NDE researcher arrested for “waterboarding his own daughter”

A well-known near-death experience (NDE) researcher and his wife have been arrested for allegedly endangering their own daughter.

I normally look for uplifting news to share but this is just too peculiar and potentially disturbing to ignore.

Dr. Melvin Morse, a paediatrician based in Delaware, is a co-author of Closer To The Light , a landmark study of NDEs in children. He has appeared on Larry King Live and the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his research.

Morse, 58, has been accused by his 11-year-old daughter of ‘waterboarding’ her — holding her face under running water. Waterboarding simulates drowning and it has been used in the past by U.S. interrogators on terrorism suspects. Many say it is actually a form of torture and should not be used at all.

The girl’s mother Pauline Morse, 40, was also arrested. Their two daughters, aged 5 and 11, are both now under the care of the Delaware State Family Services.

Delaware Police say that they were initially contacted by the girl in July and informed of a domestic assault that had happened on July 12. During that incident, according to State Police Master Cpl. Gary Fournier, Melvin Morse had allegedly “grabbed his daughter by the ankle, dragged her across their gravel driveway, brought her inside his home and began spanking her.”

Morse was arrested on July 16 and charged with endangering the welfare of a child as well as assault. He was released after meeting his $750 secured bail.

On August 6, however, the 11-year-old was further interviewed at a Child Advocacy Center. During this questioning, the girl told detectives that over the last two years her father had disciplined her by “holding her face under a running faucet” on at least four occasions. Pauline (the mother) had apparently stood by and watched.

On August 7, the couple were both arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. They were ordered to have no contact with their children, nor with each other.

On August 11, Delaware State officials announced that they were suspending Dr. Morse’s license to practice.

In a telephone interview on Monday (August 13), Dr. Morse told the Associated Press that the charges against him are an overreaction from authorities in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving another Delaware paediatrician (Earl Bradley, who is serving 14 life sentences for sexually abusing scores of his young patients).

On Tuesday (August 14), the Associated Press revealed that the police were now looking at a possible link between the waterboarding allegations and Dr. Morse’s NDE research.

“This ‘waterboarding’ that he has performed … would fall into the area of study he practices,” police said. “It is logical that he has therefore written about and/or researched the topic of ‘waterboarding’.” This statement appeared in an affidavit for a warrant to search through Morse’s computers.

Does this imply that Dr. Morse could have been using waterboarding as a way to induce some sort of near-death or out-of-body experience? (Or is the supposed NDE link perhaps a pretext for searching the hard drive for child porn?)

Morse’s own attorney has said that the idea that Morse had been “experimenting on his own children” is sheer speculation. Morse himself is saying that his daughter is making a false allegation and has a prior history of doing so. He says that his daughter has “opposition issues” and has a history of making up complaints and crimes when upset about family members.

I will be watching this case with interest. If guilty, does this call into question his NDE research? And if innocent, what can he do about the sudden avalanche of hate-filled ‘book reviews’ on Amazon accusing him of child abuse?

Sources:

• ‘Georgetown couple arrested for child abuse’. sussexcountian.com, 8 Aug 2012 — http://www.sussexcountian.com/news/x769535884/Georgetown-couple-arrested-for-child-abuse
• ‘Dad accused of waterboarding daughter’. Reuters, 12 Aug 2012 — http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/12/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-blotter-idUS267810478720120812