Newmark v. Williams
Supreme Court of Delaware
588 A.2d 1108 (1991)
Three-year-old Colin Newmark faced death within six to eight months from an aggressive childhood cancer unless treated with an invasive chemotherapy regimen that had less than a 40 percent chance of success. Colin's parents, devout Christian Scientists, opposed all medical treatment in favor of spiritual healing and prayer. The Delaware Division of Child Protective Services (DCPS) petitioned for temporary custody of Colin to compel the chemotherapy, and the parents objected, invoking a state statutory exemption shielding parents who decline medical treatment for religious reasons from abuse and neglect liability, and asserting their First Amendment right to free religious exercise.
Whether the state may intervene in a parent-child relationship over a terminally ill child's medical treatment where the state has not proven by clear and convincing evidence that the treatment's likely benefits greatly outweigh its risks.