The death of 11-year-old Madeline Kara Neumann has shocked the town of Weston, Wisconsin. Madeline died of ketoacidosis, a treatable though serious condition of type 1 diabetes in which acid builds up in the blood. Hardly anyone dies of ketoacidosis in the United States. Madeline’s parents said they didn’t know she had diabetes. When she became ill, they didn’t take her to a doctor. The circumstances of her illness are in dispute, Fox News reports:

Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin has said an autopsy determined Madeline died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body. She had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, he said.

But Leilani Neumann said her daughter, a straight A student, was in good health until recently.

“We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks,” she said. “And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering.”

Instead, Madeline died last Sunday. The Neumann’s other three children, all teens, have been removed from the home and are staying with relatives. Charges against the Neumanns are pending. Madeline’s death raises profound legal and moral questions over religious belief and practice, especially when the life of a child is at stake. What are your thoughts?