Del. Pediatrician Accused of Waterboarding Daughter

Dr. Melvin Morse is considered by some to be an expert on near-death experiences. The way his 11-year-old daughter tells it, his parenting could be making her something of an expert herself.

The Associated Press reports Morse was arrested Tuesday after his daughter told authorities that her father "waterboarded" her several times by holding her face under a running faucet. Delaware officials then suspended his medical license in an emergency move Thursday.

The 58-year-old Morse is the author of several books on near-death experiences and has likewise made several appearances on TV talk shows (including Oprah's and Larry King's) to talk about the topic.

The pediatrician's lawyer took issue with the waterboarding description, calling it nothing more than an "attention-getter" and was quick to point out that several years ago the young girl said she had been abused by a half-sibling only to later confess that she made the whole thing up to get the half-sibling out of the house.

But Morse's arrest wasn't his first. He was already out on bail on misdemeanor charges filed last month for allegedly dragging his daughter by the ankle across a gravel driveway and taking her inside to spank her. Police say Morse's younger daughter, 6, witnessed the incident.

On the same day he was arrested on child endangerment charges, Morse was also charged with threatening to kill a 65-year-old man, a charge that has since been dropped.