Pantagraph.com | News | Girl's death probed after parents choose prayer over medicine

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

udawgn wrote on Apr 10, 2008 9:34 AM:

" I can't believe all the SHEEP on this blog. Modern science can do most of the things that you all claim that God can do. Pregnancy is a good place to start, through IVF my wife and I were able to conceive our son. I believe that you all would say that we couldn't get pregnant because God had some plan for our lives. What a crock...what kind of God would not allow good people to conceive naturally? Also, I don't see how a person could look at their kid suffering and wouldn't want them to be better as fast as possible. These parents and those who agree with their decision make me sick. "

something to think about wrote on Apr 9, 2008 2:26 PM:

" Sometimes God answers prayers by not acting in the way WE expect Him to act. Such audacity to assume we know best how He should handle prayers.

Having said that, I can't imagine denying my child healthcare. I appreciate their right to freedom of religion, but I also think that God did give the gift to use modern medicine to help people. I also think that God allows people to die because He has a higher purpose.

This situation is a very tough call. I'm angry at the parents, but I also understand relying on God to fix things. "

Country Girl wrote on Apr 9, 2008 1:54 PM:

" I can't believe that someone would compare a child with diabetes to someone with autism. Autism does not need medical intervention. ADD/HD does not always need medicines. In these cases if no medication is given they will not die but with Type 1 diabetes it has got to be treated with insulin and diet. To the guy who said he didn't know any religions who were against medical care has a lot to learn-he/she is pretty isolated. "

Townie here... wrote on Apr 9, 2008 1:08 PM:

" To Titan 120...the religion is called Christian Science...and would you believe it? There's a church right here in Bloomington.

From Wiki..."Christian Scientists have been controversial for their failure to provide conventional health care for children."

There's all kinds of religions out there that make people do all kinds of stuff... "

Townie here... wrote on Apr 9, 2008 12:11 PM:

HD wrote on Apr 9, 2008 11:21 AM:

" in response to 'the orginal jd' : Before you all get out of hand and start bashing religion, no matter what the case is... there is always a few radicals, and they DO NOT speak for all the rest of the group... If someone of a certain race attacks somebody of a different race because of their skin color, that does not automatically make ALL people in that race, a racist. Stop sterotyping religion to push your anti-religious, live only to die, beliefs. "

Michael wrote on Apr 8, 2008 2:26 AM:

" God has a whole other standard for things than we do. He heals alot of the time by taking the person to heaven. They are healed, but they are also gone from us. when you pray for a healing, you gotta be really serious. "

gatorbait wrote on Apr 3, 2008 4:59 PM:

" to talker, sahmomma and kindaliberalchristian....i couldn't agree with you more. "

Country Boy wrote on Apr 3, 2008 2:12 PM:

" parental rights to let a child die by not seeing a doctor? I do not remember seeing that in writing anywhere! "

Fred Bear wrote on Apr 3, 2008 10:19 AM:

" Woodford, when do parental "rights" trump parental duties, obligations, and responsibilities? Like, say, the responsibility to see that your child gets medical attention when she has a life-threatening disease. "

Shadow wrote on Apr 3, 2008 7:01 AM:

" I don't care how religious these nuts are, this is child abuse and neglect and I hope they do some hard time. And medical treatment for these people should be denied after they get beat down in prison every day. Praying for her to be cured of diabetes is so stupid. Studies show that 32% of all prayers are deflected by passing sattellites anyway. "

Titan120 wrote on Apr 1, 2008 5:48 PM:

" OK...I, myself, am Christian, as are most of my friends (seems to be the popular choice here in Central IL). I have yet to hear of a Christian religion that dissuades the use of medicine to treat illness. I think these people are just using religion as an excuse for their actions (or lack thereof) to make themselves feel better about letting their child die. "

loveall wrote on Mar 28, 2008 10:56 PM:

" Christianity nor God had anything to do with the death of this girl. It was a combination of religion, ignorance and man's fall from grace. God will take care of her. "

poster wrote on Mar 28, 2008 9:43 PM:

