Energy Healing’s Validity Tested by Legal Claim in Immigation Petition

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, in a fascinating decision, rejected an employment-based immigrant visa petition by a Russian energy healer. The decision, File No. EAC 98 023 51854, stated:

The petitioner is a medical clinic. It seeks to classify the beneficiary as an employment-based immigrant pursuant to section 203(b)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) … as an alien of extraordinary ability as a medical clairvoyant/spiritual healer. The director determined the petitioner had not established that the beneficiary qualifies for classification as an alien of extraordinary ability….

This petition seeks to classify the beneficiary as an alien with extraordinary ability as a medical clairvoyant/spiritual healer. The petitioner describes the beneficiary’s abilities as follows: “She uses God-given extraordinary E.S.P. ability to see patients’ internal organs, correct their defects and cure them of diseases, infections & ailments that often have defied standard medical treatment.”

[IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY], M.D., Owner and Medical Director of the petitioning entity, observes that while mainstream medicine has made great advances in treating many life-threatening illnesses, “much more needs to be done,” and there are still many conditions which are resistant even to the most modern treatment. [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] states that the beneficiary “transmits God’s powerful concentration of energy into the affected diseased organs of numerous suffering patients,” and contends that “she has had spectacular success in curing cancer, heart problems, tumors, cysts, diabetes, stomach ulcers, gallstones, cardiovascular diseases,” and other ailments.

The petitioner claims that the beneficiary exercises what can only be termed literally miraculous powers in curing diseases which standard medical science is unable to cure. Several of these purported cures are said to have been performed over the telephone. If such powers were reliably proven, such proof would represent an unprecedented revolution in the field of medicine, while also having profound implications in other fields from physics to philosophy.

What is remarkable about this administrative decision is its foray into epistemology (how we know what we know) and other philosophical questions, in conjunction with the immigration application, in evaluating legal arguments relating to the applicant’s claim of healing gifts:

That being said, a claim of such powers, being inconsistent with much of what is currently accepted as fact in science and medicine, must be supported by unassailable evidence obtained through unbiased, carefully controlled double-blind testing. Such rigid controls are essential in order to rule out other, already known factors, such as spontaneous remission, the placebo effect or even misdiagnosis, which could be at play and be misinterpreted as evidence of psychic phenomena. Prudence demands that every known possible natural explanation be definitively ruled out before one resorts to supernatural explanations.

Anecdotal evidence pertaining to individual cases do not meet this stringent but absolutely vital standard of proof. Furthermore, the absence of a medical explanation for a patient’s recovery does not inherently constitute proof of the existence of inexplicable forces of psychic or divine origin.

The Government next discusses the evidence:

The petitioner has submitted letters from several of the beneficiary’s satisfied clients, who attest to the beneficiary’s purported healing powers but admit that they cannot explain it. Several of these individuals indicate that they submitted to standard medical treatment in addition to employing the beneficiary’s services; others describe their conditions only vaguely, using terms no more specific than “a chronic and incurable condition.” Many of the complaints cited by these individuals, such as pain and asthma, have long been acknowledged to have psychological components in addition to other causes.Te

We see these kind of scuffles over what constitutes proper “evidence” about spiritual reality in the philosophical and religious literature, as well as in the medical literature, but not very often in legal decisions. (See also my book, Healing at the Borderland of Medicine and Religion).

[IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] misleadingly indicates that the existence of this mysterious “energy field” is an accepted consensus within the scientific community. [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] winner of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” for his work studying faith healers, states “Kirlian photography has now been shown only to indicate variances in pressure, humidity, grounding, and conductivity. Corona discharges are well understood and explained in elementary physics.” (An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1995, p. 136.) [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] goes on to explain that a mysterious effect of Kirlian photography “was not found again in better-controlled experiments.” Carefully controlled experiments performed by [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY]nd reported by [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] and [IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED BY AGENCY] in volume 279, number 13 of the Journal of the American Medical Association cast serious doubt on the ability of purportedly sensitive practitioners to sense otherwise undetectable human energy fields….

The decision goes on to discuss the applicant’s claim that energy healing lies outside the immigration laws’ reach:

The beneficiary asserts that her powers are outside the realm of the regulatory criteria: “Can you give awards to God? The prize is thousands of cured people from all over the world.” The beneficiary asserts that those touched by God have throughout history been persecuted because “[t]hey haven’t been understood by people surrounding them.” The beneficiary then discusses the nature of God and the role of prayer and miracles in the world.

The beneficiary asserts that “the laws of science are helpless” to explain “the miracles of God’s work,” but it remains that the beneficiary claims to exercise control over physical matter, and the effects of the beneficiary’s actions are subject to measurement and verification. The beneficiary cannot exempt herself from essential eligibility requirements on the grounds that she cannot be subject to the standard burden of proof.

The beneficiary maintains that she seeks no reward for using God’s gift to heal others, and concludes by expressing her desire “to stay where I am needed.” The beneficiary does not explain why her services are more acutely needed in Brooklyn than in third-world countries where little effective medical care is currently available, and where life expectancies are significantly lower than those in industrialized nations owing to widespread illness.

This office does not dispute the sincerity of the beneficiary’s beliefs and convictions. That being said, it cannot be disputed that the petitioner and the beneficiary have made claims which, if true, would represent an unprecedented revolution in medicine. Because they are inconsistent with present scientific knowledge, claims of this nature require compelling proof; the submission of twenty or so letters from witnesses cannot demonstrate that the beneficiary has healed thousands of people through psychic powers.

So now the U.S. Government is discussing Kirlian photography….

Interestingly, because the applicant argues that consciousness is non-local (therefore she can heal at a distance), the INS rejects her claim that she needs to be in the U.S. to do her work. The INS can accept, for argument’s sake, that healing can occur over time and space, but not the applicant’s argument that she is “needed” in Brooklyn.

As Einstein put it, God does not play dice with the universe… but if God does decide to play dice and you’re in the game, it does not have to be in Brooklyn. Stay tuned … curioser and curiouser…..