Parents Pick Prayer Over Docs; Girl Dies

This ,"true" story broke my heart. I wonder what would happen if one of these so called parents would be in the same condition as their daughter.

I believe they should both be put on trial for murder.

The parents should be held responsible in the death of their daughter. God will be there waiting @ the jail. They can pray there as well.

Another heartbreaking story of what parents do to their defenseless children.

I have professionally been involved in such cases in another state. Along with law enforcement, doctors, the ME, etc., we would have an abundance of evidence that should have convicted these parents for no less than 1st degree manslaughter.

But these or more serious charges are rarely issued, unless it happens to be a very big media story and even then... After one such horrendous case, I went to the D.A. in our county and just demanded from him to explain to me why this happens. He said that when parents are the ones who have been negligent or have caused the death of their child, that there seems to be a mental block where people, (juries), believe that our children are our chattel and so parents have such rights. I was floored by this but I believe that he is right. Jury members may subconsciously believe this in some way. If you compare the charges and convictions of murders of children by parents versus strangers or non-family people, parents nearly always get minimal sentences.

This issue has saddened me for a very long time and I don't know how or if society can wrap their minds around this - that parents should be equally, if not more responsible criminally for killing their children as some stranger.

What about the rights of the child?

Hasn't the child a right to have proper medical attention?

The attention of the Court of Human Rights should be notified of this insane cruelty.

Whilst it does not prove that prayer-power doesn't work, it proves that the faith some believers put on it is worthless.

I have strong religious beliefs also and I think that God allows us to have medical technology to help us in situations exactly like this one. It makes me so angry when I read of things like this! They had a choice. My daughter died instantly in a car accident--there was no choice. I'd have given every drop of my own blood, every organ in my body if it would have given my daughter a chance to live the rest of her life. These people CHOSE to let their daughter die and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What is the difference between them and the mother who allows a boyfriend or spouse to kill her child by ignoring the abuse? In Boise there is a young mother in jail because she didn't protect her baby from an abusive boyfriend who caused the death of that baby. These people ignored their daughter's symptoms, prayed for her and watched her die.

God is a forgiving God. If your child is sick, take her to the doctor, get her the care she needs. If your religion says this is wrong, repent later--while you hold your living child in your arms.

In the state where I worked in Child Abuse Investigations, the laws entitled children to shelter, clothing, education, food, health care, and a parent, guardian or designated person to represent them in their best interest in legal matters. I don't want to bring up specific examples because many were known nationally and even internationally.

What I believe will happen in this case is the parents will get an attorney who will push the faith/prayer part of this as far away as possible and focus on the medical issues. The parents will continue to say that this little girl had very mild symptoms (which I totally don't believe!) and that there wasn't really any reason to take her all the way to a hospital or doctor from where they lived out in the sticks. I think that it would have been inconvenient and perhaps costly to take her to a doctor or hospital. I say this because neither parent has so far expressed any affiliated religious belief in refusing medical care. These parents will likely escape any serious charges. And what kills me is that one of the reasons is because they have other children to take care of!! What a hypocrisy we live in! It all just makes me ill.

Oh kle...I am so sorry for your loss.