Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 3
Peculiar Prophets: Biographical Dictionary of New Religions 132
Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart
Holy Smoke 133
Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart
“Cult Alert: A Practical Handbook for Saving Families 136
Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart
400 Years of Imaginary Friends: A Journey into the World of 138
Adepts, Masters, Ascended Masters and Their Messengers
Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart
The Giver 139
Reviewer: Joseph Szimhart
Index of Watchtower Errors 140
Reviewer: Everett Shropshire
New Age Almanac 141
Reviewer: Sharon Colvin
Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious 143
Personalities and Charismatic Cult Leaders
Reviewer: Lita Linzer Schwartz, Ph.D.
Multiple Personality Disorder from the Inside Out 144
Andrea Bloomgarden, Ph.D.
*Note: these pages referenced are different than the original published journal. Please check the end of each
article for the original pagination.

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 4
Child Fatalities From Religion-Motivated Medical Neglect
Seth M. Asser
University of California, San Diego
School of Medicine
Rita Swan
Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty (CHILD)
Abstract
Objective. To evaluate deaths of children from families in which faith healing
was practiced in lieu of medical care and to determine if such deaths were
preventable.
Design. Cases of child fatality in faith-healing sects were reviewed.
Probability of survival for each was then estimated based on expected
survival rates for children with similar disorders who receive medical care.
Participants. One hundred seventy-two children who died between 1975 and
1995 and were identified by referral or record search. Criteria for inclusion
were evidence that parents withheld medical care because of reliance on
religious rituals and documentation sufficient to determine the cause of
death.
Results. One hundred forty fatalities were from conditions for which survival
rates with medical care would have exceeded 90%. Eighteen more had
expected survival rates of 50%. All but three of the remainder would likely
have had some benefit from clinical help.
Conclusions. When faith healing is used to the exclusion of medical
treatment, the number of preventable child fatalities and the associated
suffering are substantial and warrant public concern. Existing laws may be
inadequate to protect children from this form of medical neglect. Pediatrics
1998 101 625-629 child abuse, child neglect, child fatality, Christian
Science, faith healing, medical neglect, prayer, religion and medicine.
Despite the great advances of scientifically based medicine, some individuals and groups
continue to look primarily outside of modern medicine for remedial care.1 Applied to minor
or self-limited problems, many non-medical practices are probably benign, but may lead to
avoidable morbidity and mortality with more serious ailments.
Claims that prayer or religious beliefs have psychological or other benefits that contribute to
illness recuperation are scientifically testable and perhaps supported by some evidence.2, 3
Although some churches have published testimonials claiming that organic and functional
diseases are healed by soliciting divine power, this has not been confirmed by scientifically
valid measures.4 Death rates in graduates of a Christian Science college, a group whose
central tenets deny the reality of disease and promote avoidance of medical services,5 have
been reported to be higher than graduates of a secular institution.6
Although legal precedents have established the right of an adult to refuse life-sustaining
treatment, they do not allow parents or guardians to deny children necessary medical care.
The US Supreme Court stated this principle eloquently: ―The right to practice religion freely
does not include the liberty to expose the community or child to communicable disease, or
the latter to ill health or death. ...Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves.