the parents or guardians, they have done nothing illegal - most of the time they believe that the eventual death of the child is due to their lack of faith, not lack of care, medical or otherwise. Laws really have little impact on whether or not a parent chooses to heal their child with faith-healing techniques. Many of these people are not criminals; they don't do what they do because they wish harm on their child. A clear stance on faith healing, however, one that promotes traditional medical practices coupled with whatever religious healing methods parents wish to use, should be taken by the state, especially in cases where a child's life is involved.
Ryan Dashek is a junior majoring in biology. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
