Shawn Vestal: Another year, another chance to fix Idaho's fatal faith-healing protections

Shawn Vestal, 
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
January 24, 2023
 
Jan. 24—More than seven years ago, Boise attorney Kirt Naylor signed off on a rallying cry to defend Idaho's children.

In a letter to then-Gov. Butch Otter, Naylor and the rest of the 17 members of the Governor's Task Force on Children at Risk, outlined a child mortality rate in a Canyon County faith-healing community that was 10 times greater than the state average.

The committee, including doctors, judges and citizens from across the state, urged Otter to revise the state's religious exemption to child abuse and neglect laws, which protect parents from civil or criminal repercussions if their children suffer or die as a result of their religious beliefs.

"Our First Amendment right to religious freedom does not include the right to abuse or neglect children," the letter read.

"In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 'The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or child to communicable disease, or the latter to ill health or death. ... Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow that they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children ... "

And yet year after year, more martyred children of the Followers of Christ Church are buried from treatable or preventable causes — from sepsis, pneumonia, diabetes and other conditions that most children survive — and year after year, attempts to stand up for them in the Statehouse come to naught.

"It's disappointing something more hasn't been done," said Naylor, a former prosecutor in Ada County and longtime volunteer in the state's Court-Appointed Guardian Ad Litem program for abused children. He served on the task force from 2000 to 2016.

"I believe there can be some form of agreement where religious freedoms are protected but vulnerable children are also protected from severe illness and death."

That agreement has been elusive. And as the new legislative session gets rolling, the early signs are that it will remain so.

In the task force's letter, written in July 2015, they noted the grossly high proportion of children's graves in the Peaceful Valley Cemetery, near the small town of Marsing. The cemetery serves the Followers of Christ Church, who do not believe in using modern medicine.

Between 2002 and 2011, the letter says, state records show that 3.37% of all deaths in Idaho occurred among children. During the same period, 130 people were buried at the cemetery; 40 of those deaths, or 31%, were children or stillbirths.

Since then, other efforts have been made to try and make an accurate counting of the deaths of children among the church members. The Idaho Statesman found 19 instances of child deaths since 2015, in an investigative story in 2020 and an update this month. Other journalists have covered the story, as well, and a documentary about the Followers of Christ, "No Greater Law," was released in 2018.

The Idaho Legislature has spent the last couple of sessions puffing itself up as the most "pro-life" of them all. This year is off to a nutty start on that front with the culture-war exertions of its newest counter-balance to intelligent lawmaking, Sagle's Scott Herndon.

Herndon proposed a measure that would force children to take advantage of the "opportunity" to bear their rapists' babies, by eliminating the exceptions for rape and incest built into the state's new, draconian anti-abortion laws. The measure was DOA, but it got a committee discussion.

Here is how Herndon responded when asked about decency of forcing a teenage girl to bear a child if she were raped by a father or an uncle: "Some people could describe the situation that you're talking about as the opportunity to have the child under those terrible circumstances, if the rape actually occurred."
The silver lining, if you will. The idea that this got even a brief airing in the Capitol chambers, while no one is rising up to put a stop to the ongoing deaths of children at the Followers of Christ Church, tells you a lot about the current state of "pro-life" politics in Idaho.

Over and over again, Idaho lawmakers have simply supported the rights of parents to religiously neglect their children to death. Legislative proposals to change that usually don't even make it to a full vote.

"I personally believe in prayer and medical intervention but I cannot interfere with a parent's right to worship as their faith and morals direct them," Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, who represented the district where the church is located and was a staunch opponent of removing the faith-healing exemption, said in 2018.
Even those Republican lawmakers who might have qualms seem scared to even bring it up, and in a Senate that has veered even harder to the far right — where the pandemic has driven the commitment to medical quackery to new heights — we probably shouldn't hold our breath for progress.
The new chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee, where such legislation has tended to die in past years, described the issue to the Statesman recently as "a very complicated, touchy issue."

In what universe is this very complicated?

In what world touchy?

Many states offer some protection for faith healing, but only six grant full immunity to parents for the death and serious injury of a child. (Washington has a peculiarly narrow exemption for Christian Science faith-healing.)

