Showing posts with label Faith healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith healing. Show all posts

Friday, April 16, 2021

Michigan Statute Protecting Parents' Faith Healing Includes Subjective Religious Interpretations

Michigan's Child Protection Law (MCL 722.634) provides:

A parent or guardian legitimately practicing his religious beliefs who thereby does not provide specified medical treatment for a child, for that reason alone shall not be considered a negligent parent or guardian.

In In re Piland, (MI App., April 15, 2021), a Michigan state appellate court held that the trial court erred in refusing to give a jury instruction based on this statute in a case in which parental rights for three children were being revoked.  The parents had allowed a newborn infant who developed jaundice to die rather than call for medical help. The trial court had refused the instruction because it interpreted the statute to relate only to the practice of beliefs of a religious organization, and not to individualized beliefs.  The appellate court disagreed, saying in part:

The trial court’s interpretation of the word “legitimately,” as used in MCL 722.634, is that the religious beliefs being practiced must be legitimate. And, that, in order to be legitimate, those beliefs had to be part of the doctrine or tenants of a religion as opposed to a parent or guardian’s subjective interpretation of scriptures. The trial court’s interpretation, however, renders the statute unconstitutional. It is well-established that “government has no role in deciding or even suggesting whether the religious ground” for a person’s actions “is legitimate or illegitimate.” 

Monday, March 26, 2018

Faith Healing Parents Convicted In Daughter's Death

AP reports that in Reading, Pennsylvania, Jonathan and Grace Foster were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the death of their 2-year old daughter.  The Fosters are members of Faith Tabernacle Congregation which teaches that doctors and pharmaceuticals should be avoided.  Their daughter died of pneumonia after the couple failed to seek medical treatment for the girl whose cold symptoms turned severe.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Suit By Man Injured Through Faith Healing May Proceed

In Sung-Ho Hwang v. Grace Road Church, (ED NY, March 14, 2016), a New York federal district court allowed a mentally ill man (in a suit through his conservator) to move ahead with negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision claims against a Korean-based church and its members who forced him off his prescription medications and attempted to cure him through religious healing. Plaintiffs' treatment of defendant-- including tying his wrists, ankles, and knees in a chair or bed with duct tape, and placing a sock in his mouth to restrain his screams at night-- led to amputation of his right leg and exacerbation of his psychotic symptoms.  The court rejected a number of procedural defenses and, in permitting the negligent infliction claim to move forward, said:
Even if the church and its members had no duty to plaintiff until the moment they restrained him, they acquired a duty to exercise reasonable care to secure his safety during the period of his restraint.
New York Law Journal reports on the decision.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

In England, Couple Sentenced To Prison In Faith Healing Death of Their Daughter

In England yesterday, a court in Nottingham sentenced Brian and Precious Kandare to nine and one-half and eight years respectively in the faith healing death of their 8-month old daughter.  According to the Wolverhampton Express & Star,  the couple were members of the Apostolistic Church of God.  The husband was a pastor in the church.  Despite some nursing training on the part of the mother, the couple believed that evil spirits were causing their infant daughter not to thrive.  Instead of seeking medical help, they relied on ritual and prayer in accordance with the church's teaching. They ignored advice to give their daughter vitamin supplements, missed appointments for health check ups, and took the daughter to a faith healer as her condition worsened.  The daughter died of severe malnutrition.

Friday, October 09, 2015

Oregon Supreme Court Upholds Convictions of Faith Healing Parents For Criminal Negligence

In State of Oregon v. Hickman, (OR Sup. Ct., Oct. 8, 2015), the Oregon Supreme Court unanimously upheld the second degree manslaughter convictions of Dale and Shannon Hickman.  The Hickmans, members of the Followers of Christ Church, were charged with criminal negligence in the death of their prematurely-born seriously ill infant son. The parents had prayed for their son and anointed him with olive oil instead of seeking medical help for him when, nine hours after he was born, he developed severe respiratory problems.  In upholding the convictions, the Supreme Court said:
In this case, the only issue before us is whether ... the state was required by free exercise principles to prove that defendants acted or failed to act with a knowing, rather than criminally negligent, mental state. We hold that it was not.
Oregon Live reports on the decision.  [Thanks to Charles Hinkle for the lead.]

