Although Lundman was evidently the first case to award damages for faith healing, prosecutions of parents whose children die under similar circumstances are reasonably common.(64) Many of the cases involve Christian Scientists who do not accept the superiority of contemporary medicine to their faith-based care; and many others involve Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not accept blood transfusions because of the biblical prohibition on ingesting blood.(65) but official punishment is surely not the ideal response to the understandable and entirely justified effort to protect the life of the sick child. Usually, the states try to prevent the death of the child rather than punish it later. The typical case involves a petition from a hospital for the temporary dissolution of the parents' rights over the child and the appointment of a guardian ad litem to make the decision on the surgery or transfusion. After the decision is made and the procedure...
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