Good, decent Idahoans have been crying out for change for a long time now. Naylor and many others want lawmakers to protect children here, and many of those calling for change are not at all opposed to faith healing, per se.
"I believe in faith as a means of healing," said Naylor, who is LDS. "I believe in medical healing, too. But if a child is likely to die imminently or to be severely injured imminently, something has to be done to protect the rights of the child.
"In these cases, the child doesn't have a voice."
Idaho lawmakers have had a long time to change that.
And they have another chance right now.
 
 
https://news.yahoo.com/shawn-vestal-another-another-chance-045900005.html

Faith-healing follower sentenced for not reporting sex abuse

National Post
The Associated Press
February 14, 2019

NAMPA, Idaho — An Idaho woman who refused to report her husband’s yearslong sexual abuse of young relatives and instead prayed for “the demon” to leave him was ordered Thursday to spend a year in a prison treatment program.

Judge Christopher Nye said that if Sarah Kester, 51, fails to successfully complete the program, she will serve at least four and up to 10 years in prison, the Idaho Press reported.

Prosecutors say her husband, Lester Kester Jr., molested five children over two decades. He pleaded guilty in October to five felony charges of lewd conduct with a minor in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing charges of possession of child pornography.

The couple is affiliated with the Followers of Christ Church, whose members eschew medical care for themselves and their children in favour of “faith healing” because they believe that prayer and rituals can sufficiently treat even catastrophic illnesses.

The church has a prominent following in parts of southwestern Idaho and Oregon, and the congregation has been accused of allowing dozens of children to die from a lack of basic medical care. Idaho’s child injury law, however, includes a religious exemption that has long allowed church members to act without state intervention.

After Sarah Kester’s July 11 arrest, she said she had known of the abuse for the past 17 years, according to the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.

“Sarah Kester told detectives that she didn’t report the abuse because it was against her belief system to involve agencies such as law enforcement, child protection services, or counselling services into personal matters,” the agency said in a press release. “Instead, she said she attempted to protect … children through praying for ‘the demon’ to leave Lester and attempting to keep him busy with other tasks.”

Sarah Kester’s defence attorney said at sentencing that her client grew up in an isolated community and experienced her own trauma.

“She did everything that she knew to do to take care of them,” attorney Bethany Harder Haase said.

Sarah Kester cried as she addressed the court.

“I should’ve paid attention to all the rumours going around,” she said. “I feel so devastated. I should’ve got out of marriage right there and then.”

Three of the victims, now in their teens and 20s, also gave statements, saying Sarah Kester called them offensive names and blamed them for her husband’s actions.

The Associated Press isn’t identifying the victims or their relationship to the Kesters.

Sarah Kester entered in October a modified guilty plea, in which she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her. Lester Kester is set to be sentenced Feb. 26.

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/faith-healing-follower-sentenced-for-not-reporting-sex-abuse

Caldwell couple arrested in child abuse case part of faith-healing church

NICOLE FOY and KYLE PFANNENSTIEL nfoy@idahopress.com kpfannenstiel@idahopress.com

Idaho Press

July 19, 2018

A Caldwell mother arrested last week told deputies her religious beliefs prompted her to pray for her husband rather than tell police about his alleged sexual abuse of their daughters.

Sarah Kester and her husband, Lester Kester Jr., are affiliated with the Followers of Christ Church. The church, which has a prominent following in Canyon County and in Oregon, faces criticism for refusing medical care for children and adults in favor of faith healing.

After her July 11 arrest, Sarah Kester told deputies from the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office that she didn’t tell police about her husband’s alleged abuse because it was against her belief system to involve agencies such as law enforcement, child protection services, or counseling services into personal or family matters, according to a sheriff’s office press release.

Lester Kester Jr., 48, was charged with four felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16. Sarah Kester, 50, was charged with one felony count of injury to a child on the suspicion that she did not report the abuse.

Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue confirmed the Kesters’ affiliation with the church, saying that Sarah Kester told one of his deputies that their family belonged to the local Followers of Christ Church. Donahue has denounced Idaho’s faith-healing exemption, which protects parents from charges when they decline medical care for their children on religious grounds.

