In 2008, Madeline “Kara” Neumann, age 11, died of diabetic ketoacidosis in Wisconsin. Her parents treated her symptoms with prayer instead of medical care. The day before she died, Kara could no longer talk while suffering terrible stomach pains. Yet her adults still wouldn’t take her to a doctor. A Wisconsin jury convicted the mother of reckless homicide.

This is one of several famous cases involving parents charged with murder for denying their children medical treatment that could have saved their lives. Past examples have generally pitted the right to hold certain religious beliefs against the obligation to protect children. The judgments almost always went against the caregivers — and the idea that parents have the right to do with their children as they wish.

When a child dies of s

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