Prosecuting Attorney Frazer's Opinion

Editor

Pros. Atty. Frazer of Detroit, Mich., has recently given an opinion upon the question of the legal status of Christian Scientists in cases of death under Christian Science treatment. It seems that in this case a five-year-old child died while being treated by a Christian Scientist. A long investigation was held, and after a careful inquiry into the facts and a thorough examination of the law, Mr. Frazer arrived at the following conclusions, as published in the Detroit Evening News.

"In a case where husband and wife were indicted for manslaughter, for neglecting to provide medical aid for a fourteen-months-old child, who was suffering from inflammation of the lungs, the judge held that when from religious convictions that God would heal the sick, and not from any intention to avoid the performance of their duty, the parents of a sick child refuse to call in medical assistance, and the child dies, it is not culpable homicide.

"In another case a father was indicted for neglecting to furnish medical aid to his child, he belonging to a sect who had objections to calling medical advice or giving medicine in case of sickness. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and the judge, in delivering the opinion, said, 'Had it not been for the statute'—providing a punishment for parents who wilfully neglected to give their children medical attendance—'I should have entertained great doubt upon this case.' And another judge added, 'I agree with Lord Coleridge as to the difficulty which would have existed had it not been for the statute.'

"In still another case the defendant was convicted of the manslaughter of his eight-year-old son, who died from small-pox. The prisoner belonged to a religious sect which did not believe in procuring medical aid. The Court of the Queen's Bench set aside the conviction upon the ground that the medical testimony was not sufficiently strong to authorize the jury to find a verdict of guilty."

The facts, the law, and the conclusions in the case Prosecuting-Attorney Frazer elaborates into about two thousand words, finally summing up as follows:—

"I am unable to find sufficient law or facts upon which to prosecute the father and mother of the child; there seems to be no law in the state of Michigan providing in terms that it is the duty of the parent to furnish 'medical aid to a child.' The judges in England, both by inference and direct reference, doubt whether at common law a parent was under legal obligations to furnish medical aid to a child.

"As to Christian Science healers, I am unable to find that they 'practise medicine or surgery' within the meaning of act 237, public acts of 1889. I also think that Mrs. Knott relieved herself of any liability when she told Mrs. Zoeger that she had better get a physician if her husband so desired it, as the conditions were not favorable for Christian Science treatment."

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