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www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8933152/

Indiana couple sentenced in death of newborn
Parents prayed rather than seek medical care for ailing daughter

Updated: 2:18 a.m. ET Aug. 13, 2005
FRANKLIN, Ind. - An Indiana couple who chose to pray over their dying newborn daughter rather than seek medical care for her were sentenced Friday to six years in prison for reckless homicide.

But a judge suspended most of those prison terms for Dewayne and Maleta Schmidt, instead ordering the couple to serve about a year each at a work-release center.

Their daughter, Rhianna Rose Schmidt, died in August 2003, less than two days after she was born at the couple’s home, from an infection typically treated with antibiotics.

The Schmidts’ church, the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, advocates prayer and faith healing over medical intervention but does not require members to shun medical care.

“Rhianna would be alive today if not for the actions and inactions of her parents,” Johnson County Superior Judge Cynthia Emkes said.

The Schmidts’ probation includes a directive to seek medical help for their two other children should they suffer life-threatening health problems.

Rhianna was the third child of parents attending the Schmidts’ church to die since 1998 after family members refused medical treatment, according to published reports. The church is in Morgantown, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis.

Children born to members of the church in Colorado and Oregon also have died after their parents refused medical treatment.

Faith is one thing, but it doesn't mean recklessness.  You can go to a doctor and not be short of faith.

****Deleted****va-gunnut

Their faith is admirable, but their (in)action is inexcusable.

Article states that they are not forbidden to seek modern medicine, yet they did not. If they were forbidden by their faith to seek help, I'd have a lot less of an issue.  I'm not a big fan of the state dictating what a parent can or cannot do with their child, but there has to be a happy medium when it comes to the life of a newborn.

Reckless homicide? Not in my opinion.  Child neglect or negligent manslaughter, absolutely.

I'm sure the parents have already been punished by watching their child die, so I guess I'm okay with the suspended sentence.  Wow, what a cappy situation all around.

Pray.  THEN GO AND DO!
God loves to help those who help themselves.  

I don't know which is worse - the parents committing negligent homicide or the judge condoning it.  

Quoted: ****Deleted****va-gunnut - CD

And posts like these are why religious discussion should happen in GD.

They had no Faith in the opportunities God provided like doctors and hospitals.

Reminds me of this story

A flood threatens a town, forcing everyone to evacuate, But Joe thinks,
"I'm a devout man, God will save me," and stays put.
As the waters rise, Joe's neighbor comes by and says, "Joe come with me, we've got to go." Joe declines,
"I'm a devout man, God will save me."

The waters keep rising, Joe scrambles to his second floor. A firefighter in a rowboat comes by. "Get in the boat or you'll drown," he says. Joe again declines, saying,
"God will save me."

Finally , the flood waters force Joe to his roof. A police helicopter comes by and throws down a rope. "Climb up or you'll drown," the policeman yells. "No, I'm a devout man,
God will save me," Joe replies.

Soon, Joe drowns.
He arrives in heaven and challenges God.
"Why didn't you help me?"

"What do you mean?" God says.

"I did help. I sent a neighbor, a firefighter and a helicopter."

+1 for WildBoars story!

Quoted: +1 for WildBoars story!

I'll second that!