Posted on 05/15/2009 6:24:23 AM PDT by Abathar
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minnesota judge is expected to decide whether a family can refuse chemotherapy for a 13-year-boy's cancer and treat him with natural medicine, even though doctors say it's effectively a death sentence.
With chemotherapy, Daniel Hauser has a 90 percent chance of surviving his Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to his cancer doctor. And without it?
"It is almost certain that he will die," said Dr. Bruce Bostrom, a pediatric oncologist at Children's Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota. Bostrom, who diagnosed the disease, is an ally of the legal effort in southwestern Minnesota's Brown County to make Hauser submit to chemotherapy even though he and his parents believe it's potentially more harmful than the cancer itself.
District Judge John Rodenberg was expected to rule Friday on Brown County's motion.
Bostrom said Daniel's chance of survival without chemotherapy is about 5 percent. Nevertheless, parents Colleen and Anthony Hauser are supporting what they say is their son's decision to instead treat the disease with nutritional supplements and other alternative treatments favored by the Nemenhah Band. The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians.
"This is about the right of a 13-year-old young man to be free from acts of assault on his body," said the family's attorney, Calvin Johnson. The Hausers did not return several phone messages left at their home Thursday.
Bostrom diagnosed Daniel Hauser with Hodgkin's lymphoma in January, and recommended he undergo chemotherapy treatments once a month for six months, followed by radiation. Daniel became gravely ill about a week later and was taken to an emergency room, Bostrom said, and the family consented to the first chemotherapy treatment.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
What is wrong with these parents?!?! They should be prosecuted for child abuse.
Hopefully the judge will have more common sense than the parents.
If they're so dead set against modern medicine, why take him for a diagnosis in the first place?
As a moral principle, one can certainly take the position that parents must do everything they can to preserve the life of their child.
As a political principle, however, the State has no right to make medical choices for me or for my family. Think of the reverse situation: my elderly mother is in the hospital and needs an operation. The government nixes that operation. She's too old, it's not cost-effective, it would be a waste of the taxpayers money -- she should just go on and die without treatment because that's economically frugal.
I don't like the government telling me what to do. As a conservative, I do not want the courts to make my medical choices for me.
They should take him to Germany where all the beautiful /s people (Hollywoood, other doctors) go to get cured of cancer. I wouldn’t go through that crap either. Drug, cut, burn, that’s all the doctors here in America know how to do.
Very tragic, I went through this and its such a treatable cancer... some people amaze me..
I knew of a man who died because of chemo. He had cancer, but no health issues with it, and died a month after starting chemo, from the chemo. No judge or doctor is god, even if they think they are.
If you have ever seen a loved one go through “Chemo” then you will know why they have this concern. It is not pretty and it is usually not successful. Chemo attacks the whole body...not just the cancer cells. Sometimes it is better just to let it happen and trust in God. IMHO
His parents ARE his parents! I have a close friend who was good laboratory practices czar for one of the biggest drug companies in the world, taught medicine at a university, and owned his own drug testing laboratory doing testing on drugs for virtually every major drug company. He is a Toxicologist and a Pathologist. When told he needed “chemo” for his lymphoma... his response was “I saw what that stuff did to animals, if you think you are going to use it on me you are crazy”.. He was given 6 months to live by his oncologist..and that was about 8 years ago. He completely cured his lymphoma with massive IV doses of Sodium Ascorbate which is the IV form of Vitamin C. That therapy and other “alternate therapies” that are cheap and work will NEVER be approved by the FDA which is just a bit too close to “Big Pharma”. All you gotta do is follow the money...and where have we heard that line before?
I thought a mother always had the right to choose whether her child lived or died. Obama said it was in the constitution somewhere.
Right!! People should be allowed to take/buy whatever medicine they want. Medicine should not be regulated by doctors. There is enough available information in the biosphere to make reasonable health decisions by adults. If adults are unable/unwilling to self-prescribe, then they are free to use the services of doctors. Our prohibative laws are the reason medicines are so expensive.
I say let the kid get his natural “cure” and when he dies, let the his parents be publicly ridiculed and shamed. It will be a great lesson in exposing the fraud that these natural cure hucksters are pushing.
The last time we let the courts legislate science from the bench, we got Roe vs. Wade, which codified the 1970 understanding of fetal viability into the law.
I am sitting here at work with my father sleeping on the couch behind my desk, he was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and is currently going through both chemo and radiation at the same time, he got a radiation treatment this morning.
He would have been dead weeks ago from the tumor crushing his throat if he didn't have it, the last CAT scan shows it's 95% gone now except for two small spots.
The parents of this kid are idiots, pure and simple.
“It would seem they want a “natural” cure for a disease diagnosed with “unnatural” methods.”
And when it gets to the inevitable crisis time, they almost always end up in the un”natural” Emergency Department of their local hospital.
I’m not a big fan of the medical folks, however, 90% is a good chance. Here’s the problem. Cancer is not something that comes into the body, one comes down with cancer because their terrain (body - not the immune system) is a mess. There are two things at work here, PH balance and oxygen. Anyone that is 40 to 50 years old has probably already fought off cancer a few times in their lifetime. Cancer occurs due to plemorphism, that is, cells change from one for to another inside the body when the conditions are right. Reduce the oxygen in the body by 40% and normal cells turn cancerous, this is fact. So, while chemo and radiation might kill the cancer (along with all the other good cells) he needs to correct his balance. Most likely this form of cancer will be proven to be fungal in nature just as Lukemia is now, that is, being cured with anti-fungals and soon to be declassified as cancer.
This kid has made a choice to follow his own heart and make his own choice regarding his own destiny. I am frankly amazed at all the Freepers who think that in cases like this that "The Government Knows Best".
One of the things about even conventional cancer treatments is the fact that if you don't believe that the chemotherapy and radiation are going to cure you, the chances are they aren't. I believe there is an element of faith in medicine and your body reacts to that element.
As far as the parents are concerned, God has appointed these people to be this child's parents. They may be making the wrong decision here, but I don't think they are taking this decision lightly. From what I read in this article it looks to me like they are standing behind their son, and not standing in front of him. It appears to be the kid's decision. He's had chemo and radiation therapy and he does not believe they will help. If that is the case, then it is probably true.
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