News: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing

[jaymayo]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341574,00.html

Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

AP

WESTON, Wis. —
An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday.

Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline Neumann died Sunday.

"She got sicker and sicker until she was dead," he said.

Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

The girl's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to "apparently they didn't have enough faith," the police chief said.

They believed the key to healing "was it was better to keep praying. Call more people to help pray," he said.

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said.

Telephone messages left at the Neumann home by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

The family does not attend an organized church or participate in an organized religion, Vergin said. "They have a little Bible study of a few people."

The parents told investigators their daughter last saw a doctor when she was 3 to get some shots, Vergin said. The girl had attended public school during the first semester but didn't return for the second semester.

Officers went to the home after one of the girl's relatives in California called police to check on her, Vergin said. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The relative was fearful the girl was "extremely ill, dire," Vergin said.

The girl has three siblings, ranging in age from 13 to 16, the police chief said.

"They are still in the home," he said. "There is no reason to remove them. There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see."

The girl's death remains under investigation and the findings will be forwarded to the district attorney to review for possible charges, the chief said.

The family operates a coffee shop in Weston, which is a suburb of Wausau, Vergin said.


Opinion: Very sad... Of all the progress and development mankind has achieved, most still rely on God who clearly does nothing and does not exist.  

[Msblue]

Other than my introduction this is my first post so, bear with me.

This story makes me sad and angry. The parents should be charged with negligent homicide

[Will]

Either one of two things are true:
1) God hates his or her own followers so much that he asks them to pray for what he or she knows he or she will not do.
2) God isn't real and children like this die often due to the gross negligence of their delusional caretakers.

It's obviously option 2, and these people who have the audacity to call themselves parents should be institutionalized.

[rational liberal]

This is a truly disgusting and repulsive story. The parents should be locked up for life, in my opinon.

[tacoma_kyle]

Lack of insulin....

Jeese. Something that is always being used in hospitals...

Sad.

[SteveS]

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said.

Is this delusion, or dementia, or what?  It appears to me that the mother is mentally ill.  While being mentally ill may not be a crime, it seems to make her unfit to be a mother.

I find the acts of the parents to be shockingly neglectful.  Not seeking medical help for a sick child is negligence, straight and simple.  Its not like they didn't know she was sick.

[ShimShamSam]

you know what, I think the mother was right. I mean think about it, if god is all powerful and created everything, if they pray really really reeeeaaallly hard it should get his attention and save their daughter. I guess the problem was they didn't spend enough time talking to the sky. Like sometimes i'll pray that I want to watch south park, so I'll kneel down and talk to the sky for a while, and eventually, South Park comes on tv.

[Will]

SteveS, it would be delusion, but the authors of the DSM IV put an asterisk in the delusion section which gives people who believe in ceiling cat a free pass. It's religious propaganda that's weaseled it's way into science, not unlike creationism. It's that asterisk that prevents these people from being institutionalized, and that is indirectly responsible for the death of this child and many others.

[Valerie]

I have a hard time believing that in all the years that this child had gone without medical attention that not one person who knew about it didn't think that it was worth going to social services over.  Obviously the parents involved are demented to think that prayer would do it. I should think that to withhold medical attention from a minor child is against the law in any state, no matter what religion you claim to belong to.  Why not deprive the parents of food and water and tell them to pray about it.  The things that religion drives people to do.........I believe that if all religion were wiped out completely that the world's population would be better off than before.

[josh]

There should be a test in order to be a parent.  This was clearly child abuse or worse.  How can humans be this dumb?

[Will]

How can humans be this dumb?

Our species has great biodiversity.

[joeactor]

Harumph!

Sad, but unfortunatly, not news.
It happens way too often.
"No Abuse" indeed!

I'm starting a new country called "Joelandia".
It is a benevolent dictatorship, with requirements for entry and breeding.
Probably with a day pass system for workers from other countries.
Oh, and if your kids don't pass the requirements, they're out.
Maybe I should just name the country "Un-Natural Selection"...

One can dream,
JoeActor

[rlrose328]

Can I come too??  

[joeactor]

Can I come too??  

Absolutely!  I'm sure most of the people here would pass the entrance exam with flying colors!
(gotta write that test... oh, and buy a country...)

[rlrose328]

Can I come too??  

Absolutely!  I'm sure most of the people here would pass the entrance exam with flying colors!
(gotta write that test... oh, and buy a country...)

Good luck with that, my friend... I WILL be on the first boat there.  :-)