Merit-bound Alley

Compliments of the Friendly Atheist, we have the target of the above referenced rage:

As a memorial to the painful, frightening and needless death of Madeline Kara Neumann, the Wisconsin Legislature needs to finally show some gumption, and remove from the statutes its callous exemption sanctifying child homicide in the name of faith. (link)

Wait, what? Surely there can’t be an exemption of homicide in any case! If you thought that, as I did, them you were wrong. From the Wisconson Code defining types of abuse:

EXCEPTION. Nothing in this section may be construed to mean that an individual at risk is abused solely because he or she consistently relies upon treatment by spiritual means through prayer for healing, in lieu of medical care, in accordance with his or her religious tradition.

Are we in the fucking Dark Ages? In what version of reality is it actually okay to let your child die as long as you prayed it didn’t happen? If a child is playing in the road and there’s a truck coming, can the parent pray that the driver swerves, even if the parent is a few yards away? If the child gets hit and killed, is the parent not liable for not trying to get their child out of the road?

At what point is a person’s trust in god not only irresponsible, but criminal? What is the limit of allowance the law can give to theists just because of their religion?

The siblings of Madeline Neumann, the 11-year-old girl left to die while her parents prayed, have been removed from their home while an investigation of the death proceeds. While I think that it’s commendable that these kids, aged 13 to 16, are being moved to safety, there are still some things that concern me.

The parents and social services experts agreed the move would be best for everyone, Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said. The children are staying with other relatives, though they were not in danger, he said.

Some might argue that the possibility of neglect resulting in death is a danger.

“There is no intent. They didn’t want their child to die. They thought what they were doing was the right thing,” he said. “They believed up to the time she stopped breathing she was going to get better. They just thought it was a spiritual attack. They believed if they prayed enough she would get through it.”

Gee, if only there was some kind of charge, like murder, but without intent that could be brought up against these parents-of-the-year.

Everything in my mind and heart screams that these people need to go straight to jail, and that their children deserve a more stable home than they can provide. Let’s hope that the law does not let us down.

A pair of Wisconsin parents let their daughter slowly die of diabetes while they declined to seek medical treatment in favor of prayer. The parents had this to say about their daughter’s condition:

“We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks,” she said. “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.”

Doctors, the people who could have actually saved 11-year-old Madeline Neumann, say that the girl had probably been showing signs of sickness for up to 30 days before she died. Said the murdering parents:

“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.”

Any outright fool knows that you bring sick children to the doctor, or at least give the doctor a call when symptoms of sickness persist. The above statement not only shows that the parents have no understanding of the fatal mistake that they made, but that they take no responsibility for their child’s death and will probably kill again given the chance. The most horrible part of this whole thing is that they will probably get out of any charges because of the religious angle. NEWSFLASH: If you are directly responsible for the death of a child, you are a child murderer.

What gives a more sinister light to this pitiful event is:

Officers went to the home after a relative in California asked police to check on the girl. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A relative, obviously aware of the situation, didn’t feel that the parents were acting in a responsible way. Chances are that this relative had pleaded with the parents to seek medical attention for their dying daughter, advice that was ultimately ignored.

An hour at the doctors and one intital shot of insulin could have saved this poor girl’s life. A couple shots a day, and she could have led a normal life. Now, due to her parents superstition and failure as responsible guardians, she will never have that chance.