Other Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA · 1995

Lundman v. McKown: Christian Science practitioner and nurse held civilly liable, in their professional capacity, for a child's death from withheld insulin

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Civil finding

Authority role

Christian Science practitioner engaged to treat the patient, Christian Science nurse engaged to attend the patient

Organization

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Clifton House, Inc.

Spiritual nexus

Ian Lundman's mother, a Christian Scientist, engaged Mario Tosto — a Christian Science practitioner, a paid religious office-holder formally credentialed by the church to treat the sick through prayer — and Quinna Lamb, a Christian Science nurse, in place of conventional medical care for her son's diabetes symptoms. Both were retained in a professional capacity to treat the patient, not as family members or bystanders, and the jury found both independently negligent; the Court of Appeals affirmed that finding against them by name while relieving the church itself of liability.

Spiritual healing or treatment
Threatened spiritual consequence

Evidence structure

Proceedings

1995-04-04 · appeal — compensatory damages affirmed against the practitioner and nurse

Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a jury's compensatory-damages verdict against Christian Science practitioner Mario Tosto and Christian Science nurse Quinna Lamb (Giebelhaus), along with the child's mother and stepfather, for negligence in the 1989 death of 11-year-old Ian Lundman from untreated juvenile-onset diabetes. The court reversed the judgment against the First Church of Christ, Scientist itself and against Clifton House. The Minnesota Supreme Court denied further review on 1995-05-31, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in 1996 (516 U.S. 1092).

Documented coercion mechanisms

doctrinal refusal of medical care
professional religious healing engagement substituted for medical treatment

Primary record

Sources

state appellate court appellate opinion Lundman v. McKown, 530 N.W.2d 807 (Minn. Ct. App. 1995), review denied (Minn. May 31, 1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1092 (1996).: The Minnesota Court of Appeals opinion affirms compensatory damages against Christian Science practitioner Mario Tosto and Christian Science nurse Quinna Lamb by name, alongside the child's mother and stepfather, while reversing the judgment against the church itself.
national press news report "3 Christian Scientists Indicted in Death of Child with Diabetes," The Washington Post, October 28, 1989.: Contemporaneous press confirming the practitioner was charged alongside the parents in the underlying (later-dismissed) criminal case, establishing his direct treating role.

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