The Nation : Pediatricians Fight Church Limit on Care

The American Academy of Pediatrics urged repeal of laws allowing parents to reject medical treatment for their children on religious grounds, citing increasing reports of cases that end in death. “Under these laws, religion can be an excuse for many things that otherwise would not be tolerated,” said Norman Fost, chairman of the academy’s Committee on Bioethics, in a phone interview from his Madison, Wis., office. “In some instances, it blocks investigation, or intrusion or prosecution by responsible authorities.” The call for repeal is made in a formal statement in the January issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the 34,000-member organization based in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Ill. More than three-fourths of the states, including California, have laws permitting some rejection of medical care on religious or philosophical grounds, although courts frequently have intervened to order that treatment be provided.