From Wausau Daily Herald and The Associated Press
WESTON, WI — 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.
The parents of Madeline Kara Neumann called 911 three minutes after police and EMS crews already had been sent to their home by the girl’s aunt, who lives in California.
Neumann died Sunday from an undiagnosed form of diabetes. The family told police they chose to pray for her to get better, rather than seek medical assistance.
Neumann’s mother, Leilani Neumann, told The Associated Press Wednesday she never expected her daughter, who she called Kara, to die. The family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, but they are not crazy, religious people and have nothing against doctors, she said.
The aunt from California told a Marathon County sheriff’s dispatcher Sunday afternoon that the girl was thought to be at home in a coma. She advised the dispatcher in a recorded phone call that the family was religious and refused to take the girl to the hospital, despite the aunt’s urging them to do so for at least three days.
When the dispatcher asked if an ambulance should be sent to the Neumanns’ town of Weston home, the aunt replied, “Yes. She’s refusing. She’s going to fight it,” in reference to the girl’s mother.
A few minutes later, at 2:38 p.m., a male caller from the home told a sheriff’s dispatcher that a child there was not breathing, according to the 911 call, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Herald. The dispatcher informed the caller that an ambulance already was on its way. He then attempted to instruct the family how to perform CPR. Family members sounded panicky, and cries and screaming could be heard in the background.
Officers met with the Neumann family Wednesday, and Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said he hopes to complete the investigation late this week or early next week.
Child protective services interviewed Kara Neumann’s three older siblings Wednesday night to determine whether it was safe to return them to the home, Vergin told CNN’s Nancy Grace. More…
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If these idiots are not prosecuted to the full of extent of the law for this, then it’s a travesty of justice. That these Bible-thumping morons are even being given the benefit of doubt galls me to no end. If they had put their child to death for disrespecting them (as the Bible also directs) then would that have been alright too? If I watch someone drown and instead of throwing them a readily available life preserver, I pray that God will magically lift them from the water; have I fulfilled my obligation to try to help them?
I’m sick and tired of society pandering to and giving special dispensation to these mindless jerkoffs. This is reckless homicide and child abuse by neglect, PERIOD, and they should be imprisoned for it as anyone else would.
We don’t live in a theocracy and someone’s assinine, dogmatic religious beliefs cannot supercede the law! Children are not chattel to be abused, neglected and killed by their stupid zealot parents.
Punish these retarded bastards and send a message!