Thirty-two years ago, Rita Swan and her husband walked into a Michigan hospital with their nearly dead baby in her arms. The decision to take their son was made after days of pitting their religious beliefs against the medical needs of their young child.
After a week in the intensive care unit, 16-month-old Matthew died of a strain of meningitis, a disease treatable with early detection through antibiotics. Swan and her husband left the spiritual healing of the Christian Science Church, to which they belonged, behind.
Quoted: Dr. Barbara Knox, the medical director of the University of Wisconsin Child Protection Program at UW American Family Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UW-Madison.