
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990                   TAG: 9007060307
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RELIGIOUS RIGHTS DISPUTED IN RULING

Although two Christian Scientists were found guilty of manslaughter for withholding medical treatment from their son, the debate continues over a key aspect of the case: When should the government overrule religious beliefs that affect children?

Medical experts on Thursday applauded the verdict against David and Ginger Twitchell, saying it would help protect children.

But a constitutional scholar said the decision reflects a "fundamental unfairness" because the Twitchells thought they were protected by a 1971 state law that exempted spiritual healing from child-abuse statutes.

The prosecution argued that the statute - which states that children will not be considered neglected or abused when "treated by spiritual means alone" by an "accredited practitioner" - did not exempt the Twitchells from manslaughter laws.

After a two-month trial, the jury Wednesday found the Twitchells, former Boston residents now living in New York, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for not seeking medical treatment for their son, Robyn.

They were found to have recklessly and wantonly caused their 2 1/2-year-old son's death by relying solely on Christian Science spiritual healing to treat his five-day illness. The boy died April 8, 1986. An autopsy showed he suffered from a bowel obstruction.

Special prosecutor John Kiernan said the case was not an attack on religion, but sent the message that parents must protect their children. Steve Lyons, a defense attorney, contends $2 million was spent by the Suffolk County district attorney's office to prosecute the Twitchells so that "the DA could put on a morality play."

The case does not end here. Defense attorneys Thursday filed an appeal in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of the Twitchells, who were not present.

Kiernan recommended probation for the couple - who could have received up to 20 years in prison - and that their other children's health be monitored, according to Peter O'Toole, a spokesman for the prosecutor.

According to Lyons, Judge Sandra Hamlin said she would not exceed the recommendation. She scheduled sentencing for today.

Lyons said the appeal was based on Hamlin's failure to consider or instruct the jury on the spiritual healing exemption and her allowing a "mocking and sarcastic trial of Christian Science doctrine to occur."

The Christian Science Church, which has its world headquarters in Boston, has long taught that sickness and disease can be healed by prayer alone, just as sin can be washed away by spirituality.

Since 1980, there have been seven prosecutions of Christian Science parents. Five have been convicted, one acquitted and one case was thrown out, according to child-rights activist Rita Swan, a former Christian Scientist who actively seeks such prosecutions.

Harvard law professor John Mansfield, a expert on church and state issues, says recent U.S. Supreme Court cases reflect a trend away from protecting religious beliefs as the nation moves toward a more secular society.

The Twitchell case, along with a recent Supreme Court case involving peyote use by a Native American church, retreats from former "special treatment" accorded a person's religious belief, Mansfield said.

"They believe what they believe. That's their faith; they're helpless in the grip of their faith," he said. But the recent cases ask: "Why should they have preferential treatment?'

Physicians, such as Dr. Michael Grodin, a pediatrician and medical ethicist for Boston University, applauded the guilty verdict.

"No religion is going to be allowed to be a defense against abuse and neglect," he said. "The bottom line is we have to have standards for protecting children."

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law expert at Harvard, said the verdict reflects a "fundamental unfairness" because the Twitchells relied on the state's spiritual healing exemption when they made their decisions about Robyn's health, but the jury was not so instructed.

Tribe said he believed the state's highest court would reverse the decision. However, he said, the exemption should be revoked. "There should be a very clear duty on the part of all parents to take children to the doctor when a certain threshold" is reached.

by CNB