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Spiritual Healing Exemption Interpreted Narrowly

In State of Tennessee v. Crank, (TN Sup. Ct.,Feb. 13, 2015), the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence to 1-year probation of Jacqueline Crank, a member of the Universal Life Church, who was indicted for child neglect based upon her failure to obtain medical treatment for her daughter.  Her daughter died at age 15 of a rare form of cancer.  Crank argued for acquittal based on Tennessee's "spiritual treatment" statute, TN Code Ann.39-15-402(c), that prevents prosecution of parents who "provide[] treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone in accordance with the tenets or practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof in lieu of medical or surgical treatment." The trial court however held that the Universal Life Church did not qualify as a "recognized church or religious denomination."  Crank appealed arguing that the exemption is unconstitutionally vague, and violates the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses.  The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected the vagueness argument, holding:
Viewed in context, it is apparent that the legislative intent was for the exemption to apply to members of religious bodies which, like the Church of Christian Science, are established institutions with doctrines or customs that authorize healers within the church to perform spiritual treatment via prayer in lieu of medical care. Because the exemption is effectively limited to members of religious groups that closely resemble the Christian Science Church, the terms at issue are not so vague that the scope of the exemption “cannot be ascertained.”
Then, addressing Crank's argument that the exemption narrowed in this way violates the Establishment Clause and Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court said it need not decide that question because, even if Crank is correct, this would lead to elision of the entire spiritual treatment exemption from the child neglect statute. The Court issued a press release and summary of the decision. AP reports on the decision.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

$108M Damages In Faith-Healing Death Upheld

In Mansfield v. Horner, (MO App., June 17, 2014), a Missouri state appellate court upheld a wrongful death judgment of over $108 million in the faith-healing death of Misty Mansfield growing out of complications after the stillbirth of her child.  The suit was brought by Misty's parents against her husband Caleb Horner and Caleb's brother, John, who was the leader of the faith-healing sect to which Caleb and Misty belonged.  The sect, which Misty joined only when she married Caleb, also required a wife to be submissive to their husband's decisions.  Caleb convinced Misty not to go to the hospital when complications arose during her labor at home, and the breech delivery was botched by Caleb and his religious-based birth team.  Caleb's brother John arrived after the stillbirth and prayed for hours attempting to raise the child from the dead, while Misty was not treated for her vaginal cuts and an emergency team that arrived 9 hours later was denied access to Misty by Caleb. A month after the delivery, Misty died from an ongoing infection.

The appeals court rejected nine objections to the trial court's refusal to override the jury's verdict, including an objection that the suit violates the First Amendment's free exercise clause.  Rejecting that argument, the court said in part:
None of [the jury] instructions required the jury to determine the validity of the Horners' belief in faith healing. The jury never had to determine "the truth or falsity" of faith healing. Instead, the instructions required the jury to determine whether or not the Horners' actions -- particularly with respect to Caleb's actions during the home birth and John and Caleb's actions preventing Misty from seeking medical treatment following the home birth -- constituted negligence. Thus, we do not conclude that the trial court committed plain error in overruling the Horners' motion for JNOV with respect to their claim of a First Amendment violation.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Faith Healing Parents Get 3 1/2 to 7 Years In Death of Child

In Philadelphia yesterday, Herbert and Catherine Schaible were sentenced to three and one-half to seven years in prison in the faith-healing death from pneumonia of their 8-month old son last year. The couple pleaded no-contest to third degree murder charges in the case. At the time of the death, the couple were already on 10-years probation for the similar death of another of their children for whom they failed to seek medical treatment. (See prior posting.) The couple belong to the First Century Gospel Church which teaches that illness is to be healed through prayer. AP reports that the prosecution had asked for sentences of 8 to 16 years:
“It was so foreseeable to me that this was going to happen,” said Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted both cases. “Everybody in the system failed these children.”
After the first death, she and public defender Mythri Jayaraman agreed that the couple’s beliefs were so ingrained that their children remained at risk. They asked the earlier judge to have the family supervised by a Department of Human Services caseworker. Instead, the judge assigned them to probation officers, who are not trained to monitor children’s welfare.
In sentencing the couple, Judge Benjamin Lerner told them: "You’ve killed two of your children. ... Not God. Not your church. Not religious devotion. You."