WTMJ-TV and JSOnline.com
updated 51 minutes ago

A Wisconsin girl dies after her parents refused to get medical treatment. They prayed for her instead.

WESTON - The mother of an 11-year-old girl who died of untreated diabetes said Wednesday that she did not know her daughter was terminally ill as she prayed for her to get better. Madeline Neumann died Sunday from an undiagnosed and treatable form of diabetes. Her mother, Leilani Neumann, told The Associated Press she never expected her daughter, whom she called Kara, to die. The family believes in the Bible, and it says healing comes from God, but they are not crazy, religious people and they have nothing against doctors, she said. The girl's father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he has friends who are doctors. He started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body, he said. Other family members called 911 to seek emergency help, Leilani Neumann said. "We are remaining strong for our children," she said. "Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time." The couple has three other children. Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin has said an autopsy determined Madeline died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body. She had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, he said. She had not been diagnosed with the ailment previously, he said. The girl was in public school last semester and being home schooled this semester, Vergin said. But Leilani Neumann said her daughter, a straight A student, was in good health until recently. "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." Her daughter had no fever and there was warmth in her body, she explained. The family does not belong to an organized religion or faith, Leilani Neumann said. She said the family is not worried about a police investigation into her daughter's death 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." Vergin said he expect the investigation to wrap up by Friday and the findings to be forwarded to the district attorney to review for possible charges. The family moved to Weston from California about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives, the Neumanns said. They live in rural Weston, in a modern, middle class home in the some woods. A basketball hoop is set up in the driveway. 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. According to Vergin, the parents told investigators Madeline last saw a doctor when she was 3 to get some shots. The girl had attended public school during the first semester but didn't return for the second semester, he said. Mrs. Neumann said she deeply loves all her children and has nurtured them spiritually, emotionally and physically. "Our lives are in God's hands and whatever we go through we are just going to trust him," she said. "We need healing. We are going through the healing process.

Oh my God! What is wrong here? It is a child! For me it is a different story if you as an adult want to refuse medical attention hoping for God to answer your prayer but this was a child!

I believe in medical attention but I believe any extra help helps

Hence the thread I posted asking for good thoughts or prayers (depending on belief) for me and my grandmother...the fact that people posted to that thread while my grandmother was in the hospital helped me because people do care

and if is all that it was meant to do for me...so be it because it did make me feel better

She was only a child...even God needs help at times.....Prayer is good....but she needed a doctor....

Theres a lot of the people around here, where I live that dont believe in seeking medical attention, and in my opinion that is their right, just as it is their right to educate their children at home.

I think you guys are putting two much blam on the parents. They said they didnt have anything against going to the doctor and just thought she was sick. Give thema breal, they are going through enough. Who the hell runs to the doctor eveytime they arent feeling well.

She had not seen a doctor since she was three years old. She was sick for a month. She was eleven. She needed to see a doctor. IMHO

My heart goes out to these poor ignorant people, because I know they must be grieving, but it's natural selection. They are not intelligent enough to care for thier opffspring so thier genes don't deserve to be passed on. I certainly hope the other kids have been to the DR now to be checked out; Diabetes runs in families.

I do feel bad for the family but with the symptoms the girl was having they need to get her to a doctor not just pray for her.
I don't run to the doctor ecery time I don't feel well either but I do go to the doctor when the ill feeling persists for a few days.

digging this up for more disscussion

"Zapchaser" the parents should not be blamed if they choose not to take their daughter to the Doctor if they believe that praying to God will cure their child ...since the government have approved the religion to be a bonafide religion and have acknowledge the existence of God then the government should have no complaints with the parents practicing that religion as long as the parents practice that religion within the parameters of the belief ..and praying for God to heal their daughter instead of going to a doctor is within those paramenters ..

if their religion has a foundation in faith healing

then the gov has no jurisdiction per the bill of rights

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

as sad as it is that she died

the govt has no right to hinder their exersizing their religious beliefs ***unless they want to finally admit the children do not belong to the parent but belong to the state and the parent is only their guardian

hhhhhmmmmmmm

and they may be ready to do that at this point


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yes it is a sad thing she dies

their are faith based religions

that teach faith and pray can heal anything

and who are you or anyone else to say

what they believe is wrong

it is their right to follow any religion they choose

and if it is proven they followed such a religion

no charges should be filed

unless the govt owns the children

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ok the above being said

i feel they need to have been at a minimal
attending one of the faith based religions at least
on a semi-regular basis for some time (4 times in 3 months)
to be able to yes religion for their defense

and if not then the religion defense should not be valid
if you can claim religious freedom with out showing
a following of an ""recognized religion"" then

religion could be used in to many instances
said religion does not give way to hurting others

but when raising your child thay are of you
and you may raise them as you see fit as long as
you do not maliciously cause them harm

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to prosecute a true faith based parent for the death of a child
while practicing their religion what is to

protect the parent (prosecution) when they are sharing a passtime with there child

say rock climbing
you take all precautions according to your belief (training)
to protect the child but a tragedy happens anyway
and the child falls to their death

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granted an investigation should proceed but if
incident is in conformity with beliefs (training)
no charges should arise from the incident

That fact that the father is a cop makes this even more disturbing. The public relies on his judgement each day he works. I assume he is on personal leave, & he should remain on some sort of leave until this is further investigated.

The Government has acknowleged the existance of God?????

Link please.

take out a one dollar federal reserve note turn it so gw is facing away from you look right above the ONE in the center of the note

what does it say::::::::


""""""""""""""IN GOD WE TRUST"""""""""""""""""

that pretty much........

acknowledges the existence of God

"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."


Ok as soon as I posted above I instantly thought of this but does this mean that God is truly recognized by the government & does that justify the lack of action on these parents part?

For the record I am agnostic.

ADJ4U yes another good point. I disagree with the idea but the fact that it is there cannot be disputed. I hesitate to question the rights of parents to pratice thier beliefs & teach them to thier kids, but this situation seems so senseless to me.

well i can agree it is senseless

especially because per theinfo in the op leads one to believe they
were not a members of any faith healing based religion

thus i do not know how well they should be protected byt the constitution

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as for the govt how can they trust in something they feel does not exist

and if the govt trust in god why can't a parent

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not that i agree with what they did

but a double standard is not allowable imo

those links are exchanged everyday and printed on all the U.S. currency and that is how the government has acknowledge the existence of God and even saids that it trust God ..

so if the government encourage this trust in God then why shouldn't the parents

The article says that the father started CPR & they called 911 but not until after she stopped breathing. Does this show that they did not really believe in lack of interferce with God's will? I would argue that it does if I was on a jury.