But in 34 states (as well as the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico), there are exemptions in the civil child abuse statutes when medical treatment for a child conflicts with the religious beliefs of parents, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Full Answer
Can a child receive medical treatment based on religious beliefs?
In the Child Abuse Prevention Treatment Act of 1996, Congress legislated that there was no federal requirement that a child must be provided “medical service or treatment against the religious beliefs of the parent or legal guardian.”
Should Idaho’s laws protect parents who refuse medical treatment for religion?
The report has prompted some of Idaho’s legislators to begin pushing for a repeal of state laws that protected the parents of these children from civil and criminal liability when they refuse to seek medical treatment for religious reasons.
Which religions can limit medical treatment?
‘Inoculate yourself with the word of God’: How religion can limit medical treatment 1 Jehovah’s Witnesses. Just be firmly resolved not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the flesh. 2 The Amish. ... 3 Seventh-day Adventists. ... 4 Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. ... 5 Christian Scientists. ...
Which states allow restrictions based on personal beliefs in child care?
For example, Maine allows restrictions based on "moral, philosophical or other personal beliefs," and Minnesota allows objections based on “conscientiously held beliefs of the parent or guardian.” *Missouri's philosophical exemption only applies to day care centers.
Can a parent deny medical treatment to their child because of their religion?
Religious Beliefs are Not a Defense for Denying Treatment to a Child. Adults have the right to refuse their own medical care for religious or personal reasons. However, this legal right to refuse medical care does not extend to their children if it endangers the child's welfare.
What is the religion that refuses medical treatment?
Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Scientists are the two most common religious doctrines that may dictate treatment refusal, limitation, or preference for prayer.
Can doctors override religion?
The law may vary by state and is still a very complex issue and topic of discussion. But in emergency situations, doctors may be forced to override a patient's wishes, including their religious beliefs, and provide them with the treatment that they need to survive.
Can I refuse medication for my child?
They're the fifth set of parents from the church to face criminal charges over the past nine years for failing to seek medical care for their children, according to The Washington Post. In the United States, adults can refuse any medical care, as long as they're competent to make their own decisions.
Can parents withhold medical treatment?
Parents have the responsibility and authority to make medical decisions on behalf of their children. This includes the right to refuse or discontinue treatments, even those that may be life-sustaining. However, parental decision-making should be guided by the best interests of the child.
Can a doctor refuse to treat a patient based on religious beliefs?
Justice dictates that physicians provide care to all who need it, and it is illegal for a physician to refuse services based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. But sometimes patients request services that are antithetical to the physician's personal beliefs.
Does religious restrict the treatments?
The court held that the First Amendment protects religious belief, but the state may impose restrictions on practice. Thus, a religious practice jeopardizing the health, safety, or welfare of the person can be limited (see Rozovsky, p. 338).
What states have a conscience clause?
Conscience clauses have been adopted by a number of U.S. states. including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.
Do parents have a religious right to refuse a life saving blood transfusion for their child?
While the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom to practice religion, courts have not interpreted that freedom to include the right to refuse lifesaving treatment for a child on the basis of that religion (11).
When can a parent parents refuse medical treatment for a child?
Alberta uses the mature minor doctrine for youth giving consent to medical treatments. If you are a minor (under the age of majority) in Canada, you can generally make your own medical decisions if: you are mature enough to make your own informed decisions; and. you understand the consequences of your decision.
What if parents disagree on medical treatment?
If your child's legal custodian refuses a life-saving or life-improving medication, surgery, vaccine, or other medical procedure and you disagree, you can petition the court for intervention.
When can the government override a parent's medical decision in the US?
If the child's parents are not acting in the best interest of their welfare, the state can override parental decisions. At the end of the day, the child's life is the primary concern. A parent can face loss of custody or criminal charges for failing to provide the necessary medical care for their child.
Which amendment guarantees freedom of religion?
The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion, but debate continues over whether it prevails when medical practitioners determine that conventional medical therapies are necessary but individuals or their families are opposed for reasons of conscience.
What case did the Supreme Court rule that a judge ordered a Jehovah's Witness to receive blood?
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in the case of In re Estate of Brooks (1965) that a county judge’s ordered transfusion for a Jehovah’s Witness was an unconstitutional invasion of a person’s religious beliefs. In similar cases, a Milwaukee judge refused to order blood transfusions for a 6-year-old boy whose mother objected.
