WISCONSIN MEDICAL NEGLECT STATUTES
CIVIL MEDICAL NEGLECT STATUTE
A parent shall not be held liable for child abuse or neglect solely for providing, in good faith, religious means of health treatment.
Wisconsin Civil Statute:
[A] determination that abuse or neglect has occurred may not be based solely on the fact that the child’s parent, guardian or legal custodian in good faith selects and relies on prayer or other religious means for treatment of disease or for remedial care of the child.
Wisconsin Statutes §48.981(3)(c)(4)
CRIMINAL MEDICAL NEGLECT STATUTE
A parent shall not be held liable for child abuse solely for providing their child with spiritual treatment in accordance with a recognized method of religious healing. However, common law states this exemption does not apply to life-threatening diseases.
Wisconsin Law Provides:
WISCONSIN defense to criminal child abuse
A person is not guilty of an offense under this section solely because he or she provides a child with treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone for healing in accordance with the religious method of healing permitted under s.48.981(3)( c)(4) or 448.03(6) in lieu of medical or surgical treatment.
Wisconsin Statutes §948.03(6)
In 2013 the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld convictions of parents who had let their daughter die of untreated diabetes on religious grounds and ruled that the religious defense did not apply to children with life-threatening illnesses. One justice dissented concluding, “I cannot say that the result of the Newman trials is unjust. Nonetheless, there were and are serious deficiencies in the law and they ought to be addressed by the legislature and the courts.” State v. Neumann, 832 NW2d 560 (Wisc. 2013)