Police in Weston says an 11-year-old girl died there Sunday of diabetes, because her parents chose prayer over medical treatment. An author and UW-Madison scholar says it would be hard to prosecute the parents in such a case.
Shawn Peters studied the subject extensively for his book, “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law.” He says Wisconsin law does protect a parent’s right to choose faith-healing over medicine. He says there can be complications when religion-based treatments of illness are involved.