Why did Jacob Dilgard refuse blood transfusion?
In 1962 a New York state judge ruled that 69-year-old Jacob Dilgard could refuse a blood transfusion on religious grounds. Dilgard died. One year later, Jesse E. Jones, a 25 year-old Jehovah’s Witness, needed an urgent blood transfusion to prevent her death from a ruptured ulcer. She and her husband, who had a young child, refused the transfusion, so the hospital turned to the federal court for an immediate order permitting it to act to save Jones’s life. Judge J. Skelly Wright met with the couple, who reiterated their opposition, while the physicians affirmed the matter’s urgency. Focusing on the imminent threat to the woman’s life, Judge Wright ordered the transfusions.
What was the case of Miller v. Winter?
In 1971 the Court received Miller v. Winter — the case of a Christian Scientist involuntarily residing in a mental institution who refused to take tranquilizers — but declined by a vote of 9-0 to review it. A divided court of appeals upheld the free-exercise claim.
Which case ruled that personal freedoms must at times be relinquished for the benefits of the larger society?
A related issue is whether the state can intervene in the place of a parent. In Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), the Supreme Court had upheld compulsory smallpox vaccinations despite individual religious beliefs, ruling that personal freedoms must at times be relinquished for the benefits of the larger society.
Is there a religious right to endanger a child's health?
Many believe that prosecuting already grieving parents makes little sense. Others argue that there is no religious right to endanger a child’s health.
Who was the judge for the Jones family?
Judge J. Skelly Wright met with the couple, who reiterated their opposition, while the physicians affirmed the matter’s urgency.
Why do religious groups turn down medical care?
Barfield says that many religious groups will turn down certain types of medical care because they believe the consequence is eternal damnation. "If you put eternal damnation against taking a flu shot, probably the flu shot's going to lose," he says.
What is the religious exemption for child abuse?
Religious exemptions in civil and criminal child abuse laws are linked to the 1974 federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which was construed to mean that states were required to implement faith-based healing exceptions, according to Pew.
How many children have died in Idaho since 1970?
Since Idaho enacted a faith-based healing exemption in the 1970s, child advocates estimate more than 180 children have died or were stillborn in families that practiced a religion that shuns modern medicine.
Why did 5 children die in Idaho?
In 2016, a state government task force concluded that five children in Idaho died three years earlier because their parents did not seek medical treatment for them due to their religious beliefs. Studies in the 1980s and '90s have also documented measles outbreaks and high mortality rates among Christian Scientists.
What is the Michigan case?
The Michigan case, among others, is raising questions about whether these laws should be changed. But sometimes it's difficult to protect both religious freedom and the health of a child, says Dr. Ray Barfield, a professor of pediatrics and Christian philosophy at Duke University.
Can a parent forgo medical treatment for a child?
Every state in the U.S. has laws protecting children from abuse and neglect, but in 34 states and the District of Columbia, there are religious exemptions that allow parents to forgo medical treatment for a child if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Can doctors write off patients who object to medical care due to religious reasons?
But Barfield says doctors shouldn't completely write off patients who object to medical care due to religious reasons. Duke's theology, medicine and culture program seeks to teach medical students how to understand how different religious beliefs can clash with medical care.
What is the Supreme Court case that ruled that religious beliefs are not a compelling interest?
The 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case of Reynolds v. U.S. (98 US 145) which involved polygamous marriage practices, set a precedent that, while guaranteeing the free exercise of religious beliefs, permits the state in certain circumstances to limit religious practices. Generally, when the state can demonstrate a compelling interest in the preservation or promotion of health, life, safety, or welfare religious practices may be curtailed (Rozovsky, pp. 440-441).
What happens if a parent refuses to allow treatment in Connecticut?
When parents decline to permit treatment on the ground that it conflicts with their religious beliefs, actions can be instituted under applicable child welfare or other laws to have the child removed (at least temporarily) from the parents'custody. The agency or person in whom custody is vested can then consent to necessary medical care. Connecticut's comparable law on this can be found at CGS §§ 45a-603 to 622 (see attached).
What was the purpose of the Stamford Hospital v. Vega case?
