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Parents attribute daughter's death to lack of faith

.: posted 3/27/2008 ::: by webmdave :::

Madeline Kara Neumann is shown working on chalk art last summer during downtown Wausau's Chalk Fest.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.

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tag: ex-christian, faith healing, prayer, faith, medicine, raising the dead, miracles

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13 Comments:

eejay wrote:

Those are just the kinds of things that prove to me that religious beliefs are nuts. God doesn't answer prayers, when will people get it? I remember someone postd on the forum a week or so ago, and the question was something about religion being child abuse. Well, when you deliberately withhold proper medical care (because god will heal her) I would definately cry child abuse. Stories like this just show how fucking dumb the human race sometimes is.

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

cipher wrote:

There are no signs of abuse???

WHY does religion always get a free pass?

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

Stephen_Richard_Webb wrote:

This is obviously a case of criminal negligence - the fact of the matter is, they DIDN'T even belong to a particular denomination or attend any organized function!? It would be a good case for the prosecuter to claim that they didn't want to pay dr. bills, or other expenses for proper medical treatments, so they let her die...BASTARDS!

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

billybee wrote:

As and atheist, this story demonstrates to me that I need to SPEAK OUT !

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

Spirula wrote:

There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see

Stupid, stupid assholes! Negligence is probably the number one form of child abuse. What, does the kid have to have an untreated gaping wound to have it qualify as abuse?

Sounds like the cops are as stupid as the parents.

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

Samuel wrote:

Now THAT's really sad :'(((

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

sscianni wrote:

"Sounds like the cops are as stupid as the parents"

Precisely. The enforcers of the law usually do not have any formal education that extends beyond High School, a number of them are small-minded power grabbers to begin with, and these "authorities" probably believe many of the same things these culpable parents do.

This story is just tragic - one more kick to the gut from Christendom.

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

dedhed wrote:

Of course there are no signs of child abuse. But let an atheist family not take their child to the doctor and they die of a cureable disease and they'll start burning us again.

They didn't have enough faith? No amount of faith is enough, seeing as people haven't been cured of diseases by god since about 3 A.D. and those were fakes too.

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

freedy wrote:

We now have scientific proof through two major studies that prayer does not work.These parents should be held accountable to at least manslaughter.

posted: March 27, 2008 EST

buffettphan wrote:

This is the kind of tragic story that makes my blood boil! Now if the parents get sick and want to pretend, oops I mean, pray for themselves...FINE...one less dumbass xtian on the planet.

This is child abuse!!!

posted: March 28, 2008 EST

DocMike wrote:

This is a perfect example of why it's so dangerous to believe in an imaginary sky-daddy. People say, "what's the harm?" Well, here it is.

Just imagine if our political leaders believed in that crap... Oops!

posted: March 28, 2008 EST

Michelle wrote:

You have to be a cold-hearted bastard to watch your child suffer like this and not take her to the hospital. Yeah, let's just ignore the livesaving potential around the corner at the nearest hospital and put it all in God's hand. Pray if it make you feel better, but also get that child medical attention!

This situation actually enforces the atheist's views. If there is a God, he would rather let an 11-year-old girl suffer horribly and die than lift a finger to intervene because, what, someone here is going to learn a valuable lesson? That her parents are criminally negligent retards? Or is it that there is no God, because what kind of God would be o.k. with a child's suffering and fear, realizing that her parents are letting her die right before their eyes. Not a nice send-off for her into the afterlife (if there is one), is it?

The silence from the Christian trolls on this one is deafening.

posted: March 29, 2008 EST

Tim wrote:

Of course this should piss off anyone with a heart and the ONLY good thing here is that she is out from under the insanity of her parents forever now and is no longer suffering mentally or physically.

But the Christian community will simply wave it off as "fringe" behavior not representative of Christianity or some such.

Tim

posted: March 29, 2008 EST

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