We would like to share with you the stories of some of the children who have died because of religion-based medical neglect. Bear in mind that many others have been disabled or psychologically harmed as a result of this sort of neglect. These particular accounts are well-documented and representative of the problem.
In our view, these children's parents are neither bad people nor morally innocent. We feel their tragically wrong behavior is motivated mainly by fear and confusion.
Religious exemption laws add to the confusion because they are used by certain churches as evidence that the state endorses the withholding of medical care on religious grounds. The parents may not comprehend the risk they are taking with their child's life when they believe that the state endorses their action. The Christian Science church even uses the religious exemption laws as evidence that legislators agree with them that Christian Science can heal all diseases as effectively as medical care.
We believe that these cases show the need to remove religious exemptions from child health care requirements. Surely they illustrate the fact that the state cannot always protect children with court orders. People have many inhibitions about reporting child abuse. Furthermore, many sick children in faith-healing sects are seen only by fellow church members.
IAN
Ian Lundman, age 11, died of diabetes in 1989 in suburban Minneapolis. His father had left Christian Science, but did not have custody. The boy lost weight and became lethargic. A school official noticed a fruity odor on Ian's breath, a classic diabetes symptom, but did not recognize it as such nor did she know his mother and stepfather had religious beliefs against medical care.
They retained a Christian Science practitioner for spiritual treatment of Ian's illness. The practitioner billed them $446 for his prayers.
An unlicensed Christian Science nurse sat by Ian's bedside for the last five hours of his life as he lay in a diabetic coma. She knew that he did not respond to anyone. She observed his vomiting, labored breathing, excessive urination, facial spasms, and clenched teeth. Nevertheless, her concept of care was to give him drops of water through a straw and to tie a sandwich bag and washcloth around his scrotum. She did not call for medical help or ask his mother to obtain it.
Ian's father filed a wrongful death suit against the mother, stepfather, Christian Science practitioner and nurse, the Christian Science church, and other church agents. A jury awarded him $5 million in compensatory damages and $9 million in punitive damages.
The award was later reduced to $1.5 million. An appellate court dismissed charges against the church, but held that the practitioner and nurse had a duty to obtain medical care for the child. The Minnesota and U.S. Supreme Courts refused to review the ruling.
McKown v. Lundman, 516 U. S. 1099, cert. denied (1996), is the first suit in the wrongful death of a Christian Science child to be presented to a jury. The higher court ruling that Christian Science "providers" have a duty to obtain medical care for a sick child may make them less reckless in children's cases. However, Christian Science church officials trivialize the ruling, saying it is relevant only to Minnesota. "We'll still continue to practice our religion as we have been for a hundred years," said the church's public relations manager. The New York Times, January 23, 1996, p. 1.
Christian Science nurse Quinna Lamb Giebelhaus who cared for Ian testified that Christian Science is an excellent method of treating juvenile-onset diabetes and that Christian Science nurses are well trained to care for patients sick with all diseases. She was asked at trial what training she had received specific to the care of sick children. Her only answer was that she had been taught to cut sandwiches in interesting shapes.
Giebelhaus has a testimony about how she healed herself with Christian Science in the January 26, 1998, Christian Science Sentinel.
MATTHEW
Matthew Swan, age 16 months, died of spinal meningitis in 1977 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents, Doug and Rita Swan, both lifelong Christian Scientists, retained Christian Science practitioners for spiritual "treatments."
The practitioners repeatedly said they were healing Matthew. Symptoms were reinterpreted as evidence of healing. For example, one practitioner who observed the baby's convulsions said he might be "gritting his teeth" because he was "planning some great achievement." The practitioners demanded more faith and gratitude from the Swans. They complained that the Swans' fears and other sins were obstructing their treatment.
After nearly two weeks of serious illness, a practitioner said Matthew might have a broken bone and that Christian Scientists are allowed to go to doctors for setting of broken bones. The Swans took Matthew to a hospital, where the disease was diagnosed as Hemophilus influenza meningitis. He lived for a week in intensive care. The Christian Science practitioners would not pray for him while he had medical care.
The Swans left the Christian Science church shortly after their son's death and later founded CHILD.
The Christian Science Church continues to misinform its members and endanger their children by claiming it can heal spinal meningitis. CHILD believes its "healings" are of viral meningitis, which may well be symptomless and, in any event, usually causes no permanent injury with or without treatment. By contrast, the bacterial form of meningitis which killed Matthew Swan is nearly 100% fatal without antibiotic treatment and 95% curable with antibiotics. Today it is also vaccine-preventable.
AMY
Amy Hermanson, 7, died in 1986 in Sarasota, Florida. A talented little girl, she took piano, violin, harp, and art lessons, and excelled in academic subjects also. Many teachers and employees at her mother's business observed Amy's weight loss and lethargy over a four-week period, but did not report to Child Protection Services (CPS). They did not know she had diabetes. Some assumed the parents were providing medical treatment. One employee said she did not report to CPS because she knew the Hermansons were Christian Scientists and they were "signing [her] paycheck." A neighbor urged her mother to take her to a doctor, but the mother refused. A few minutes later, Amy crawled in from another room on her hands and knees and begged her mother to take her home. Her aunt said that she was incoherent and unable to focus her eyes the day before she died.
The Hermansons were convicted of felony child abuse and third-degree murder. In 1992, however, the Florida Supreme Court overturned their conviction on fair notice grounds. Citing a religious exemption in Florida's civil code, the Court said, "The statutes have created a trap that the legislature should address." Sixteen years later, however, the Florida legislature still has not done so.
