As a holistic wellness counselor, I can relate a little to a parent’s desire to make his or her own decisions about a child’s health (“Idaho protects the rights of faith healers. Should it?” HCN, 2/19/18). But how, in any sane universe, is it not child abuse to withhold medical care and allow a child to suffer and die? I don’t see this as religious freedom. If we have a responsibility to report child abuse and remove a child from abusive parental care, it’s insanity for Idaho to allow this. Or do they also allow physical child abuse in the name of “discipline”?
Novella Maia
Lyons, Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Health, abuse and freedom.
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