Vega, (236 Conn. 646 (1996), the plaintiff hospital sought an injunction to authorize the administration of a blood transfusion to the defendant patient who had refused to give consent. The defendant (a Jehovah's Witness) bled heavily following the birth of a healthy baby. The attending physician and other hospital physicians believed it was essential that she receive blood transfusions for survival.
What is the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling on blood transfusions?
A recent Connecticut Supreme Court decision found that the administration by a hospital of blood transfusions over the objection of a patient who had just delivered a baby violated her common law right of bodily self-determination. The court found that the hospital's interest in protecting its patient did not extend to the patient's baby, whose health was not in danger.
What did the trial court do to the baby?
The trial court, relying on the state's interests in preserving life and protecting innocent third parties such as the baby, granted the injunction. The hospital had claimed that the baby would have been abandoned had the defendant died and that the defendant's life would be saved by the transfusions.
What is the basis for court intervention?
The other basis for court intervention is the state's “parens patriae” power —parents are presumed at law to provide for the necessities of life required by their children. If a parent fails in this, such as by refusing to provide the child with necessary medical care, the state may step in to protect the child and get the necessary care (Rozovsky, p. 338).
Which amendment protects religious beliefs?
The court held that the First Amendment protects religious belief, but the state may impose restrictions on practice. Thus, a religious practice jeopardizing the health, safety, or welfare of the person can be limited (see Rozovsky, p.338).
Why do some parents refuse medical treatment?
For example, members of the Followers of Christ refuse all medical treatment in favor of prayer, anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands. 12 Christian Scientists may use dentists and physicians for “mechanical” procedures, such as setting bones or childbirth, but consider most illnesses to be the result of the individual’s mental attitude and seek healing through spiritual means, such as prayer. They consider these healing practices incompatible with concurrent medical treatment. 13 Other religious groups prohibit only specific medical interventions. On the basis of their interpretation of scripture, Jehovah’s Witnesses only prohibit the use of blood and its major fractions. 14 Understanding these differences is important in identifying whether there are mutually acceptable alternatives.
What are the rights of a parent to make medical decisions?
Although parents have broad authority, they have less discretion in making medical decisions for their children than for themselves. On the basis of the ethical principles of autonomy and respect for persons, capacitated adults should have wide license in making medical decisions for themselves, including the refusal of potentially life-saving medical treatment. Their liberty should only be limited in cases of direct harm to third parties, such as the risk of transmitting serious infectious diseases. Infants and children lack the ability to make autonomous medical decisions; therefore, the law generally authorizes their parents or guardians to make such decisions on their behalf. These decisions should primarily focus on the child’s best interests. 3,4 Clinicians should afford parents and guardians significant discretion in their interpretation of these interests and collaborate with them to develop treatment plans that promote their children’s health. Although family autonomy and privacy are important social values, parents’ choices may be limited when they rise to the level of abuse or neglect. 5
What are the consequences of religious refusal?
Some religious refusals have, tragically, led to children’s deaths from readily treatable conditions, such as pneumonia, appendicitis, or diabetes. 12,15 Although the free exercise of religion, including parents teaching their children their religious beliefs, is an important societal value, it must be balanced against other important societal values, such as protecting children from serious harm. 16 In some situations, the issue is primarily an empirical one—the relative efficacy of medical and spiritual interventions. Although systematic empirical evidence of the efficacy of religious interventions is often lacking, the courts can judge efficacy by using criteria generally accepted by both parents and health care providers. In other situations, the issue involves differing conceptions of benefit and harm. Parents and guardians should have significant discretion in weighing the risks and benefits of a proposed treatment. At times, the primary benefit of refusing medical treatment or seeking alternative nonmedical treatment is religious or spiritual, such as the implications of the treatment on the patient’s eternal salvation. In such cases, the potential benefit cannot be evaluated by using generally accepted criteria. In such situations, the child’s future ability to decide this contested issue for himself or herself should be protected. 17 Some adolescents may possess adequate decision-making capacity to comprehend and evaluate the risks and benefits of medical treatment. The possibility of coercion should also be considered in the evaluation of whether a capacitated adolescent’s dissent is autonomous. 18
What is medical neglect?
