Madeline 'Kara' Neumann, the 11-year-old Wisconsin girl who died in March 2008 after her parents failed to get her medical attention for undiagnosed diabetes, relying only on prayer. Her parents were sentenced today in a Wisconsin courtroom.
The Wisconsin parents who prayed over their 11-year-old daughter instead of getting her medical care prior to her death learned their fate this afternoon in a Marathon County courtroom.
Dale and Leilani Neumann of Weston, Wisconsin, were sentenced by Judge Vincent Howard to ten years of probation and 30 days of jail time each for the next six years, a lenient sentence for the parents who potentially faced 25 years in prison for their convictions of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of their youngest daughter, Madeline 'Kara' Neumann, who died in March 2008. The Neumanns believed that prayer alone would heal Kara, who was later determined to have undiagnosed diabetes, and did not seek medical treatment.
Judge Howard decreed the parents could serve the jail time in different months of the year, the father in March, the month Kara died, and the mother in September. Their remaining children will be subject to regular health checks, given randomly, and the parents are ordered to seek medical attention for the children, submit a DNA sample, pay restitution and serve 120 hours of community service.
Jail time has been deferred pending appeal by the parents; the probation is scheduled to begin immediately.
The 'faith healing' case garnered attention worldwide and controversy locally in central Wisconsin, where young Kara Neumann's death occurred. In sentencing the parents, Judge Howard stressed these were "two people who made a bad decision, a reckless decision."
The Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald kept a live blog of the sentencing this afternoon: Live Blog: Neumanns Sentenced to Probabation, Jail
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Comments
What about parents who don't take their kid to the doctor soon enough, and then the kid dies of flu, e:Coli, etc?
And there was a recent case where a kid with cancer WANTED to die, rather than go through years of painful treatment (after having already gone through years of it). The parents eventually agreed with the child and the state tried to take custody of the kid (I think he/she was about 13 or 14) so that they could FORCE treatment on the kid.
I don't know all the answers, but my knee jerk reaction is to get really queasy whenever the government gets involved in personal/familiy decisions.
What if a doctor recommends that a child get an organ transplant. Do parents HAVE to follow that course of treatment? If they don't and their child dies, do they go to prison?
And what if a parent doesn't make their kid wear a bike helmet and they die? Do the parents go to prison?
What if parents don't make their kids brush their teeth and their kids get cavities? Isn't that assault?
Sure the case in question is an extreme one, but where do you draw the line?
It is sad all the way around. But I think the bottom line is that a child died unnecessarily. I also think that while the judge was lenient the judge also took into account that the parents actually believed that they were doing the right thing, as did apparently, a lot of others who were there praying. I just hope that they have learned something through all of this.
Monte
Great reporting as always, Kathy.
Rated.
I appreciate the comments on this thread, all of which make excellent points.
fins2theleft, your discussion of slippery slope is well taken.
Harvey and Monte, I share your view that prayer shouldn't have been in isolation, as noted above.
Owl_Says_Who, now I'm wondering where your hometown was. I wasn't aware of this particular group here in Marathon County until this case surfaced, and I believe it's very small, not well known in general.
Norwonk, neglect is neglect and reckless behavior is reckless behavior. I expect many share your view that the parents got off too light in the sentencing.
Caroline, exactly. Thanks for your comments.
Thoth, thanks for your kind words. It's always sad when a story like this happens, even sadder when it happens in the midst of our own community. Fortunately, in most places, behavior like this is the exception, and not the norm.
Hope
This situation just points out the insanity of religion. Religion is a plague on society. And the slippery slope scenario doesn't hold at all. The issue here is one of NO medical care, total neglect based in sheer stupidity, neglect that killed a sweet little girl. And to compound the stupidity, the Times article mentions the possibility of legislators EXPANDING this kind of exclusionary protection for religiously based ignorance.
If people want to believe this crap, that is their right, but it is not their right to cause the death of another BECAUSE they believe this crap, especially the deaths of their children who can't decide for themselves what they believe and do not believe. Are the legislators in Wisconsin truly idiotic enough to actually consider expanding protections for this?
C'mon, people, quit tip-toeing around the obvious truth here; this was manslaughter, at the very least, and religion is the culprit. And the parents are so lacking in remorse that they think they should appeal the court's ruling. Good grief!
yeah, I thought the "appeal" was particularly indicative of the level of delusional thinking exhibited here.