Update on Medical Neglect Cases

The mother of Madeline Kara Neumann was found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide. When her daughter slipped into a coma, she prayed instead of getting real help.

Leilani Neumann released a statement this weekend:

… I did not understand what the changes in Kara’s body meant, whether good or bad, so we sought for answers from God. Doctors themselves depend on modern medical equipment to help them develop a diagnosis and determine the condition of a patient after many tests. My leaning is spiritual, so I, along with others, did believe God would supply the answers through prayer.

This trial was completely unfair, in our opinion, and it is going to take a higher power to bring Righteous Justice…

Hasn’t a Higher Power done enough damage in this case?

…

Meanwhile, Daniel Hauser and his mother returned home to Minnesota on Monday after she escaped with him over the weekend.

Maybe he’ll now get the medical care he needs.

Daniel is currently under the custody of Brown County child protection workers.

(Thanks to Amy for the link!)

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Cat’s Staff

Plenty of people would like to see Daniel’s mother be charged and go to jail. I have a another idea…and I’ve been promoting it in comments wherever I get the chance. It seems she was with a homeopath/naturopath…that person must have lead her to believe that there was a homeopathic/naturopathic remedy for Daniel’s cancer, there isn’t, there is only a medical treatment. Essentially the SCAM (Supplements, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) practitioner was giving out medical advice instead of homeopathic advice…they should be arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license. If that happens to enough of them they will think twice when someone come in their office saying they have been diagnosed with lymphoma and are looking for an alternative treatment. If they only treat something that a placebo would normally be safe to treat, ie. headache, minor aches and pains, I won’t complain…much.
t3knomanser

Ms. Neumann: the standard in these sorts of cases is, with the information available, would a rational person have thought their child in need of medical help? Not, “Would you have reached that conclusion,” but a rational person.

Perhaps you’ve never met one, but let me assure you, a rational person would have sought medical attention.

@Cat’s Staff: I am in favor of this.
zoo

My leaning is spiritual, so I, along with others, did believe God would supply the answers through prayer.

Except, Leilani, that you live in a modern society that uses medicine and you should know by now that when someone’s body is doing abnormal things you go to see a doctor. There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from praying after you’ve made the appropriate arrangements. You can even believe god worked through the doctor if you want — then we’d only be complaining you’re not giving the doctor credit where it’s due, and your kid would be fine.
Epistaxis

I’m sure the Higher Power will compensate for her jail time with a special place in heaven.
Zar

“This trial was completely unfair, in our opinion, and it is going to take a higher power to bring Righteous Justice… ”

Too bad that higher power didn’t bring insulin injections.
Einmaliger

What I find most interesting in the statement is that she seems to assume that she was prosecuted for praying for her daughter, and not for refusing to take any actions like seeing a doctor when her daughter fell into coma.

She writes: “Dale and I thought we were within our rights to pray for our daughter’s recovery. […] I think the law should be more clearly written before any charges can be made against parents who pray. […] How can the Assistant District Attorney say he believes in prayer […] and prosecute someone for praying for their own family member?”

Unfortunately, that type of thinking is typical for religous people.
Cypress Green

Yes, Mom and Dad should have called a doctor & also got a bunch of friends and family to pray, then thanked god for his miracle of healing!!! Like the other good christians do.
H

I wanted to say this for a while, but I feel that people’s blind faith in modern medicine is just as bad as their blind faith in religion.

Look up Billy Best. He went through the same thing as Daniel Hauser did. He did natural therapies and avoided chemo and he’s alive and well fifteen years later.

I am NOT defending the woman who did nothing and relied on prayer only. She got what she deserved, but Hauser and his family did not.

People need to seriously start questioning the status quo and its true motives.
Sarah

She couldn’t decide whether it was good or bad that her daughter looked like a concentration camp victim?

WTF is wrong with her?!?!?!?!?!
hoverFrog

Higher power? Higher POWER! Some people should’ve been sterilized at birth. What a monster. This is what unthinking and unquestioning faith gets you.
Paul Lundgren

@ HoverFrog:

Some people should’ve been sterilized at birth.

Permit me to castigate you: belief in a higher power can change over time. I’ve seen plenty of sensible people find Jeebus, and I’m currently reading books by recovering Jeebus-freaks who are now atheist/agnostic. Leave the hyperbole at the door, please…we expect better in free-thought forums.
David D.G.

H wrote:

Look up Billy Best. He went through the same thing as Daniel Hauser did. He did natural therapies and avoided chemo and he’s alive and well fifteen years later.

Baloney. Read Orac’s blog at Respectful Insolence. Billy Best got at least two courses of chemotherapy to treat his cancer before he “avoided” it — very likely enough to have cured him. But Billy credits woo instead of medical science for his recovery, entirely without basis for it.

~David D.G.
Pustulio

It’s interesting to me that she claims to believe that God would “supply the answers” without apparently ever considering that God did supply an answer and that answer was “No”, or that perhaps going to jail for the death of her daughter is part of some ineffable divine plan and she should just accept it.