Freedom of Religion and Children's Health Options

[Comptine]

Reading this story made my stomach stick.

Parents Pick Prayer Over Docs; Girl Dies
By ROBERT IMRIE – 5 hours ago

WESTON, Wis. (AP) — 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 from 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 the family believes in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but she said 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 if 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. 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."

According to a CNN news report, the girl had been in visibly failing health for a month, with no medical attention whatsoever.

I fully support a person's freedom of religion but in this case, the parents' freedom of religion caused them to forsake their daughter's well being.

Do you think parents who base medical decisions on faith should be allowed to make drastic medical decisions for their children? Should criminal charges be charged against the Neumann's?

[illriginal]

Reading this story made my stomach stick.
According to a CNN news report, the girl had been in visibly failing health for a month, with no medical attention whatsoever.

I fully support a person's freedom of religion but in this case, the parents' freedom of religion caused them to forsake their daughter's well being.

Do you think parents who base medical decisions on faith should be allowed to make drastic medical decisions for their children? Should criminal charges be charged against the Neumann's?

God doesn't perform miracles the way people perceive them to be. That's why brain washed religious people look foolish now a days. Obviously this is a case of negligence and the parents deserve prison time.

I'm still wondering when people are gonna stop relying on God for everything and start relying on themselves. That's the point of free will in the first place

[BadCraziness]

I think that there should definitely be intervention from the government or whoever in the case of parents making drastic medical decisions regarding their children based on religion. The child's life is more important than her parents' religion.

I don't think criminal charges should be filed against them, because they honestly thought they were doing the right thing. If they had known their kid was going to die, they would have taken her to the doctor - they just had no idea it was that bad. There was no real malevolence in any action they took, and that's the important thing to remember.

Besides, it's not their fault that they're f**king stupid. They had the misfortune of being brought up in a religion that ignorantly insists on telling them "God will provide."

God doesn't perform miracles the way people perceive them to be.

God doesn't perform miracles period. It's a hard thing to do when you don't exist.

And believing in the existence of an omnipotent God who knows exactly what you're going to do before you do it because everything has been predecided pretty much signs off on any sense of free will that you might have.

[illriginal]

God doesn't perform miracles period. It's a hard thing to do when you don't exist.

And believing in the existence of an omnipotent God who knows exactly what you're going to do before you do it because everything has been predecided pretty much signs off on any sense of free will that you might have.

Where's your proof? The irony of this is... no one knows if God exists or not. God exists by faith and historical events, which holds true in my heart and mind as well as scientific data.

And I'm sick of reading moronic views of how if God knows every single move anyone would ever make means they have no free will. That's just silly. You're tryin to use human philosophy created by satanists to down play the existence of God.

Fact of the matter is... there can be a God that's the all knowing while his creation of humans have free will.

God knows the infinite possibilities of every single possible move you could ever make at any given time... God knows you're going to hell and heaven. But in the sake of free will, it is YOU who controls YOUR destiny. Not God. God doesn't control you, nor anything around you. Everything of everything has free will but it is all known. God is infinite of infinite.

Your human mind can't fathom what infinite is much less infinite of infinite... not even I, not Jesus, nor any Prophet, NO ONE could.

So please, go study something more than human philosophy before makin elementary assumptions.
LOL @ everything being predecided.

[BadCraziness]

Where's your proof? The irony of this is... no one knows if God exists or not. God exists by faith and historical events, which holds true in my heart and mind as well as scientific data.

Have you ever read the parable of the invisible gardener?
God exists only by faith. There is no sceince.

And actually I got that little omniscience detail from The Bible and sunday school when I was a kid. I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now.

Fact of the matter is... there can be a God that's the all knowing while his creation of humans have free will.

God knows the infinite possibilities of every single possible move you could ever make at any given time... God knows you're going to hell and heaven. But in the sake of free will, it is YOU who controls YOUR destiny. Not God. God doesn't control you, nor anything around you. Everything of everything has free will but it is all known. God is infinite of infinite.

Still doesn't sound right to me. If life is supposed to be this big test to see if we can make it into Heaven, what's the point of it if God already knows where we're going? It sounds completely malevolent that he would allow a child to be born who he knows is destined for eternal suffering anyway. Also, what about all the people in countries like where any type of theism has not been introduced? You say Islam is the only truth, but so many people go their whole lives without ever being introduced to it. Is God going to send those people to Hell too? Why would people without the opportunity to take his little heaven test even exist?