Believer or not, of course you pray when your 11-year-old daughter lapses unconscious. But you do something, too. The grandmother wanted a doctor, but even she was too unassertive, and the emergency call had to come - too late - from a thousand miles away!
Diabetic ketoacidosis has other signs besides profound fatigue. Unquenchable thirst and constant urination as the body dumps sugar through the urine are a couple. My own mother diagnosed my sister at age 11 from ketones on the breath, thirst, urination, and weight loss. Not everyone has read her brother's med school text books, but most any conscious parent would have the sense that this situation was out of control.
One open question: Did the Neumanns have health insurance? Did they try to rely on prayer because they didn't qualify for or hadn't signed up for SCHIP? Any health story like this should include that sort of question.
One irony: Under Sean Bell rules, the parents have nothing to fear from the DA's charges of negligent homicide. I doubt they'll get that break, however.
The economic irrelevance of naval power
4 days ago
