Child dies. Parents Perplexed

I completely agree with this post, it nevers fails to amaze me what stupid things people will do for/becuase of their religion. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the fiilm ‘There Will Be Blood’, but this woman should join the church in this film. To be fair however you did contradict yourself. You said,” I’ve heard people say that losing a child is the worst thing that can emotionally happen to a human being. In this case, I hope that’s true.” then said, “I always hope for better–for others, myself, those in need/want.”. I am an atheist, and thank the world I’ve never had to attend a church service.

Good post TAestP. And this is coming from a Christian. I did not stick to the Fire and Brimston BS that I was exposed to as a young one….or the mushy lovey dovey BS I encountered as a teen. I just kept looking and found my own way. (Eastern Orthodoxy)

Anyways, these parents had the OBLIGATION to care for the children they had. It is my belief, maybe not yours, that in the end you will have to answer for the way you raise your children. These parents neglected their child when there is help out there….They neglected a child that was not able to help herself yet. There is no excuse for that.

I am a Christian, from Wisconsin and a mother of a now adult Type I son. This makes me sick, angry and sad all at the same time. There is no way this mother did not know something was drastically wrong for at least a month. Take those kids away from the nut case and mention to her that perhaps a higher being guided us to insulin.

God denied her PA for Byetta. Thanks for playing.

I wish all of the “bible thumpers” that held the bible in such high regard actually followed “ALL” of the rules included in said “manual” of life. (no eating cloven hoofed animals, etc.) Don’t get me started on the inconsistencies in the bible…..but I really have no problem with the general theme and teachings in it.

Personally, I treat the bible pretty much the same as I treat Aesop’s fables; a great learning tool for life but not the end-all be-all and certainly not the ONLY tool for life.

When I was about 10, one of my friends and his family were Christian Scientists (don’t hear about them much these days). His mother had taken he and his sister to the park to play. Well, he got ballsy and tried to jump out of the swing, landed funny, and broke his arm.

His mother came by our house with him because she knew my mom worked for a doctor. She’s not a nurse, mind you, just worked at a doctor’s office, and a dermatologist at that! Anyways, she comes by and as her son is standing there with his bone poking out of his arm, she asks my mom what she should do……

Needless to say, there was a bit of a discussion over whether she COULD take him to the emergency room because of her faith, all the while with her 9 year old son bawling his eyes out and claiming he hadn’t sinned.

She ended up taking him to the emergency room after my mom mentioned that child services would need to be contacted if she didn’t. Lady just wanted to wrap it up in an ice pack and pray about it…..

Apparently, they (I mean my neighbors, not sure about Christian Scientists as a whole) believed that sickness and injury were all a result of sinning, and was God’s punishment on earth for your sins.

And I thought that was the whole point of heaven and hell…but what do I know, I’m pretty agnostic on these issues.

I don’t dare touch the ‘faith’ in higher belief argument, as it’s burned me more than once, especially as I firmly believe in my right to firmly believe in what I believe, but…say the mother sees the child suffering, hears the little one’s complaints, experiences the whole observation schema, and does nothing to relieve the symptoms of her child’s illness. Then what kind of maternal instincts did not kick in? Sometimes, people have to be taught how to even respond. But, an excuse thrown in about some higher being is simply devil’s dirty work. Forget about why she says they didn’t do anything. They did not respond. I liken it to someone not offering to help a bleeding person assistance if they physically could. Remember, some of your patients didn’t graduate from grade school and don’t understand biology, physiology, etc., heck this couple doesn’t even uderstand
‘humankind’. Categorizing things and judging the categories debases the value of humans, and it’s as repulsive as the holocaust or senseless purging of the Palestinians on the West Bank, allowing Idi Amin, and Saddam Hussain to carry on.

Perhaps someone should have reminded these halfwits that the apostle Luke was a physician. I do believe that if Jesus had a problem with the practice of medicine, he’d have picked another fisherman.

Senseless.

I’m a Christain, but I could not agree more about how stupid these people are. (I’m also disgusted by Christian hypocracy, but that’s another blog entirely.)

It reminds me of the story of the guy in the middle of a flood. As the waters started to rise, a National Guardsman drives up in a Humvee, comes to his door and says “Sir, you have to evacuate immediately. Come with me.”

The guy says “No, I’m trusting God to save me from this flood.”

The flood waters continue to rise and the guy has to go up to the second floor of his house.
A neighbor in a boat comes by, sees him in the second story window, paddles over and says “Come on, get in!”

The guy says “No, I’m praying for God to save me.”

