Parents Pick Prayer Over Docs; Girl Dies

This makes me so mad! How on earth, as a parent, can you just sit back and watch your child dying?! I just don't understand! They said they had nothing against doctors. In fact, the girl had been to them in the past. What is wrong with these people?! And the father--he used to be a policeman! He should definitely be familiar with child neglect. I hope charges are brought against them and they go to jail! And i hope their other kids are taken away from them and go live with relatives. Type 1 diabetes can run in families, and if that's the case with this family, their other kids could be in danger too!

Sorry for the rant, but as I am a type 1 diabetic, this pisses me off beyond belief!

Parents Pick Prayer Over Docs; Girl Dies
By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer

WESTON, Wis. — Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl's death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.

An autopsy showed Madeline Neumann died Sunday of diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that left too little insulin in her body, Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said.

She had probably been ill for about a month, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, the chief said Wednesday, noting that he expects to complete the investigation by Friday and forward the results to the district attorney.

The girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, said that she and her family believe in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but that they do not belong to an organized religion or faith, are not fanatics and have nothing against doctors.

She insisted her youngest child, a wiry girl known to wear her straight brown hair in a ponytail, was in good health until recently.

"We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks," she said Wednesday. "And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering."

Her daughter — who hadn't seen a doctor since she got some shots as a 3-year-old, according to Vergin — had no fever and there was warmth in her body, she said.

The girl's father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body.

Family members elsewhere called authorities to seek help for the girl.

"My sister-in-law, she's very religious, she believes in faith instead of doctors ...," the girl's aunt told a sheriff's dispatcher Sunday afternoon in a call from California. "And she called my mother-in-law today ... and she explained to us that she believes her daughter's in a coma now and she's relying on faith."

The dispatcher got more information from the caller and asked whether an ambulance should be sent.

"Please," the woman replied. "I mean, she's refusing. She's going to fight it. ... We've been trying to get her to take her to the hospital for a week, a few days now."

The aunt called back with more information on the family's location, emergency logs show. Family friends also made a 911 call from the home. Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and immediately called for an ambulance that took her to a hospital.

But less than an hour after authorities reached the home, Madeline — a bright student who left public school for home schooling this semester — was declared dead.

She is survived by her parents and three older siblings.

"We are remaining strong for our children," Leilani Neumann said. "Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time."

The Neumanns said they moved from California to a modern, middle-class home in woodsy Weston, just outside Wassau in central Wisconsin, about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. A basketball hoop is set up in the driveway.

Leilani Neumann said she and her husband are not worried about the investigation because "our lives are in God's hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."

___

March 28, 2008 - 6:16 a.m. Copyright 2008, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

I've said this many times before, and I'll probably say it many times more unfortunately. THIS MAKES ME MAD! I'm a Christian, I believe and follow the Bible to the best of my abilities, and I believe that God can and does heal us. However, these people obviously don't stop and think that "Oh gee, maybe our healing miracle is the God-given ability of MEDICAL DOCTORS AND MODERN MEDICINE!" Trusting in God most definitely does not mean giving up trust in the brilliant human minds God has put on this earth. I feel so bad for that poor little girl, and I hope the parents do face charges, and they would have several years in jail to sit and think about what their faith in God really is, and learn that some of His greatest miracles are presented in other people just like us. I will pray for all the people involved, not only for comfort, but for wisdom as well.

Adam

Enough to make me

I would do anything to save my children. ANYTHING! How in God's name could they sit and watch her get worse? People are incredibility stupid.

Adam W my words exactly

Adam, you are so correct. You do ALL you can for your children. That includes using the medical profesion for their expertise. Darn it. What a waste.

SHe sounds as if she was just a bright, happy girl. Who knows what she could have turned out to be.

When I read this story on Comcast.net news feed, it made me remember what I went through when I was getting sick from diabetes. The nausousness, vomitting, weakness, thirst and constant urination in a vary odd state of mind. Not sure how long I was showing symptoms, but atleast my parents took me to the ER.
Glad they were not my parents.
Would like to

a few thousand times though, then jail.

This makes me so sad and mad all at the same time! When I was first diagnosed with ESRD in 1979 my mom was beginning to get involved with a certain religion. The minister was telling my mom that she could not allow her daughter (me) to have transplant or any blood transfusions. My dad put a stop to that crap real fast! He was gonna give me a kidney no matter what!

The little girl in this story never had a chance! Somebody should have called children's services on the parents!

My husband saw a segment on the Today Show this morning that said the parents may not get in trouble due to some law in the state that allows parents to invoke religious beliefs instead of persuing medical treatments. Arghh...

I read last night on my comcast home page in the news section that the kids were taken away temporarily. They are staying with relatives, who I hope would take them to a doctor to get checked out.

I heard about this on Nancy Grace, There is absolutely no excuse for the parents not to get care for their daughter. The Wisconsin law is ridiculous. I hope the parents receive a life sentence that includes no medical care. Using religion as an excuse for child neglect / abuse is sick.

God works in many, many ways and sending you a DOCTOR is one of them. They need to be put in jail!!!!!!!

There was a case similar to this one locally. The parents lost two children by not getting medical treatment. I remember there was a trial but I don't remember the out come.

This was in our paper today. The poor girl's parent's comments just make me even madder!!!

Parents Who Didn't Treat Child Charged

WESTON, WIS. -- Two parents who prayed as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes were charged Monday with second-degree reckless homicide.

Family and friends had urged Dale and Leilani Neumann to get hepl for their daughter, but the father considered the illness "a test of faith" and the mother never considered taking the girl to the doctor because she thought her daughter was under a "spiritual attack," the criminal complaint said.

Madeline Neumann died March 23--Easter Sunday--at her family's rural Weston home. Her parents were told the body would be taken to Madison for an autopsy the next day.

"They responded, 'You won't need to do that. She will be alive by then,'" the medical examiner wrote in a report.

Like I said before, I'm a Christian myself, but this just makes me want to

Adam

Probably going for te old nut case plea now. Well maybe the mother is with just what was posted here.
Spiritual attack, common, this isn't the pre 20th century.

I am not a Christian (I have no beliefs at all) so I cannot know what they think or feel, but when ever such a topic as this came up in the past, I have always looked at it in exactly the way Adam said.

If you believe in God, then surely you would believe that it was He who gave humans the ability to learn so much, and to become doctors, and to treat others etc.