Donahue said the “anonymity and seclusion” of the Followers of Christ sect in Canyon County undermines law enforcement’s ability to ensure public safety, especially of minors.
“That is certainly a concern for law enforcement, for my detectives and myself personally,” Donahue told the Idaho Press.

The Idaho Press reached out to three local Followers of Christ members several times this week, including a pastor, but only one responded, declining to speak on the record.

Instead of contacting law enforcement, Sarah Kester told deputies she tried to protect her children by praying for “the demon” to leave Lester and keeping her husband busy with other tasks, according to a press release from the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the release, Lester Kester Jr. told detectives on July 11 that he had been consumed by a “bad guy” or a “demon” and admitted to various forms of sexual contact with all four of his daughters until they were approximately 10 to 12 years old.
A former church member and vocal advocate against faith healing exemptions, Linda Martin, told the Idaho Press that Lester Kester Jr. is her second cousin.

Martin said the church’s preference to handle matters internally can lead to sexual and physical abuse being pushed under the rug. That’s what happened in her own childhood, she said.

“This doesn’t happen in every family,” Martin said. “I don’t want to say all the people in that church were bad. They were very kind to me, they were very good to me. But it’s just their belief system allows a lot of abuse to happen, and they need to re-evaluate it and there needs to be change.”

On June 21, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Children and Family Services contacted the sheriff’s office and informed detectives that the Kesters’ daughter had reported being molested by her father when she was a child, according to a press release from the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.

Health and Welfare denied a public records request for reports on the case, citing an Idaho exemption related to the protection of children. The Idaho Press also requested Canyon County’s probable cause affidavit for the Kesters’ arrest, which was not provided Wednesday.

Canyon County sheriff’s detectives conducted follow-up interviews with the daughter who reported the abuse and another of the Kesters’ daughters on the same day Health and Welfare contacted them, the sheriff’s office said.

During the interview, both daughters reported being sexually abused by their father on multiple occasions when they were younger and said the abuse continued until each of them was 12, according to the sheriff’s office.

They also told detectives that another one of their sisters said she, too, had been sexually abused by their father when she was younger, the sheriff’s office said. The sisters told detectives that they confronted their mother about the abuse about three years ago, but nothing happened and no one contacted law enforcement, according to the sheriff’s office.
Upon further investigation, detectives also believe Lester Kester Jr. abused a fourth daughter as recently as 2016, according to the sheriff’s office. Detectives from the sheriff’s office, after multiple interviews with victims, said Kester sexually abused his four daughters on numerous occasions for about 16 years, starting in 2000, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Idaho Press was unable to reach the Kesters’ attorneys.

A ‘perfect storm’ for abuse
Martin described the isolated atmosphere many in the Followers of Christ Church live in as a “perfect storm for children to be abused.”
“The followers kind of believe like Las Vegas. What happens in the families and what happens in the church stays in the church,” Martin said in a phone interview Saturday. “You do not speak to outsiders about anything in the church or in your home as far as that goes.”
Martin said the church’s adherence to faith-based healing in lieu of traditional care also makes the discovery of abuse by people outside the family unlikely. According to the national anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, Idaho’s mandatory reporting laws require medical professionals to report cases of sexual or physical abuse to authorities.

“All of this goes hand in hand,” she said. “If you have a law that protects one kind of abuse, it is actually going to allow other types of abuse to follow.”

Martin said this issue is the main reason she became an outspoken opponent of Idaho’s religious exemption for faith healing groups.
Martin told the Idaho Press that in addition to experiencing physical abuse, she experienced sexual abuse from relatives several times during her childhood and was told not to speak about it. She said she told a relative of the abuse, too, but says law enforcement were not contacted.

Martin adds that at a young age, such abuse can become normalized.

“To be honest, when it starts at a young age, you think this is normal, and this is what goes on in houses because this is normal,” Martin said.
Lester Kester Jr. was arraigned July 12, and his bond is set at $500,000. Sarah Kester’s bond is set at $25,000. Lester Kester Jr. has been assigned a public defender. Both are scheduled to appear in court July 26. The two were still in Canyon County’s jail as of Wednesday night, according to the Canyon County jail roster.
Idaho Press reporters Emily Lowe and Erin Bamer contributed to this report.