The flood waters continue to rise, and the guy is forced to climb up on the roof. A Coast Guard helicopter flies over, a crewman leans oout the cabin door and says “Sir! We’re here to rescue you!”

The guy says “No thanks, I’m praying for God to save me.”

Of course, the guy drowns, and ends up standing before St. Peter. He says “I have been a dedicated Christian all my life, I’ve prayed and maintained my faith! Why didn’t God save me?”

St. Peter replied, “You are a huge asshat. He sent you a Humvee, a boat, and a helicopter, and you refused all three!”

I can’t believe how some people will refuse to seek medical attention, instead choosing to insist that God heal them or their loved ones through some divine intervention. If it’s something terminal or beyond medical treatment, that’s one thing. But to refuse treatment entirely? That’s just stupid.

It’s no different than them praying for God to divinely wipe their asses for them. The necessary means have already been developed to address that problem, morons. Pick up some Charmin at the Piggly Wiggly. Your kid’s sick? Go to the doctor.

@Joe - You’re right - I kinda did contradict myself. But, you lose my hope and faith when you fail to care for your young…

I’m vengeat as well….I guess

actually they’ve been killing in the name of jesus for 2000 years. they’ve been killing in the name of god for much longer than that

The issue here isn’t the parents’ religion, it’s their sheer stupidity. There’s something very wrong with these people. A smart Christian knows you can’t just rely on God to do everything for you, especially this kind of thing. If God is going to help heal a child he’ll do it through medicine. The sky is never going to open up and shine a magical beam of light down on someone to cure them. That’s not how it works.

But anyway, like I said, there’s something wrong with these people. No sane person relies on prayer alone for anything.

This woman wasn’t a Christian, she was an idiot. Is it necessary to malign people of faith based on the fanaticism of marginally sane individuals? Christianity, as well as other religions, often attract unstable or disenfranchised individuals looking for strength in a higher power. Some find it, and apply their faith in a reasonable way, the way it is prescribed by the founder of Christianity. I pity the poor child who was doomed from the start. To have a mother like she did was a losing proposition, even if she had no beliefs, because neglect would have manifested in some other fashion. It may be hip to reduce the millions of believers in God to the level of the dysfunctional, lost or criminally insane who attempt to ameliorate their deficiencies by adopting some form of Christianity, but, it is a very shallow ploy to get satisfaction by crowing about their failures. Even worse, it’s the worst form of ignorance to then lump the rest of God-fearing people into that category. I pity YOUR children.

EDIT: Suck my dick - my kids are fine - and you can bet your fucking ass that they won’t die from DKA. I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands of people that are doing fine even though their parents are religious fanatics…Your point is granted. This person was a fucking idiot - and your shot at me is pointless, unnecessary and out of line. You can bet your dumb ass that my kids won’t die a meaningless death in the name of Jesus, Buddha, Allah, God, or any other deity.

This is a great post. I agree with everything here.

When you’re religious beliefs get in the way of common sense, you are a moron and should not be allowed to breed. These kinds of people bring the collective intelligence of humanity down several notches.

I wish we could round all these people up and send them to live on some deserted island where they can persecute, be prejudiced, and kill each other all they want in the name of god…. Note that I’m only referring to the lunatic ones. I don’t care what diety you worship as long as you don’t do anything stupid because of it.

Hate to say this, but like my mom says (oh gad) There’s a time to be stupid, and a time to be stupid..
I admire people who have faith in God, and Pray, and are all around good people..more power to them. But gad, do you really think that it’s ok to not seek medical care?

wonderful post. Couldn’t agree more with you and Heather (in the comments)

As this story was unfolding, all of the members of my department were rooting for the infant daughter of one of our technicians, a beautiful little girl named Jada. Her parents believe in God and also plenty of modern medicine. Jada was born with a heart defect that had to be repaired surgically. The operation was successful, but Jada wasn’t growing. Turned out she needed more surgery to correct her bowel. Twice, our department gathered in a circle, amidst all of the unit doses and I.V.s, and offered a prayer for Jada. The little lady was discharged yesterday morning, is eating well, and has a gorgeous smile! I can’t wait to see her and her lovely folks.

So, you can see how the awful, needless death of the young girl in this news story angers me. For months now, I have been seeing wth my own eyes how God helps those who help themselves.

I was raised a Jew, I am not religious, but the one thing Judaism has taught me was to be tolerant and to do good for the sake of doing good, not because some guy in sandals and a white beard is keeping score and if I don’t get enough points I will burn in Hell.

