system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Parents who believe in faith healing and refuse to take their children to doctors when they’re sick should be charged with neglect and/or homicide if that child dies.

Little bit of backstory: I was raised by my grandparents and I love and appreciate them for everything they do for me, but they’re very religious and I’m not. Several times growing up, when I had colds or the flu, they would say, “just pray” and wouldn’t take me to a doctor unless I was passing out or in agony. It never got bad enough that I was in danger of dying, but I know what it’s like to feel like garbage and have your caregivers tell you that you’re just not praying hard enough. 

Anyway, my stepmother and I are very close and really the only opinions we differ on concern religion (she’s loosely catholic, I’m agnostic). We were talking about a report that I’m doing for an ethics class concerning the death of a 2 year old girl whose parents refused to take her to a doctor because their faith “forbid it”, and the death of a newborn in Oregon for the same reason. In both of these cases the children were sick for a long period of time and all they did was pray and “anoint” then with oil. Long story short, the parents in both cases are being charged with neglect and manslaughter/murder, and I support that decision because it’s ridiculous to me that you could watch your child wither away to nothing and eventually die due to “God’s Will”. (This is a 3000 level college class and what follows is a civil debate, and I’m simply presenting the facts and then leading a discussion with everyone’s opinions. My own opinions aren’t in the presentation itself, and I have to review it with my TA to make sure it’s relatively unbiased). 

My stepmother lost it and said I was being cruel and not thinking about the pain the parents were going through, what it was like to lose a child, etc. I tried to explain my opinion, that if these parents actually cared about keeping their kids alive they would actively try to keep them healthy, but she just repeated that I‘m being cruel because I don’t understand what it’s like to have faith. 

Does anyone have an opinion here that I’m just overlooking in favor of my own? How can I have more compassion for these people? 

Edit: spelling.
gpt
Why should we focus on charging them _if the child dies_? This seems like too little too late. Isn't the best time to charge them with neglect _before_ the child dies, when the child can still be saved?