" to woodford pundit..I really couldn't care less if that is the law and I'm not going to try to dispute whether it is or not. I still think that it is child abuse. They basically took the life of another. They will pay for that eventually one way or another.
And as for seeing a crummy doctor, no I would not blame the parents then. They would've at least tried. But have you heard of medical negligence? Or malpractice? In that case I would've blamed the doctor. They had time to help her and chose not to. "

Woodford Pundit wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:37 PM:

" Deal with it folks. There is no actionable neglect, nor anything else here. The parents made a legally defensible decision. You may not agree with it. The State may not agree with it. The social workers certainly won't agree with it. Too bad.

There are still some semblance of parental rights written into state law and they violated none of Wisconsin's.

What if they'd chosen one doctor over a different doctor and the child had still died. Would someone then be second guessing their choice? What if the doctor they chose went to a crummy medical school and they could have seen someone from a better medical school. What if they were a doctor and treated their own child?

For good or ill, parents must have some rights over their own kids' treatment or lack thereof. Same with diet, culture, schooling, and general upbringing. You mustn't be able to negate them because you think you know better. "

110100100 wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:05 PM:

" A person doing weird stuff is called a person doing weird stuff. A bunch of people doing weird stuff is called a church. "

ummmm wrote on Mar 28, 2008 4:16 PM:

" I believe in a merciful God. I also believe in the fact that he gave humans common sense as well. I don't believe that a parent should not take care of their child when they are ill. To do so is negligence and should have been looked into when the child became ill. I wasn't lucky to have a child but I hope and pray that if I ever had been I would take care of that child when they became ill. I'm all for those parents being charged with criminal negligence and child endangerment and any other children they have being taken away from them. "

lindini wrote on Mar 28, 2008 2:39 PM:

" God helps those who help themselves folks. God made the doctors as much as he made the fish and the trees. It is just foolishness and superstition which makes people pretend that doctors and against god. These people are fools but being a fool does not put you above the law. "

HRPuffinstuff wrote on Mar 28, 2008 1:32 PM:

" Proud Conservative, I'm sure there will be many Christians that are just as astonished about the obvious neglect on the part of the parents in this story. Sure, there are fanatics in any religious organization - it's those people that make their religion look bad. However, I myself believe in God, but I also know that God helps those that help themselves. While prayer can be positive and reassuring in times like these, the mere act alone cannot magically make a person that has a severe, yet treatable illness better. "

HRPuffinstuff wrote on Mar 28, 2008 1:11 PM:

" B/N Republican, as a supposed "man of God", Bush should never have started the unnecessary killings and murders of OUR citizens, and innocent people and children stuck in the crossfire - all because he refuses to lose a pi$$ing contest, and that's all the war is. Do you recall the reason he started the war? It had nothing to do with 9/11, because Osama was responsible for that - and apparently Bush is letting him off the hook. Instead, he started a war because he insisted there were "weapons of mass destruction". And did he find any? No. But did he end the war? Nope. As for these "parents" (using the term loosely), if they truly loved and cared for their daughter, they would have sought out treatment for her so she could start to get better, rather then talking to air with the expectations that God would wave a magic wand and "fix" her. "

The Original JD wrote on Mar 28, 2008 1:06 PM:

" Would not medicine have its roots in the tree of knowledge, thus rooted in original sin? How can religious people constantly hedge their bets about things like medicine. They claim their god can heal, but also created medicine. Thus they go to the doctor AND pray, and when they get better they deem it was their god. Shesh, if you are going to beleive in your god, quit going to the doctor and let your god deal with it. The world will be a better place afterwards, trust me. "

darknight wrote on Mar 28, 2008 12:42 PM:

"
to dancinggirl; You just go ahead and be an athesists. My X was an athesists. Until he was in a accident in 1995. and guess what he was saying when they pick him up from the street "GOD PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE"

"

bngurl wrote on Mar 28, 2008 12:16 PM:

" If god is so powerful and has supposedly healed many people, why stop now? They might have had better luck praying to the flying spaghetti monster. "

