Medicine,religion collide in chemo refusa[5/25-Cancer-Stricken Boy,13,Mother return]

[Cooper]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ed-chemo_N.htm


"The need of states to protect children who are suffering from life-threatening diseases is increasingly colliding with religious choices of parents, including one case where a child has died."

[LisaM22]

Originally Posted by Cooper

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ed-chemo_N.htm


"The need of states to protect children who are suffering from life-threatening diseases is increasingly colliding with religious choices of parents, including one case where a child has died."

this is sad one, we know they need treatment but their beliefs make them believe they will be miraculously cured and if they are not, then they believe it was their time, how do you handle this without interfering with separation of church and state, by interfering the government is saying your religion is a myth, we do not believe in it and you need a real doctor - but by doing nothing the child is being harmed, very sad and very complicated legal situation, especially with a treatment for cancer that often is a slow painful death in and of itself with no good results either, were still aways away from having a true cure all for cancer

[Details]

JMO - it's not religion. They had the first chemo treatment, voluntarily. So it's not against their religion.

And it worked - the tumor shrank. Then they stopped, went to their alternative treatments - and the tumor in the latest x-rays is back up to it's original size.

While we have no perfect cure-all for cancer - in this case - it's pretty darn close! This is an aggressive, fatal cancer - fatal 95% of the time. However, with the medical treatment he WAS receiving, they can cure it 90% of the time. And there is no alternative treatment with any track record of curing it.

For other cancers, for other cures, there might be more than one rational option to choose. Not for this one.

I think the mother should be charged for killing her son, if she keeps him hidden long enough that he dies, or the tumor becomes untreatable.

Religious beliefs are no excuse. When a mother believed God told her to drown her children to save them - did the religious belief mean it was OK? When a religion tells it's followers that punishing a child by cutting their food consumption to a rate where they starve - we prosecute the people available, and if the child is still alive, pick it up, and feed it - no matter how much the parent's religion says they think the child needs no food.

Children are not owned - they are not like a toy, like an animal. They're the parent's responsibility, and the parents get to make nearly any choice they like in how they raise them. But when a parent is acting in a way to kill a child, to let it die from neglect, in a clear case - it is society's role to protect the child. The parents can risk their own life by rejecting medical treatment anytime they like. The child can make their own choice when they are old enough to make life and death decisions on their own. But a parent cannot boost their own religious beliefs by sacrificing their children.

[LisaM22]

good points Details, and your right, this could not be a religious issue as they had already done it once, they just did not want to do it again? wonder why? it was working before too.... weird

[Cooper]

Details, what a good point! I totally missed it.

I've read about families who let their kids die because they wouldn't give them insulin for diabetes.

I agree that it is medical neglect and if adults want to refuse treatment then fine, but children do not have the experience nor maturity to make an informed decision.

[Lynden1000]

They did try chemotherapy but have since decided that alternative "natural healing" methods are more in keeping with their spiritual beliefs. I would call that a religious issue.

Young teenage murderers have been tried as adults after psychiatrists and psychologists concluded that they were capable of understanding the nature and consequences of their actions. Maybe this child should be interviewed to see if he fully understands the potential consequences of his actions. If he does understand the risks and still wants to pursue alternative therapies due to his spiritual beliefs, I don't think I could, in good conscience, go against the sick child's own wishes.

[lunchlady]

I hope the boy understands his long term chances with the different methods of treatment. If he agreed to flee after one treatment made him feel funny then he is probably throwing away his chance for having a longer life. Parents shouldn't be allowed to prevent their children from receiving life-saving treatment.
Christian Scientist parents have been fighting the battle for parent's rights to refuse treatment for their children for years. The courts have sometimes order lifesaving treatment but don't get involved unless the situation is dire. Many other children go without medical treatment to satisfy their parent's relgious beliefs.

[Details]

Originally Posted by lunchlady

I hope the boy understands his long term chances with the different methods of treatment. If he agreed to flee after one treatment made him feel funny then he is probably throwing away his chance for having a longer life. Parents shouldn't be allowed to prevent their children from receiving life-saving treatment.
Christian Scientist parents have been fighting the battle for parent's rights to refuse treatment for their children for years. The courts have sometimes order lifesaving treatment but don't get involved unless the situation is dire. Many other children go without medical treatment to satisfy their parent's relgious beliefs.

Yep - if it's not a matter of life and death, if it's a choice between multiple treatments with similar success rates, if it's a choice of a treatment with low odds of success - then the parents get to choose.

It's only when rejecting a solid cure for a deadly disease, in favor of a cure with no rate of success, that the courts will step in - as they should. 95% odds of death, soon. 90% chance of a cure with treatment. This case just isn't even close to questionable.

He's 13 - he didn't like the chemo, so he's making the childish decision that the medicine is too nasty, he doesn't want it - without the adult perspective that this short term unpleasantness will prevent far worse problems.

[Riverwalk!]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521732,00.html

MINNEAPOLIS — A sheriff's office in Minnesota says a 13-year-old cancer patient and his mother who fled the state to avoid chemotherapy have returned.

The Brown County sheriff's office did not provide any details Monday but said a news conference would be held later in the day at the county seat of New Ulm.

[4Life]

MINNEAPOLIS (May 25) — A sheriff's office in Minnesota says a 13-year-old cancer patient and his mother who fled the state to avoid chemotherapy have returned.

http://news.aol.com/health/article/t...d-chemo/497263

[Details]

Thank goodness!

I hope the delay - this one and the court battle haven't killed him. Hopefully the cancer is still in that easily treatable range.

I still wonder what was in that mother's mind - to flee after the X-ray showing the tumor was growing. To me, that would have been a clear indication I was wrong, and should change my stance. The one chemo treatment shrank the tumor, the time wasted on alternative treatments during the court battle enlarged it - clear message, even if you don't want to believe doctors and decades of cured children.

[n/t]

Originally Posted by Details

Thank goodness!

I hope the delay - this one and the court battle haven't killed him. Hopefully the cancer is still in that easily treatable range.

I still wonder what was in that mother's mind - to flee after the X-ray showing the tumor was growing. To me, that would have been a clear indication I was wrong, and should change my stance. The one chemo treatment shrank the tumor, the time wasted on alternative treatments during the court battle enlarged it - clear message, even if you don't want to believe doctors and decades of cured children.

I didn't follow this case closely but what little I do know, apparently it was a religious belief and/or alternative medicine? She didn't want him to undergo the chemo.

Sad considering he had/has a good chance of recovery from what was discussed about his treatment.

Praying they'll do the right thing so this boy can have that hope.

[sammy62]

ot.....I'm from the town in Minnesota where the little 13 year old was taken by his mother to California because they didn't want him to have Chemo. They found them today and they are back in Minnesota. thank God.

http://wcco.com/local/colleen.daniel...2.1018724.html