Nicole Foy covers Canyon County and Hispanic affairs. You can reach her at 208-465-8107 and follow her on Twitter @nicoleMfoy. Kyle Pfannenstiel is the night digital reporter for the Idaho Press. Call him at (208) 465-8169. Follow him on Twitter: @pfannyyy.

https://www.idahopress.com/news/crime_courts/crime/caldwell-couple-arrested-in-child-abuse-case-part-of-faith/article_12a2243e-3cfb-52fb-8e6b-b983cbca0788.html

Faith-healing parents plead guilty in death of newborn twin

Sarah Elaine Mitchell, 25, and Travis Lee Mitchell, 22,
the parents of a twin girl who died hours after her
home birth last year with dozens of people attending
from the faith-healing Followers of Christ Church
 pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide and
 criminal mistreatment. July 9, 2018. Beth Nakamura/Staff

Maxine Bernstein (mbernstein@oregonian.com)
The Oregonian/OregonLive

July 9, 2018

The parents of a twin girl who died hours after a home birth attended by dozens of people from the faith-healing Followers of Christ Church pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide and criminal mistreatment.

It marked the fifth criminal case in Clackamas County after a child's death in the church community over the last nine years but the first to end in a plea deal. The mother, Sarah Elaine Mitchell, 25, and father, Travis Lee Mitchell, 22, each were sentenced to prison for six years and eight months.

In an unusual development, the Mitchells not only acknowledged their failure to provide necessary medical care for their newborn but also said in a statement read aloud by one of their lawyers that "everyone in the church should always seek adequate medical care for our children.''

Sarah and Travis Mitchell are members of the Followers of Christ, which traces its origin to the Pentecostal movement of the late 19thcentury. Sarah Mitchell is a granddaughter of the church founder, Walter White. Her father is also named Walter White.

Sarah Mitchell's father signed the statement, which will be prominently posted inside the church for all to read, under the terms of the plea agreement.

The couple's newborn, Ginnifer, died March 5, 2017, from complications of premature birth. Her lungs appeared to be "airless'' and she suffered from acute respiratory distress syndrome, the state medical examiner found.

The guilty pleas came in a Clackamas County courtroom before more than 50 church supporters and Multnomah County Circuit Judge Eric J. Bergstrom, who who helped the parties reach a settlement.

Travis and Sarah Mitchell, dressed in black-and white-striped jail jumpsuits, sat beside each other, between their defense lawyers. They chose not to address the court when given an opportunity during the sentencing.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Bryan Brock called the outcome of the case, with the couple accepting responsibility and issuing a public statement, a "landmark resolution.''

"These are senseless and avoidable deaths, and we keep asking ourselves what will it take'' to convince others in the church to get the right medical care for their children, Brock said.

He said he hoped the message will be for church followers to "seek medical attention and prayer. They're not mutually exclusive.''

Sarah Mitchell's lawyer Stephen Houze called the couple "utterly sincere, decent, caring human beings,'' who have suffered with the loss of one of their children while separated in custody.

They have had in-jail visits with their surviving daughter, who is now 16 months old and bonding with each parent, Houze said. She remains in foster care.

The parents are accepting responsibility for their actions "knowing a price must be paid,'' Houze said.

The Mitchells' baby died in the master bedroom at the Oregon City home of Sarah Mitchell's parents. It was the same place where Sarah Mitchell's older sister Shannon Hickman delivered a premature baby boy who died eight hours after birth in September 2009.

The Mitchells each initially were charged in June 2017 with murder by neglect and two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, accused of withholding medical attention from both daughters.

"This was not a murder case,'' Houze said.

According to prosecutors, Sarah Mitchell learned she was pregnant on Aug. 24, 2016, through a home pregnancy test. She estimated her delivery date to be April 23, 2017.

Seven weeks before her expected delivery, her water broke about 2 a.m. on March 5 and she went into premature labor. She and her husband drove to her parents' home to deliver what they believed would be a single baby. Having never had a prenatal ultrasound, Sarah Mitchell was unaware she was pregnant with twins.

