RT Journal
T1 IS child homicide legalized?
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1899
FD September 16
VO XXXIII
IS 12
SP 737
OP 738
DO 10.1001/jama.1899.02450640051011
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1899.02450640051011
AB The attorney-general of Illinois has lately rendered a decision that the courts ought not to confirm, or if they do, it will be time to correct their narrow interpretation by new and unequivocal legislation. A child aged 6 years, died in Douglas county under Christian Science treatment, and in reply to an inquiry from the state's attorney of the county the attorney-general rendered an official opinion that, according to the clause in the Medical Practice Act, "mental and spiritual" means are legalized and that the sections of the criminal code against willfully endangering the life of a child did not apply, since it was not done willfully, but in good faith. This is equivalent to saying that if the parents or others in charge of an infant are under any kind of an honest delusion that would make them sacrifice or endanger its life, the law gives it no protection.