Failure to provide children with essential medical care has been increasingly recognized as a form of neglect. In 1983, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) amended its definition of negligent treatment to include failure to provide adequate medical care. 6 A number of factors are relevant to the evaluation of suspected medical neglect, including likelihood and magnitude of the harm of foregoing medical treatment and the benefits, risks, and burdens of the proposed treatment. 7,–9 For example, the risk of an individual unimmunized child contracting a communicable vaccine-preventable disease may be low if immunization rates in the community are high and disease prevalence is low. 10 Serious harms include death, severe disability, or severe pain. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect identifies a variety of factors that can lead to children not receiving appropriate medical care and corresponding graduated management options for pediatricians. For example, lack of awareness, knowledge, or skills can be addressed by counseling and education. 7 Ethics consultation is an additional management option. 7,11 If less-restrictive alternatives are not available or successful, pediatricians should refer families to child protective services agencies. In emergencies, providers may be ethically justified in administering treatment immediately necessary to preserve life, prevent serious disability, or treat severe pain. They should notify child protective services as soon as possible.
How long does a pediatric policy last?
All policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.
Is the American Academy of Pediatrics copyrighted?
This document is copyrighted and is the property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. All authors have filed conflict of interest statements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has neither solicited nor accepted any commercial involvement in the development of the content of this publication.
Does Medicare cover Christian Science?
For example, Medicare and Medicaid cover care provided at Christian Science sanatoria and other religious nonmedical health care institutions and exempt these institutions from medical oversight requirements. 23 In addition, there were unsuccessful efforts to include coverage of Christian Science practitioners in the 2009 federal health care reform bills 24 and ongoing efforts to include their services in the essential health benefits package. These efforts should be distinguished from both health care services provided by religious organizations, such as Roman Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist hospitals, and pastoral care provided as a bundled service.
How many states require school immunizations?
All 50 states have legislation requiring specified vaccines for students. Although exemptions vary from state to state, all school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons.
Which bill requires a public school to create and maintain a report that provides certain information regarding the number and percentage of?
Arkansas House Bill 1786 requires a public or private school to create and maintain a report that provides certain information regarding the number and percentage of students who have an exemption from the requirement to obtain vaccinations. Maine House Bill 586 removes personal and religious belief exemptions for public school immunization ...
Can you get a religious exemption for a child?
Yes. No. Religious exemption indicates that there is a provision in the statute that allows parents to exempt their children from vaccination if it contradicts their sincere religious beliefs. Philosophical exemption indicates that the statutory language does not restrict the exemption to purely religious or spiritual beliefs.
What is faith healing exception in Wisconsin?
A tension exists in Wisconsin law regarding faith healing exceptions. For conviction under the state’s reckless homicide statute, a court must find that a person created an “unreasonable and substantial risk of death or great bodily harm” and that the person was aware of the risk that led to the death of the victim [12].
What is faith healing?
Such “faith healing” is a resignation to divine will for healing that is effectuated through spiritual practices such as prayer, laying hands on, and anointment with oil [3, 4]. Currently, 30 states have exceptions to child-neglect laws that provide shelter from misdemeanor violations to parents who treat their children through prayer in accord ...
How did NM die in People v. Rippberger?
California has a religious exception to misdemeanor child neglect with no judicial bypass provision. In People v. Rippberger, 8-month-old NM died after 2 weeks of illness and no biomedical intervention in keeping with her parents’ Christian Scientist beliefs [7]. NM suffered flu-like symptoms for the first week, at which point her parents called a Christian Scientist nurse. The next week, NM’s condition worsened: her eyes often rolled to the back of her head, her body became rigid, she suffered heavy convulsions and was often unresponsive. The nurse treated these symptoms with prayer and scripture readings, but NM died at the end of the second week. The autopsy revealed that NM had died of acute purulent meningitis, which medical doctors testified was treatable with antibiotics. The state charged NM’s parents with felony child endangerment under section 273 of the state penal code [7].
Is there a religious exception to the Wisconsin child neglect statute?
There is no religious exception for this statute [12]. There is, however, a religious exception in the Wisconsin child-neglect statute that absolves parents from child-neglect liability if they rely on “prayer or other religious means for treatment of disease or for remedial care of the child” [13].
Does Washington have a religious exception?
No Religious Exception. Washington does not have a religious exception to its child-neglect law. In State v. Norman, the Normans failed to seek medical care for their 10-year-old son, AN, because of the beliefs of their church, No-Name Fellowship [10]. AN lost weight and excessively drank water and urinated.