Had she had an ultrasound, it would have revealed that one of the babies hadn't turned in utero, according to prosecutors.

The first of the twins, Evylen, was born in a breech position -- bottom first, a significant potential complication -- at 2:30 p.m., weighing only 3 pounds, 8 ounces, nearly two months premature. Twenty-three minutes later, Ginnifer was born at 2:53 p.m., weighing only 3 pounds, 6 ounces.

Breathing problems persisted for both newborns but no one called 911 or took the girls to a hospital.

At 4:36 p.m., a relative texted others, asking, "R u guys hearing that the second baby is dark and they r wanting prayers?'' according to investigators.

Over four hours, Ginnifer fought for her life, trying to take oxygen into her underdeveloped lungs. At 6:05 pm., Travis Mitchell "laid on hands'' and the family took turns praying for healing as the baby continued labored breathing and changed colors.

Ginnifer died at 7 p.m. that day. "I knew she was dead when she didn't cry out anymore,'' her father said, according to court documents.

Both Sarah and Travis Mitchell admitted in interviews that their daughter's death was just like the Hickman case, Brock wrote in court papers.

A jury convicted Hickman and her husband of second-degree manslaughter and they were sentenced to six years and three months in prison for not seeking medical treatment for their son born at 32 weeks.

"The Mitchells were more knowledgeable of the risks and consequences to their newborns from having experienced the Hickman case,'' Brock wrote in court documents.

Also present at the birth were Sarah Mitchell's in-laws, three mid-wife birthing assistants and other family, including Sarah Mitchell's eldest sister, Stephanie Edwards, and her husband, Brian, as well as church members.

During seven months of pregnancy, Sarah Mitchell received no prenatal care and took no supplements, though the couple have medical insurance with Kaiser Permanente through Travis Mitchell's job. The sole extent of her preparation was reading the best-selling pregnancy primer "What to Expect When You Are Expecting.''

In contrast, the couple sought regular veterinary care, including wellness checks, medications and vaccinations, for their dog and cat, prosecutors wrote in court papers.

"We hope that this office is never again forced to prosecute parents in the Followers of Christ Church for neglecting the medical care of their children,'' the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. "However, we continue to stand ready to do so if the members of that congregation do not heed the call of this family.''

The couple showed no emotion in court. As each stood to be handcuffed by sheriff's deputies before they were led out of the courtroom, Travis Mitchell, a 2014 graduate of Oregon City High School, mouthed "I love you'' to his parents.

The Mitchells will get credit for the 13 months they've already been in custody and credit for good time served. They'll face three years of post-prison supervision.

https://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2018/07/faith-healing_parents_plead_to.html

Former Followers of Christ member: It's a cult

Reed Andrews

KATU

March 10th 2017

VIDEO

OREGON CITY, Ore. — A former Followers of Christ church member said she worries that the pattern of children and babies dying in connection to the faith-healing church won’t change unless the church does.

Myra Cunningham’s family left the church after she nearly died because she didn’t get medical care.

On Thursday, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating the death of a girl born to parents of the church, which practices faith-based healing rather than uses doctors. The girl died just hours after she was born Sunday. Sarah Mitchell, 24, gave birth to two girls at her parents' home. The second child survived.

Cunningham said she’s not surprised that another child in the church has died.

“It’s too bad that it’s still happening,” she told KATU Thursday. “There’s so many children in their graveyard. They have their own graveyard.”


Cunningham grew up in the Followers of Christ church. She doesn’t believe it’s much of a church at all.

“It’s actually a cult, I do believe. And they’re afraid to leave, and it’s sad,” she said.

When Cunningham got sick, going to a doctor or taking medicine wasn’t allowed.

“It says to call the elders in the church and have them pray for you,” she said.

At age 12, her mother took her away from the church.

“I was really bad, sick, several times in my life and almost died without any medical help,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham has no regrets on leaving the church, and has this advice for its current members: “I’d say leave. Leave, because you’re not going to lose your salvation.”

