In response to the Fox News story about parents who prayed for 30 days rather than take her to the doctor (found here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342249,00.html), I decided to put up a poll to see readers thoughts on the matter.
After reading the story, take the poll below.
Tags: Faith, faith healing, Fox news, Madeline Neumann, medical neglect, medicine, parental control, religion, wisconsin
March 29, 2008 at 4:48 pm
If you want to neglect your own health, fine…do so at your own peril. However, you have an obligation and responsibility to your child. That’s why God gave us doctors.
April 3, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Legally, you can’t. We discussed this at length in B-Soc 205 last semester. The courts have upheld the notion that competent adults can refuse medical treatment (for example, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions), but parents don’t have the right to refuse treatment for an infant. There’s some debate about whether or not teenagers can refuse it for themselves, but certainly 3-year olds can’t.