[FONT="]~ALL QUOTES AT A GLANCE~[/FONT]
It remains to be seen whether this case really fits the stereotypical clash between faith and medicine. The girls mother,
Leilani Neumann, indicated in an interview they are not religious zealots and would have taken the girl to the doctor if they had known the seriousness of the situation.
"The girls aunt told a 911 dispatcher that,
although Kara was in a coma, her parents refused to take her in for medical treatment because of religious beliefs. The girl was pronounced dead a little more than an hour later."
Shes gonna fight it, Ariel Gomez of California is heard repeating on a recording of the 911 call obtained by the Wausau Herald.
"In her emergency call, Gomez said other
family members had tried unsuccessfully for several days to convince the parents to take Kara in."
"
Even the final 911 call gives us concern, the one finally made from the Neumanns home.
Clearly they could have saved valuable time by dialing rescue personnel directly rather than first telling out-of-state family members about the girls downward turn."
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/04/01/opinion/doc47efc8449d82c625065317.prt
Officers and emergency service personnel went into the house and
found the girl in a family-room area lying on a futon mattress on the floor, Vergin said.
"
The mother and father were praying over her at that time," Vergin said.
Vergin said that during an interview with detectives the parents said "they believed
even though they knew she was ill, they had enough faith and prayer that God would heal her."
"They said it
was the course of action they would take again," Vergin said. "They firmly believe
even if they had taken her to a doctor, if this was the time God had chosen for her to die, she would die regardless of medical interference."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=732626
The minister who runs the site says he talked on the phone and
prayed with the family the night before the girl died, and talked with them as the followed behind the ambulance when she had stopped breathing.
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/17080221.html
Investigators said they spoke with the girl's grandmother and were told that
the girl had been ill for the previous week or week and a half before her death, and that she was unable to walk or talk the day before she died.
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/03/police-say-charges-are-possibl.html
The Neumanns told police they weren't members of any specific church, but
they found a religious community of sorts through the online ministry that reinforced their faith-healing beliefs.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...?AID=/20080330/GPG0101/803300706/1207/GPGnews
Eells says that the child had started to get sick "
in just the last day or so" and the parents "asked me to pray and agree with them in prayer, basically because
she appeared pale and listless. They did not seem overly concerned because they had had healings before. This is not an unusual kind of request to us."
Eells said he received another call from the Neumanns on Sunday as the family "followed an emergency vehicle with Kara in it. They told me that she had stopped breathing and asked if I would pray that the Lord would spare her and raise her up, which I did."
Eells says in the statement
he had communicated with the family via e-mails over the past few years.
The parents, who have three older children, told police that
Madeline last saw a doctor when she was three to get some injections.
In addition to concentrating on the apocalypse - the end of the world after the return of Jesus in evangelical theology - the Web site is focused on healing and includes discussions against conventional medicine. It includes a number of posts that recommend using prayer instead of doctors, medicine and other traditional treatment for illnesses.
On Sunday, Randall and Althea Wormgoor spoke with emergency dispatchers in a 911 call placed from the Neumanns' home, authorities told The Associated Press.
With screaming and wailing in the background, and the sound of a barking dog, Randall Wormgoor told the dispatcher, "The girl is not breathing."
The dispatcher then spoke with Althea Wormgoor and provided instructions to perform CPR.
"Did she respond? Did she respond?" Althea Wormgoor shouted as someone attempted to revive the girl.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=733033
Leilani Neumann clarified Tuesday that the ownership of the store will be transferred to Carolyn Wyatt, who was at the store Monday for training with her two daughters, Rachel, 20, and Natalie, 18.
Neumann told the
newspaper the ownership change and training new workers will give the family "time to heal."
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080401/WDH0101/804010627/1981
Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin has said an autopsy determined Madeline died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body.
She had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, he said.
The Neumanns other
three children, all teens, have been removed from the home and are staying with relatives.
We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks, she said. And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering.
http://www.worldontheweb.com/2008/03/31/15336/
In a news release, Falstad said factors that will be considered in determining what, if any, charges may be filed include the
duration of the child's illness, its
progression and
symptoms,
observations made by other witnesses, and the
overall context and circumstances surrounding the death, including
the role of the family's beliefs.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=735188
Even after her death, her parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, who did not belong to any organised faith,
prayed over her body in the hope that she might be resurrected.
The parents, who have three older children, told police that Madeline last saw a doctor when she was three
to get some injections.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/28/wprayer128.xml
Eells also wrote that the Neumanns have posted testimonials on their Web site
but are not "'under' our minstry."
Sleeter says when officials started to investigate the case, the Neumanns were
initially cooperative, but said the couple, who have three other teenaged children, are "of the opinion that they've talked to us and
there's nothing else they want to say."
"Social service officials interviewed the Neumanns' other three children, 16- and 13-year-old boys and a 15-year-old girl, on Wednesday, Sleeter said, and appointments with doctors were scheduled for the teens today."
Dale Neumann, a former police officer,
told the AP that he started to perform CPR on his daughter "as soon as the breath of life left."
But authorities believe the girl, who was enrolled in a local public school until last spring and this fall has been homeschooled, was likely ill for several days, perhaps longer, before her death Sunday.
In one chapter of his book "Sovereign God for Us and Through Us," Eells writes about the need to rely on God to face corporal sickness. "We cannot get anyone
out from under a curse except through the Gospel," Eells wrote. "Sometimes God is merciful, but we cannot guarantee God's
deliverance to those who do not walk under the blood."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesResource/story?id=4536593&page=1
The legal case facing the parents of a town of Weston girl who died after they chose prayer instead of professional medical assistance could be a landmark case in Wisconsin.
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/WDH0101/80405046/1981
