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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

A Fool's Prayer Ends Progeny

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2S4_VL61HrJgLKWc4HOixPEj4KAD90B83R03

Article condensed: Family and friends had urged Dale and Leilani Neumann to get help for their daughter, but the father considered the illness "a test of faith" and the mother never considered taking the girl to the doctor because she thought her daughter was under a "spiritual attack," the criminal complaint said.

Madeline Neumann died March 23 — Easter Sunday — at her family's rural Weston home. Her parents were told the body would be taken to Madison for an autopsy the next day.

"They responded, 'You won't need to do that. She will be alive by then,'" the medical examiner wrote in a report.

An autopsy determined that Madeline died from undiagnosed diabetic ketoacidosis, which left her with too little insulin in her body. Court records said she likely had some symptoms of the disease for months.

The Neumanns each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

According to court documents, Leilani Neumann said in a written statement to police that she never considered taking the girl, who was being home-schooled, to a doctor.

A day before Madeline died, according to the criminal complaint, the father wrote an e-mail with the headline, "Help our daughter needs emergency prayer!!!!." It said his daughter was "very weak and pale at the moment with hardly any strength."

One relative told police that the girl's mother believed she "died because the devil is trying to stop Leilani from starting her own ministry," the complaint said.

The family does not belong to an organized religion or faith, Leilani Neumann has said.

In March, an Oregon couple who belong to a church that preaches against medical care and believes in treating illness with prayer were charged with manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. The toddler died March 2 of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection that could have been treated with antibiotics, the state medical examiner's office said.

End digest.

Perhaps they should have tried to believe that prayer is meant to enhance the care you provide for yourself and others, and not replace it. Otherwise, the belief makes as much sense as if you'd pray that God will pay your bills for you, feed your family for you, clean the house for you... I've never heard that if there's a God, he intends to do everything for you on a prayer alone.

While they still have remaining children and we have yet to see them continue to survive independent of their parents, these parents lost one child to these foolish assumptions and therefore I felt they were worth of at least an honorable mention.

Submitted on 05/01/2008

Submitted by: Malee Holland
Reference: Associated Press, April 29, 2008

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: No Self-Selection
Thanks, Malee, but not only is there no self-selection involved in this story, the victim was only 11 years old which is well below our maturity cutoff.


James said:
Definitely Toss: No Self-Selection
As Bruce said!


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