A steady stream of cars was leaving the homes where church members live Thursday. Church members are wary of outsiders and none of them wanted to stop and talk to a reporter about what happened.

Deputies said neither the mother, Mitchell, nor any of the midwives, called 911 when the girl, born prematurely, struggled to breathe. Deputies said a church elder called the medical examiner, who then recovered the dead newborn girl. The medical examiner realized the second baby was still alive. He convinced the family to seek professional care for the baby.

The girl who survived is in rough shape. She’s now in intensive care at Oregon Health & Science University.

The district attorney is anticipating charging Mitchell in the death of the newborn.

There've been several high-profile trials concerning faith-healing deaths since 1998. Only one, the trial of Shannon and Dale Hickman in the death of their infant son, resulted in a manslaughter conviction.

The Hickmans are serving a 6-year prison term right now. Shannon Hickman is Sarah Mitchell's sister. The women are the great granddaughters of Walter White, the man who originally brought the Followers of Christ church to Clackamas County decades ago.

Sarah Mitchell was alongside her sister in 2009, when Hickman prematurely delivered her son David, who died shortly after his birth.

An expert testified David almost surely would have survived if he'd been taken to medical experts. But the family chose to anoint David with oil, instead of calling for an ambulance.

http://katu.com/news/local/former-followers-of-christ-member-its-a-cult

Idaho could find middle ground on faith healing

AUGUST 16, 2016

Idaho Statesman

BY JACOB M. APPEL

 

A legislative working group recently held hearings regarding whether to amend an Idaho statute that protects parents who choose prayer over allopathic medicine. The issue gained considerable media attention when Dan Sevy, a leader of the Followers of Christ church, testified that “medicine is a product from Satan” and promised to resist any changes to the law.

According to the statute, as it now stands, “a parent or guardian who chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone shall not for that reason alone be construed to have violated the duty of care to such child.” Supporters of reform have characterized this as an issue of child welfare, citing several preventable deaths; opponents see repeal of “faith healing” protections as a threat to religious freedom. So far, compromise is elusive.

As a general principle, American law requires parents to accept essential health care for their children. Courts follow a dictum laid out by Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge in the seminal case of Prince v. Massachusetts: “Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. ... [I]t does not follow they are free ... to make martyrs of their children before they have reached the age ... when they can make that choice for themselves.”

However, in that same case, Justice Robert Jackson — who later gained fame for prosecuting Nazi war criminals — articulated an alternative approach to such matters. He proposed that “religious activities which concern only members of the faith are and ought to be free,” but the state ought to intervene wherever “activities begin to affect or collide with liberties of others or of the public.” (For comparison, we allow the Amish — but not others — to teach their children cabinet-making instead of American history.)

Sevy has argued that rejecting medicine affects only church members. Yet, this is always clear. An infant might perish from an untreated cardiac defect. Alternatively, she might survive to adulthood and require a costly, taxpayer-funded heart transplant in her 20s.

Another factor is whether families and doctors share a common understanding of the facts. One can distinguish between a parent who refuses lifesaving care, knowing their child might die but fearing medicine will interfere with salvation, from a parent who insists that modern medicine simply does not work. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, acknowledge blood transfusions can save lives, but believe the result would be eternal damnation.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses parent’s calculus regarding medicine is fundamentally different from a parent who claims, against empirical evidence, that medication lacks efficacy.

Advocates for and opponents of the “faith healing” statute share a common goal: the welfare of children. Both sides are sincere in their beliefs. Yet parents and families are those individuals who have to deal most acutely with the suffering of pediatric illness, the grief of loss and the perceived moral choice between physical health and spiritual well-being. Some, but not unlimited, deference is due their poor but well-intentioned choices.

One solution might be for the Legislature to narrow the current exemption to cases where two criteria are met: 1) a judge finds that the decision will not have an impact outside the child’s insular community; and 2) when all parties agree to the underlying medical facts, merely disagreeing on the morality of treatment, rather than its efficacy. Idaho could help set a national example by embracing this middle ground.

Jacob M. Appel is a physician, attorney and bioethicist based at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He has published and taught extensively on the relationship between religious minorities and medicine.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article96062777.html