Wisconsin Law Allows Parents To Pray Rather Than Call A Doctor
Recently the heart wrenching story of the death of a young girl in Weston, Wisconsin made headlines across the country. The girl died from complications of juvenile diabetes because her parents refused to get medical treatment for her. They opted to pray for her rather than obtain treatment that could have managed the treatable form of diabetes and saved her life.
The death of the 11-year old girl has caused outrage and debate over a Wisconsin state law that will likely prevent her parents from being criminally prosecuted for failing to get medical help for her. The law, state statute 948.03(6), allows parents to provide treatment solely through spiritual means rather than traditional accepted medical or surgical practices.
Before her death, the girl suffered with severe pain from diabetic ketoacidosis. She exhibited symptoms such as excessive thirst, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite before she slipped into a diabetic coma and died.
Although the "Treatment through prayer" statute seemingly applies to the deceased child's parents because they say that they prayed for her and attempted to heal her in that way, Dale and Leilan Neumann do not belong to any organized faith. According to a report by the Isthmus Daily, the Neumanns prayed and believed that after their daughter died she would be resurrected. When she did not, they blamed themselves for not praying hard enough.
The case is under investigation and will be reviewed by the Marathon County district attorney who will decide whether or not to file criminal charges against the Neumanns and begin a legal challenge to the faith healing statute in Wisconsin. If a criminal case is brought against the parents, prosecutors will have a very difficult time getting a conviction due to the protection provided to them under the law.
In order for criminal charges against the Neumanns to stick, prosecutors would have to provide evidence of criminal thinking. Although they may have had a lapse of good judgment that caused their child's death, it could be quite a stretch to convince a jury that they had criminal intentions. The only way for a prosecutor to prove that the Neumanns are guilty of criminal thinking is if they jury is to believe that they only concocted the faith healing and prayer story after the fact or as an excuse not to get their daughter necessary medical treatment rather than an act of faith.
According to the law in Wisconsin, if the religious beliefs of the Neumann family are genuine and the child died because they prayed for her in lieu of traditional medical treatment, they acted within the law and can not be criminally prosecuted for the child's death even though it was completely preventable.