*rolls eyes* wrote on Mar 28, 2008 10:51 AM:

" I'd love to hear their rationalization for why god didn't answer their prayers and allowed an innocent girl to die. "

snarky wrote on Mar 28, 2008 9:48 AM:

" My son-in-law is part Pakistani whose father is Muslim and they are both doctors, so I don't know if PROUD CONSERVATIVE is correct. "

snarky wrote on Mar 28, 2008 9:47 AM:

" I don't think these parents believe they did anything wrong; however, their other children are a different story. How would you feel if your parents let one of your siblings die? Would you ever trust your parents again? Also, these parents are extremists. I don't think mainstream Christians would refuse medical treatment for their child. "

MaskedVigilante wrote on Mar 28, 2008 8:44 AM:

" I can't believe people are sending this family their PRAYERS without a hint of irony. "

kindaliberalchristian wrote on Mar 28, 2008 8:24 AM:

" my prayers are with this family as the suffer the tragic consequences of the rejection of modern medicine. I personally believe that God has given us the skills to improve our surroundings - using a doctor is no worse that using purified water, or using a man made well to get water.......but I am certain the family never imagined how this would turn out, and i keep them in my prayers. "

????????????? wrote on Mar 28, 2008 8:09 AM:

" i believe it is time to help the mom and dad with their faith. lets not keep them from their god. introduce then in person "

lizzie wrote on Mar 28, 2008 8:04 AM:

" I believe in God, don't get me wrong, but this is a great example of my theory on God. God the entity, has gone onto different places and it's not that this entity is evil, it's just that this entity doesn't care. We are left to our own devices.

What's the phrase? God helps those who help themselves.

It's truly sad this girl died and my heart does go out to the family. "

Country Boy wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:27 AM:

" I dont want to hassle them for their obviously strong faith in God, I want to take them out back and give them what they deserve!! Then punish them to the furthest extent that the law will allow. This is nuts, just another example that maybe God is not listening... "

michelle24 wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:11 AM:

" Tragic. Her blood is on these so called parents. I hope they see a new shade of grey. Grey prison bars, that is. "

udawgn wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:09 AM:

" Okay, for those of you that are applauding these people for having strong faith in their God, I say you are part of the problem. You are reaffirming that neglecting children who depend their parents to help them when they need it is okay as long as they believe in God. You make me sick! As a parent it is my responsibility and honor to make sure that my kid grows up healthy. If it turns out that my kid needs medical attention then I won't hesitate to seek medical help. What is wrong with you people? "

Shadow wrote on Mar 28, 2008 7:00 AM:

" Religion is the scourge of mankind. It is nothing more than a virus, that apparently makes people even more stupid that they would be otherwise. It makes me sick that this beautiful young girl died a slow painful death because her parents have been brainwashed by the oldest and greediest institution on earth. I hope they burn for this.
"

dwarf wrote on Mar 27, 2008 11:23 PM:

" What planet are you on, Proud Conservative? No matter what religion did this, it's abhorrent. There are wackos of all religious stripes.

I understand that Christians are a horribly persecuted minority, what with every single President and almost every member of Congress in history being one, and being larger than all other religions in the U.S. combined. Still, try to put that horrifying and emotionally scarring persecution aside for a few minutes. "

Proud Conservative wrote on Mar 27, 2008 11:07 PM:

" I'll post this again. I love how "BN_Republican" (who is not a Republican) always posts snide remarks and never gets any sort of response on these boards, but the Pantagraph always posts his comments in the "Talk Back" section of the printed paper, as if he's a "real" Christian and/or Republican. The only ones who seem to be buying into his remarks is the Pantagraph. "

poster wrote on Mar 27, 2008 10:31 PM:

" God put doctors on earth to heal people, dont you think? Or is it acceptable now to blame God for child abuse? There is no excuse for this. For the record I dont care if they are Christian, Jewish, Amish, Muslim, or Taoists. It is still otherwise known as child abuse in America. "

talker wrote on Mar 27, 2008 10:00 PM:

" pray is good,but we have doctors with degrees for a reason i feel it selfish of her parents to decline her of that such care. they could have very well let the doctors do their jobs, as well as pray for their childs recovery. her death I'm sure is weighing heavily on those parents hearts right now and ifd it isn't it should be! "

RVB wrote on Mar 27, 2008 9:56 PM:

" Well, I guess this eliminates prayers from the list of potential cures for diabetes "

sahmomma wrote on Mar 27, 2008 8:25 PM:

" I am sooo sad for this poor little girl! Her parents seem to have forgotten that God gave us all the talent to develop the medicine that would have saved her life. To ignore the talent that He has given to doctors to save this child, is grossly negligent on their part. I think they should spend a long time behind bars because they let thier child die needlessly! Do they also not believe in carseats? Do they just trust that God won't let thier child die in a car accident? God gave them this child to care for, and they failed. I hope thier other children are old enough to care for themselves or given to people who can. "

dancinggirl wrote on Mar 27, 2008 8:19 PM:

" religion has a tendency to twist one's mind. this is the stuff that happens to those who are religious fanatics. Religion leads one to kill in the name of religion......just look at history and present day wars. A christian is in the White House and he has killed hundreds of thousands. I think I'll stay atheist. "

Bailey01 wrote on Mar 27, 2008 7:32 PM:

" This exact thing happened to me! My parents belonged to a Christian church in Farmer City. I owe my life to my older sister who took me out of class at this christian school and took me to her doctor. Within minutes of seeing a doctor in Bloomington I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes and close to a coma. My parents believed that if belief was strong enough I would be healed. My parents and the church members would have prayer sessions regarding my mysterious illness. When I continued to get sicker it was me, an 11-year old girl who did not have strong enough faith. To this day my parents are strong religious believers even though they nearly killed their daughter. It does not matter what religion you believe in. All religions can be taken too far in the name of God. There are thousands of people out there that are so sucked into their belief that they cannot see the light of day. I hope these parents in Wis. spend the rest of their days in a jail cell without food or water. They can pray that God will bring them food!! "

Proud Conservative wrote on Mar 27, 2008 6:55 PM:

" I can't wait for all the prayer/Christian bashing to begin. If these people were Muslims or some other faith that doesn't believe in medicine, we'd be applauding their faith and offering them "our thoughts and prayers." Instead, to many people on these boards, these people are just Christian wackos, and as we all know, Christians are the last acceptable targets for criticism. "

BN_Republican wrote on Mar 27, 2008 5:56 PM:

" Its terrible that these people are being hassled for their obviously strong faith in God. God had other plans for this girl, that's all there is to it. Mr. Bush, as a man of God, should step in and stop this travesty of an investigation. He knows that God always has a plan. Look at the success in the economy and war that he has granted Our President. "

el Duderino wrote on Mar 27, 2008 5:33 PM:

" Hopefully, the daughter is in better hands now than she was here in life. "

The original JD wrote on Mar 27, 2008 5:20 PM:

" Yet another needless death caused by religion. "

vzbb wrote on Mar 27, 2008 4:06 PM:

" Sounds like scientologists to me! I've heard those rumors that one of John Travolta's kids is autistic but they won't get him help because they don't believe in medicine or doctors. Pretty sad though for this little girl. They should have taken her to the doctor, now they need to pray they won't be in jail for a very long time. "

lla wrote on Mar 27, 2008 4:02 PM:

" Tey did the best they knew how to do? They didn't know how to take her to a doctor? They may not have intentionally killed her, but they certainly neglected to take care of her. I pray for the rest of their children. "

Pastafarian wrote on Mar 27, 2008 3:49 PM:

" This is a horribly sad story. I'm sure the girl's parents meant well and thought they had their daughter's best interests in mind. That said, they had no right to deny her medical treatment. If you are an adult and want to refuse treatment due to religious reasons, that is your right. This child had not reached the age where she could competently make these religious and medical decisions for herself. That is why even the Amish will accept modern medical care for their children. Because they realize that the child has not made that choice. "

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