Skeptomania - Paranormal / UFOs, etc.

enigma · Deputy Dawg

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.

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

To me this is nothing short of child neglect and endangerment... and just one more reason religion makes me want to slap people and tell them to get a clue.

Yaish · Intel Chief

Incredible.... what a totally selfish act on the part of her parents. Rather than risk their faith for their daughters life, they let her suffer and die to prove they had faith.

I view religious people like that the same way I do addicts or the mentally ill. They need to be locked up or treated so they can't harm anybody else.

Gren · God Of Oreos

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

There might not be any law that allows the surviving kids' removal, but there is damn sure a reason.

And as crazy as praying for a magic recovery is, the mother thinks resurrection is possible. She's delusional and in such a way that other human's rights are being infringed, unto death even. Arrest and prosecute both parents: negligent homicide, felony child abuse

enigma · Deputy Dawg

Thank you... I didn't think I was the one who was nuts thinking this was criminal behavior

Raven · Google Meister

i guess they missed the part about God only helps those who help themselves...

Gren · God Of Oreos

If you're going to use a child's illness to test your own faith in God, can't you limit your 'experiment' to a scraped knee or a head cold? It is beyond me how a parent can knowingly watch their child slowly die.

wrmd · :::::::::

Mens rea and religion, I bet there'll be an unsettling compromise.

Yaish · Intel Chief

There have been several cases where the courts have stepped in for a childs welfare despite the parents wishes. Mostly Jehovahs Witnesses I think, where blood transfusions or some other lifesaving provisions are made.

Unfortunately there have been many more cases where nothing happened, and the child died.

WTB1

Ugh!

I really do get upset when I see anything that reminds me of religion. There was some Easter paraphenalia in the house a few days back. Told the wife to file it or throw it away....I just didn't want to see it out.

Raven · Google Meister

Did you have a traumatizing moment involving an Easter Bunny at the mall?

Yaish · Intel Chief

What do you have against German fertility rituals WTB? Or as my friend says on Easter "Happy Zombie Day!"