Prayer vs. medical treatment

Last year Kara Neumann (11) became so sick that she neither stand up or walk. But her parents didn´t take her to see a doctor, so she got worse and worse.     When Kara´s aunt found out how bad shape Kara had become, she rang the local police to come and save Kara. 23 March 2008 an ambulance came to take Kara to the hospital, but sadly she died before the ambulance got there.

So what was making her sick? It turned out she had diabetes, all she needed was some insulin. So why didn´t her parents take her to see a doctor? Well, her parents don´t believe in modern medicine, they believe that God is the only healer. Her parents Leilani and Dale prayed for Kara to get better, but Kara just got worse and worse. According to her parents taking Kara to the doctors would be giving into Satan´s influence, so they prayed. 

Marathon County in Wisconsin has made an indictment against the Neumann´s, accusing them of second-degree reckless homicide. The parents have tried to get the case dismissed, under the basses of the religious freedom. The judge answered: “the Constitution protects religious conviction, though, but not necessarily religious acts”. 

The case come goes to court in may. If they get found guilty, they risk up to 25 years in jail for causing death by negligence, reckless homicide. In Wisconsin there is a law that says you cant convict parents for abuse or undeliberate death, if they believe for religious reasons that prayer is the best option. In other words if someone ends up killing their child because they thought prayer was an better option than medical treatment, they have parts of the law on their side. 

Should parents that end up killing their children because prayer is better than modern medical treatment go to jail? Before you try to answer that question here are some facts:

• Over 300 american children have died in the last 25 years because their parents didnt seek medical treatment because of religious reasons
• 90% of the children died of diseases that where for example antibiotics could have healed them
• 2% of americans practice healing by prayer

This video is from posted on youtube by the Assocated Press on April 28, 2008:

Here are some news articles about the case:

Neumann Parents Seek Dismissal of Reckless Homicide Charges

Judge Sets Separate Trials for Neumanns

Karas foreldre ba og lot henne dø

Trials for Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine