Sunday, August 2, 2009

Dale Neumann: GUILTY

The jury got it right.

Dale Neumann was found guilty.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or speak. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Neumann's 41-year-old wife, Leilani, was convicted on the same charge in the spring and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 6. Both face up to 25 years in prison.

Their case is believed to be the first in Wisconsin involving faith healing in which someone died and another person was charged with a homicide.

I don't see this case as being about the Neumanns' right to practice their faith and trust in God. I see it as a matter of defending a child's right to life.

Eleven-year-old Kara Neumann desperately needed medical care and her parents failed to help her.

The Neumanns could have prayed for God to heal Kara while seeking medical assistance. It's not an either-or situation.

Kara was gravely ill and Dale Neumann neglected her.

In this country, we do have the right to worship and exercise our religious beliefs. It's a precious freedom.

We do not have the right to inadequately care for our children and do harm to them in the name of those religious beliefs.

Neumann did nothing wrong in trusting God to heal Kara.

He and his wife were terribly wrong in deciding not to get their daughter the medical care she clearly needed.

As Kara's father, Neumann was responsible for providing proper care for his child's well-being. He didn't provide that care. He allowed Kara to die.

Kara's death was an injustice.

It's right for Neumann to be held accountable for his role in his daughter's death.

"Dale Neumann told a Bible study friend he considered his daughter's illness 'a test of his faith.'"

HIS faith?

How incredibly selfish of Neumann to interpret his daughter's suffering as being about him!

The little girl was dying and he was thinking about himself.

Yes, Neumann was definitely tested. He was tested as a parent.

He failed.

The jury got it right.

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Video, from the Wausau Daily Herald.

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