Is religious freedom absolute?
It is a well-established principle that constitutionally protected religious freedoms are not absolute, and the government is willing to narrowly limit such freedoms to the extent necessary to protect the welfare of its children [1, 6, 7, 9, 10].
When did the federal government soften its support for the parental right of refusal?
In 1983 , the federal government softened its support for the parental. right of refusal by taking a more neutral stance on religious exemptions. It no longer required states to recognize a religious exception in order to. be eligible for a federal grant, leaving states free to choose whether or.
What is the legal age for minors to be independent?
minors reach the legal age of autonomy at eighteen.' Until that age, in
Can children be tried as adults?
i. For example, for certain crimes children can be legally tried as adults. For a history of juvenile
Do courts have to deal with disagreements?
courts have yet to deal with the scenario of a disagreement between
Does Nebraska have a constitutional right to control the upbringing of their children?
Nebraska that parents have a constitutional right to control the. upbringing of their children.'. Since then, the Court has upheld this right, by limiting state interference in parental decisions regarding the. education, religion, association, and healthcare of their children Most.
How do patient religious attitudes affect treatment decisions?
How patient religious attitudes affect treatment decisions was the focus of a recent JAMA article that received widespread attention in the professional and lay press [1]. On the surface, the article seemed to show that terminal cancer patients who are religious receive more aggressive therapy with no added benefit than similar patients who are not religious. In an insightful journal discussion, Kyle B. Brothers discusses this article and its methodology and questions how much it can tell us about the association between religious beliefs and use of aggressive treatment at the end of life.
Does religion intersect with medicine?
This separation, however, frequently breaks down. As two important ways that people respond to human suffering, religion and medicine are bound to intersect. Often this intersection is not problematic. Occasionally, however, the values of secular medicine conflict with the values of religion. This issue of Virtual Mentor explores some of the problems and questions that arise when religion and medicine intersect and how we as health care professionals ought to respond to them.
Do physicians have religious beliefs?
Patients are not the only parties in the clinical encounter whose spirituality might shape their values. Physicians too have religious views, including agnosticism and atheism, that influence their encounters with patients, especially when patients bring up their own spirituality. In one case in this issue, an agnostic physician adopts religious reasoning to persuade his patient to make medically appropriate lifestyle changes to reduce his risk of stroke. Commentator Keith G. Meador explores some of the problems of both inauthentic use of religious language and use of religion as a means to a medical end. Building on this case, neurologists Derek Riebau and Lisa Hermann have written a clinical pearl that summarizes current recommendations for secondary prevention of stroke.
Which religion does not condone the use of drugs, implants, skin grafts, or medical dressings?
Vaishnavism, the major branch of the Hindu faith, considers the killing of animals, especially cows, to be sinful. Therefore, the religion does not condone the use of any drugs, implants, skin grafts or medical dressings that contain parts of pigs or bovines.
Why don't Amish people have heart transplants?
The Amish will not allow heart transplants and, in some cases, heart surgery because they view the heart as “the soul of the body.” Children who have not been baptized are exempt from that restriction.
What do Christian scientists believe?
Christian Scientists. Christian Scientists believe that the primary method of healing should be through prayer, and many members have in the past been against modern medical treatments. There have been measles outbreaks among Christian Scientists, and studies have shown that mortality levels were high.
Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses eat blood?
Just be firmly resolved not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the flesh. - Deuteronomy 12:23. That’s just one of several Old and New Testament scriptures used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to explain why their religion refuses to accept blood transfusions. cnn/alberto mier.
Do Amish people seek medical attention?
An Amish horse-drawn buggy. Though the religion does not forbid its members from seeking medical attention, many Amish are reluctant to do so unless absolutely necessary. They believe that God is the ultimate healer, and they are likely to turn to folk remedies, herbal teas and other more “natural” antidotes.
Do Seventh Day Adventists have medical issues?
In fact, Seventh-day Adventists have no issue with standard medical treatment but do emphasize a holistic approach to health, which they practice in their not-for-profit Adventist hospital system, with divisions around the world.
Can a Christian science nurse give physical therapy?
Christian Science nurses can provide physical assistance and a “healing atmosphere” to their patients but do not “diagnose, administer drugs, or provide any sort of physical therapy or other medical treatment.”