Children die when parents opt for faith healing

[April, 1998]

A recent study by a children's advocacy group disclosed that the vast majority of children who died because their parents refused to seek medical treatment for "religious" reasons, could have been saved. The report was published in the journal Pediatrics [April], and provides substance to arguments that parents should be held accountable for homicide and child neglect, if they choose to withhold standard medical treatments from their children. Dr. Seth M. Asser, of the University of California, San Diego and co-author of the study, said, "A lot of people believe that this is a freedom of religion issue, but it's not. You can't be allowed to abuse your children based on your religious beliefs. These kids died of things that are easily treatable in any community medical center, appendicitis, pneumonia, diabetes - things that kids rarely die from in this country." The study looked at 172 child deaths in the US which were known to have occurred in faith-healing-only situations.