Section 26 Failure to Provide Medical Care

• Library: Juvenile Law 2011

Section 210.110(12), RSMo Supp. 2010, defines “[n]eglect” to include “failure to provide . . . medical [or] surgical . . . care necessary for the child’s well‑being.” Section 210.166, RSMo 2000, defines medical neglect as “the denial or deprivation . . . of medical or surgical treatment or intervention which is necessary to remedy or ameliorate a medical condition which is life‑threatening or causes injury.”

A child may not be found abused or neglected when medical treatment is withheld solely because of the legitimate religious beliefs of the parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible for the child. Section 210.115.3, RSMo Supp. 2010. But in the exercise of the state’s parens patriae authority, the court may nonetheless find the child a ward of the court and order medical treatment over religious objection when the child’s health, safety, or life requires such treatment. See, e.g., Morrison v. State, 252 S.W.2d 97, 103 (Mo. App. W.D. 1952).

Medical neglect cases necessarily involve line drawing as the court seeks to “reconcil[e] the needs of the child with the rights and privileges of...