Reality Check

January 19, 2015
Where does one draw the line between the needs of the immortal spirit and the health of the mortal flesh? A pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Offit (Deadly Choices), uses research and interviews to examine cases of faith-driven medical negligence. Recounting cases of individual endangerment as well as instances of religious sectarian beliefs that had fatal outcomes, Offit is unflinching in his examination of the lethal costs of belief taken to irrational extremes. The examples also help readers understand how people come to make decisions that endanger others, risking epidemics and legal consequences, as a result of isolation and zealotry. Yet religion itself is not the target of the author’s concern; the book also chronicles examples of reason and compassion involving believers and clergy. Faith as a foundation of ethics and community is not at fault—the surrender to cultish superstition is. As one of the book’s subjects, a former Christian Scientist turned medical advocate, said after decades of coping with the preventable death of her son, “Religion has to serve the good of humanity.” Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.

January 1, 2015
"Every year, tens of thousands of Americans refuse medical care for their children in the name of God," writes Offit (Vaccinology and Pediatrics/Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Do You Believe in Magic: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine, 2013, etc.) in this expose. As recently as 2013, writes the author, "the CDC identified thirty-thousand children whose parents had chosen not to vaccinate them for religious reasons." Offit examines the beliefs and practices of the Christian Scientists for whom prayer, rather than medicine, is a tenet of their faith as it relates to sickness. He also looks at the Catholic Church, which still sanctions exorcism but not abortion; instances of unsanitary circumcision practices among certain groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York City; and faith-healing cults such as the Faith Tabernacle Congregation, which also opposes vaccination. Targeting what he terms "destructive cults" that claim to act in the name of God when they demand that members rely solely on prayer and reject medical treatment, the author clarifies that he is not making a broadside argument against religion. He is sympathetic to parents whose decision to refuse medical treatment leads to a child's death, but he supports the right of the courts to override such decisions in order to protect a child's life. Offit recounts court battles in which medical authorities obtained injunctions allowing them to treat children-e.g., administering necessary blood transfusions. In 1967, a Massachusetts court sentenced a mother to five years of probation because she failed to allow medical treatment for her daughter, who subsequently died as a result. A few years later, Congress passed the Child Abuse Protection and Treatment Act, which included the right of children to lifesaving medical treatment but exempted parents or guardians who were adhering to "the tenets and practices of a recognized church." A thought-provoking discussion of the conflict between society's right to protect all children and the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

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Starred review from March 1, 2015

Offit, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, is well known for his efforts to educate the public about medical fraud (Deadly Choices; Autism's False Prophets). His newest book takes on faith healing. Although the United States has the most advanced medical care in the world, a surprisingly large number of people in the country belong to fundamentalist sects that rely exclusively on the power of faith to heal. According to the author, Christian Scientists and some other Christian evangelicals let their children die of treatable infections rather than take them to a hospital. They also refuse to immunize their children. He also discusses the unhygienic circumcision practices of ultra-Orthodox Jews that spread herpes to newborn boys. Some groups use exorcism to treat mental illness. Using actual case histories to illustrate the needless suffering and deaths that occur as a result of these methods, Offit masterfully points out that the denial of medicine in the name of religion actually rejects the basic teaching of religious faith: relieving suffering, providing hope, and treating others as one would wish to be treated. VERDICT An excellent book with an important message that belongs in all library collections.--Barbara Bibel, formerly Oakland P.L.

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