You're An Asshole: Dale Neumann

By MXL on 8/02/2009 10:52:00 AM

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The "Asshole" spotlights are usually kinda funny, but this here is no laughing matter. From MSNBC:

WAUSAU, Wis. - A central Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Doctors testified that Madeline would have had a good chance of survival if she had received medical care, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing.

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified Thursday that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said.

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann testified. "I am not believing what he said he would do."


That's crazy talk, if you ask me.

God promises to heal, but I don't think that means He doesn't want you to take your kids to the doctor; nor do I believe God would consider your taking your child to the hospital as your way of putting the doctor in His place.

Overzealous religion made this guy do something fatally stupid. The smart thing would've been to call 911 immediately and pray that the doctors use their medical skills -- the skills that God gave them the strength to learn -- to the best of their ability to save this young lady's life.

But he didn't, and now his daughter is dead, his faith is shaken and his freedom -- as well as that of his wife, 41-year-old Leilani Neumann, who was convicted of the same charge back in Spring -- is gone.

Whether this guy's stupidity is criminal is, I guess, debatable.

I understand faith, but this I just don't get.

R.I.P. Madeline Neumann

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