Should parents have the right to choose if their children live or die?

The little girl who died from diabetes has been the focus of some intense discussion. One faction keeps popping up and insisting that, right or wrong, the parents are protected in their choice to deny their daughter medical care. They affirm that religious freedom affords them the right to have the power of life and death over their child.

Excuse me. We're talking about a little girl who wouldn't have died if she had received treatment. If she had an inoperable, painless brain tumor, or something like that, I can see looking at choosing prayer exclusively as a viable option. I believe in prayer. I believe in miracles. I also believe God gave us the intelligence to help heal ourselves, and that children are our greatest gift and responsibility. I do not believe our government is required to stand by and let innocent children die for their parents beliefs.

There is even precedent here, as far as the whole possibility that the government can deem unacceptable ceertain religious practices. Think about it. The Mormons insisted that the right to more than one wife was gauranteed them by God.

Over-ruled. So why should the rights of a child to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness be squashed beneath the choices of the parents? I wonder, if they lay dying, and the option of life was offered, would they be so steadfast? Their daughter is at their mercy, and they make themselves out to be martyrs...and even if they would die for thier religion, is it OK for them to doom their daughter for it?