Wisconsin Couple Sentenced in Death of Their Sick Child

[groovedaddy]

CHICAGO — A Wisconsin couple were sentenced to jail time on Tuesday for failing to seek medical attention for their ill daughter, renewing a debate in some circles over whether states should allow parents to practice spiritual treatments.

The parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, were ordered to spend 30 days in jail each year for the next six years and were placed on 10 years’ probation. Mr. Neumann, 47, and Ms. Neumann, 41, who live in Weston, in central Wisconsin, had been convicted of second-degree reckless homicide in August.

Their daughter, Madeline Kara Neumann, 11, died from untreated diabetes on March 23, 2008, the authorities said. When the girl became ill and could no longer walk or talk, her parents prayed for her instead of taking her to a doctor, prosecutors said.

Her parents could have faced as much as 25 years in prison. While on probation, the Neumanns must take the two surviving children who live with them to the doctor if they are seriously injured or sick, said Judge Vincent K. Howard of Marathon County Circuit Court, and the children must undergo periodic health checks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/us/08sentence.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[derby378]

1. Imprisonment on the installment plan?

Bernie Madoff is on the phone, he wants to know how to sign up for that...

[get the red out]

2. "could have faced as much as 25 years in prison"

Good, they avoided any harsh sentence. Our society needs to understand that people who do the tough things for religion's sake, like watching their kid die, are the good people among us. :sarcasm:

[alp227]

3. If the courts can ban creationism from being taught in public schools...

because it's pseudoscientific superstition, then superpseudoscientific spiritual medicine should be outlawed too, as it caused the unnecessary death of this girl.