Judge Orders Parents To Resume Son’s Chemo

A judge has ruled that a 13-year-old boy with cancer must
resume chemotherapy against his parents’ wishes. After Daniel Hauser was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, doctors told him that he had a good chance of being cured through chemotherapy and radiation.

But after just one treatment, which doctors say reduced the size of Daniel’s tumour, the boy and his parents decided they no longer wanted to treat his cancer with mainstream medicine.

After Daniel stopped doing chemo, child protective workers accused his parents of medical neglect. In court, the Hausers explained that their family’s religion advocates the use of alternative medicine, and Daniel himself has refused to undergo more chemotherapy. According to his mother, Daniel is a Medicine Man with the Nemenhah Band, which was founded by a man who claims to have fought cancer solely through alternative remedies.

But the judge was not swayed by the mother’s arguments. He argued that Daniel was unaware of the extent of his illness, and pointed to the fact that “doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had up to a 90 percent chance of being cured
with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 percent.”

The judge gave the family less than a week to find an oncologist and resume chemotherapy if recommended.

The Hausers’ lawyer immediately spoke out against the ruling, saying, “It marginalises the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children’s medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us.”

By this logic, the law should not interfere when a child is physically abused by his parents, either. Of course families should be allowed to pursue alternative medicines, but not at the risk of a child’s life.

Photo: ABC News