Judge: Amish neglected ill son

CANTON — A St. Lawrence County Family Court judge ruled Monday that a Winthrop Amish couple neglected their son by refusing medical treatment for his life-threatening heart condition.

Judge Barbara J. Potter ruled that Gideon M. and Barbara G. Hershberger's failure to allow their 11/2-year-old son, Eli, to undergo surgery constitutes neglect.

The boy was born in April 2007 with a hole and a blockage in his heart, but Mr. and Mrs. Hershberger claim the invasive procedure needed to repair the defect violates their religious beliefs.

Judge Potter will decide Dec. 23 whether to grant the county Department of Social Services' petition to have Eli removed from his parents' custody to undergo the surgery.

The Hershbergers, of 988 County Route 49, are not facing any criminal charges.

"I have a hard time with that word, 'neglect.' Here we have parents who love their child, in a community that cares for them in a way that brings them into conflict with our world," said Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, a SUNY Potsdam professor who is considered an expert on Amish culture. "I don't really know what the implications will be, but it's more complicated than one surgery."

Ms. Johnson-Weiner testified in the Family Court trial, along with the bishop of the Hershbergers' Amish community and a Rochester surgeon.

She said that if Eli is required to undergo the surgery, there are a variety of effects it could have on the Hershbergers and their community.

"I know it will be very difficult for the Amish to understand that the state can take their child and impose care against their beliefs," Ms. Johnson-Weiner said.