ROBYN
In 1986, Robyn Twitchell, age 2, who lived near Boston, died of peritonitis and a twisted bowel after a five-day illness. It began with his screaming and vomiting. By the second day, his parents Ginger and David Twitchell were calling the Christian Science church's worldwide public relations manager for advice. He assured them that the law granted them the right to use Christian Science treatment instead of medical treatment.
On the fourth day, a church nurse recorded: "Child listless at times, rejecting all food, moaning in pain, three wounds on thigh." The nurse force-fed him and directed his mother to feed him every half hour. On the fifth day, he was vomiting "a brown, foul-smelling substance." Autopsy photos showed bright red lips and chin, probably because the acid in the vomit had eaten the skin off. His scrotum and about 15 inches of his ruptured intestine were jet black because their blood supply had been cut off. He was so dehydrated that his skin stayed up when pinched. Neighbors closed their bedroom window so they would not hear the boy's screams.
At the Twitchells' trial, a Christian Science practitioner testified that she had achieved a complete healing of Robyn and that he had run around happily chasing his kitty cat 15 minutes before he died. Rigor mortis had set in before the parents called 911.
Ginger and David Twitchell were convicted of manslaughter in 1990. In 1993 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the conviction on a technicality, but also ruled that parents had a legal duty to provide necessary medical care for their children regardless of their religious beliefs. Later that year the Massachusetts legislature repealed a religious exemption to a misdemeanor in large part because of public outrage over Robyn's painful death.
Massachusetts today has no religious exemptions in the criminal code and no exemptions in the civil code dealing with medical care for sick children. The state does however have religious exemptions from immunizations, metabolic testing of newborns, and lead poison screening.
ANDREW
Andrew Wantland, age 12, died of untreated diabetes in LaHabra, California, in 1992. A Christian Science practitioner attempted to heal him with prayer for four days. He lost thirty pounds. On the last day of his life, he was emaciated, vomiting, and urinating frequently. Later in the day he was unable to eat, drink, make eye contact, speak, or move around.
His mother, Gayle Quigley, lived in Philadelphia and was not a Christian Scientist. She had joint custody of Andrew and had made it clear that she wanted medical care provided for her children.
Nevertheless, neither Andrew's father, the Christian Science faith healer, nor other church officials informed Mrs. Quigley that her son was ill.
No criminal charges were filed in the boy's death. Mrs. Quigley filed a civil wrongful death action against the Christian Science church, the practitioner, Andrew's father, grandmother, and others. The district court, however, ruled that only the father could be held responsible, and an appellate court upheld the ruling in a split decision. Quigley then dropped the suit. See Quigley v. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, et al., 76 Cal. Rep. 2nd 792.
HARRISON
In 1998 two-year-old Harrison Johnson, shown here with his friend Megan, was stung 432 times by wasps while the family was visiting church friends in Tampa, Florida. His parents asked neighborhood children and fellow church members to pray for him, but did not call for medical help until more than 7 hours after the attack.
Six minutes after the 911 call, the EMT's arrived to find the toddler without a pulse and not breathing. His pupils were fixed and dilated. His parents admitted the boy had been unresponsive for 30 to 45 minutes.
An Orlando pediatrician told the press that the toddler would likely have displayed alarming symptoms. He would have been crying and in great pain until he slipped into shock. His lungs would have filled with fluid.
His parents belong to a group called The Fellowship, which reportedly shuns all medical care on grounds that doctors practice witchcraft.
A former medical nurse, Carol Balizet, of Tampa attended Harrison's home delivery and was present with him for several hours after he was stung. She advised the parents that he did not need medical care. Her book BORN IN ZION promotes Christian home births and argues that medical care is linked to pagan witchcraft.
The Johnsons were charged with felony child abuse. The judge, however, instructed the jury that the state must prove that the parents willfully or intentionally caused the harm to the child. The jury acquitted.
NANCY
At the age of five, Nancy Brewster of El Paso, Texas, developed lumps on her neck and threw up repeatedly. She was too sick to go to school after first grade. A Christian Science practitioner prayed for Nancy. She urged the girl and her mother to deny the symptoms of the illness as an illusion. Nancy was constantly told that she was God’s perfect child and nothing could be wrong with her.
Nancy was made to exercise in 100 degree–plus heat and forced to eat even though she was vomiting. Both her mother and the practitioner believed that Nancy was just being stubborn. Her mother sometimes even beat Nancy and blamed her for not getting healed. Nancy got no pain relief, even an aspirin. She was not held or comforted because that would be giving reality to the disease.
Nancy died September 29, 1963, at age 7. Her death certificate lists “probable malignant lymphoma” as the cause.
She had no obituary or funeral service. Her mother told her siblings to think that Nancy had just gone on a trip to Africa. In her family home, Nancy was never spoken of again. Like illness, death was considered unreal in Christian Science theology.
Her mother later became a Christian Science practitioner and published a testimony in the January, 1984, Christian Science Journal with a disturbing omission. “Rearing four children with total reliance on God for healing was a joy. I cannot remember an activity missed because of illness,” she wrote.
As Caroline Fraser writes, however, “In fact, Mrs. Brewster had five children. The unmentioned fifth child who has been revised out of this testimony—indeed, out of life itself—was Nancy Brewster.” (Fraser, God’s Perfect Child, 428)
Nancy's big sister published an obituary and held a memorial service for Nancy on the 40th anniversary of her death, and publishes an In Memoriam every year to honor and remember Nancy.