With that being the case, these Christians have a lot to learn since Jesus himself was born a Jew, and died a Jew, and if he does return, most likely will return as a Jew, however, in the old testament, God commands us that the one commandment above all is to preserve ones and others lives. This is so important, that it supersedes any other commandment in which can cause a conflict. As such, if you are dying and need to go to hospital with due haste, you are then permitted to drive on the sabbath to make sure you or somebody else won’t die.

There is a fine line with separation of church and state, however, in a case such as this, the girl has a right to live. Her right to live and take part in modern medicine which can promote her well being overrides her mother’s wishes in thinking God is punishing her in allowing her daughter to die. Uttlerly disgusting, and not only should this woman be arrested and her kids taken from her, she needs to have her ovaries removes, her uterus taken out, and let sit to rot in prision for the rest of her natural life.

And hopefully when she gets sick in prison someone will pray for her soul since the state hopefully won’t bother to give her medical care, since it will be such a waste of money to treat somebody that doesn’t respect life the least bit!

This says it better than I ever could hope to:

“The medical art does not hinder a man from being pious…”
Saints Barsanuphius and John: Guidance Toward Spiritual Life,” trans. by Fr. Seraphim Rose, (Platina, California: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1990)

Christian (and diabetic) here, and I couldn’t agree with your post more. This sort of bull pisses me off.

Religion is not for me, but I believe in a higher power. And if I had a toochache I’d pray, but I’d pray on my way to the dentist…

Faith can move mountains. Just bring a pick ax and shovel.

That is how faith works for me at least. Things do not happen in my life without my working for them.

It is a shame that some people can’t or won’t accept this concept.

A response to Michelle.

I agree that the parents were idiots. And, will not malign any Christians over her actions. But, I will malign any Christian who let’s her off the hook because she was praying to Jesus to save her child. TA-iestP made an excellent point that had she said she was praying to Satan to save her child she would have immediately been arrested and charged with child neglect and possibly even manslaughter. But, because she was praying to the the generally accepted deity it is OK.

I wonder what would have happened has she attempted to use the Force to heal her child.

Jesus spoke of the severity of being a “stumbling block” (it would be better to have a heavy rock around your neck and be thrown into the river - to paraphrase). The church leaders who taught these parents to neglect your child in this way will meet more “karma” than they can handle.
I am a Christian, and am mindful that not everyone who attends church is a Christian, and not everyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian. Jesus said that some who “prophesied” and “healed” in His name would be cast away because He did not know them.
Yes, Luke was a physician and many people came to Jesus for healing who had exausted all hope of help from the medical profession.
I’m not trying to preach, but I get very offended when someone who claims to be a Christian perverts Jesus’s teachings.

I’m offended by X-tains. They have to carry some blame here. It’s their book this crap is coming from. Educate your selves to the history of the Church and it will boggle your mind. What was voted as Canon and what was burned, books as well as people. What became dogma and what was thrown away. Jesus, if he did exist, wouldn’t recognize any of this stuff as his teachings, of that I’m certain. It’s a cult made up by St Paul. I’m sure the parents can come up with scripture that will back the way they behaved. It’s all or nothing. Picking and choosing. BS!

Educate your selves to the history of the Church and it will boggle your mind.

I have…. where would you like to start? The fact that the 4 Gospels were included in the Canon based on tradition (all gospels written within 30 years of Jesus’ death… the Gnostic gospels were not written until the 3rd and 4th centuries which is why they were not included). The New Testament was put together for liturgical purposes (what has been read since the beginnings of the church)….not sure what you mean by dogma changing, rituals have changed but dogma (for Catholics and orthodoxy) have remained constant for 2000 years… a cult by St. Paul? I would advise you to read up on that. Paul (or Saul) was just like you… offended by Christians. So much so that he made it his goal to kill them (Paul was a non-believing Jew). He had a conversion on the way to Damascus… so great was this conversion that not only did Paul become a follower of Christ but he was willing to die for his religion (stoned to death by Roman authorities)….. maybe you would like to take a look at how the church began, on the blood of martyrs (since Christianity was outlawed in the Roman Empire and the early Christians, having no influence whatsoever in a largely Pagan empire were driven down into the Catacombs for centuries)… you may not believe, but when you look at the history of the church, try to be objective (not everyone who claims to be Christian is pure of heart, but true Christians know how to act).

Also, I agree completely with Angriest pharmacist…. whatever your religion, you must seek medical care as, if you are a true believer, God works through us (that includes nurses, doctors, etc.).

Oh, and Angriest, awesome prank yesterday!

Holy shit…check out this rant on the same subject…

http://tinyurl.com/3xvneo

I vote pancrectomy and they can pray for themselves and get back to me on how that works out for them.