Monday, April 28, 2008

Parents Charged For Letting Daughter Die of Untreated Diabetes

The D.A. got this one right.

The parents of an 11-year-old girl who died of complications from untreated diabetes last month have both been charged with second-degree reckless homicide, according to Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad.

Madeline Kara Neumann died March 23. The girl’s parents, Leilani and Dale Neumann, of Weston, have said they didn’t know she had diabetes, didn’t take her to a doctor and prayed for healing.

In a statement released at a 1 p.m. news conference, Falstad said the parents’ actions meet the standard of the charges.

“Second-degree reckless homicide has two elements,” Falstad said. “The first element is that the defendant caused the death of another. The second element is that the defendant caused the death by criminally reckless conduct.

“In this case, that conduct was the failure to seek medical intervention. The failure to seek medical intervention created unreasonable and substantial risk of death or great bodily harm to Kara and the Neumanns were aware of the risk.”

My thoughts on the matter are here.

(5) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2138 hrs
Culture + Law + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. The DA made the right charge, but why it took this long is beyond me.  Look for this to pleaded down.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 29, 2008 at 0015 hrs


  2. Lets hope that the courts will set some good precident so we can prevent future cases like this one.  Like I always say, nothing fails like prayer.

    Posted by JIJAWM on April 29, 2008 at 0838 hrs


  3. What religion do the Neumanns profess to believe in?

    This is a case I’m torn on.  I feel like once you start citing examples where government intervention trumps religious freedom you start opening that door a little wider and it’s a door I’d rather see locked up tight.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 29, 2008 at 1222 hrs


  4. JIJAWM,

    Indeed I hope this couple is the first sent to the fun box. The one where you enter but don’t leave. Alive anyway.

    Then they’re followed with this guy who plowed his Escalade into the car in Oconomowoc.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 29, 2008 at 1923 hrs


  5. I’ve been following this case pretty closely, in part because I published a book (with Oxford Univ. Press) on faith healing, children, and the law.  The legal issues are pretty complex, and I’ve been breaking them down a little on my blog:

    http://lawandfaith.blogspot.com/

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 30, 2008 at 1404 hrs


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