PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.comi
PAUL A. OFFIT
POSTED: Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State generated a public outcry for stronger laws against child abuse and neglect. Several bills have been introduced that purportedly provide a “complete overhaul” of Pennsylvania’s child-protection laws.
For example, Senate Bill 20 makes it clear that any adult who “causes serious bodily injury,” either by “kicking, biting, stabbing, cutting, or throwing a child,” or “forcefully shakes or slaps a child under one year of age,” or “causes serious physical neglect,” or “causes a child to be near a methamphetamine lab,” or “operates a vehicle in which a child is a passenger while driving under the influence of alcohol,” has committed child abuse.
Unfortunately, one group of children has been left behind.
The bill states that “if a child has not been provided needed medical or surgical care because of seriously held religious beliefs of the child’s parents … the child shall not be deemed to be physically or mentally abused.” In other words, if parents decide not to give their children antibiotics for meningitis, or insulin for diabetes, or chemotherapy for cancer, or surgery for intestinal blockage, they won’t be held accountable. According to the bill, parents are abusive if they slap their 1-year-old child, but not if they withhold lifesaving therapies.
The problem of religious-based medical neglect in Pennsylvania isn’t theoretical.
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