Judge to decide if family can refuse chemo for boy

[almaty 19]

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.

After that, Bostrom said, the family said they wanted a second opinion. They later informed him that Daniel would not undergo any more chemotherapy. Bostrom said Daniel's tumor shrunk after the first chemotherapy session.

Two other doctors who examined Daniel backed up Bostrom's assessment at a court hearing last Friday. At that hearing, Colleen Hauser testified her son became sick and depressed after the first treatment, and said the family only would consent to traditional treatments in the case of a life-threatening illness.

"My son is not in any medical danger at this point," Colleen Hauser testified. She also testified that Daniel was a medicine man and elder in the Nemenhah Band.

The mother said her son made the decision himself to refuse chemotherapy: "I think he understands he has the right to choose healthier forms of dealing with this cancer."

Brown County disagrees, and pressed the case after Bostrom notified child protection authorities.

Daniel Hauser "does not have a complete understanding of what it means to be a medicine man or an elder," Brown County Attorney James Olson wrote in a legal filing.

The Hausers, who are Roman Catholic, have eight children. Colleen Hauser told the New Ulm Journal newspaper that the family's Catholicism and adherence to the Nemenhah Band are not in conflict, and said she has treated illness with natural remedies her entire life.

Nemenhah was founded in the 1990s by Philip Cloudpiler Landis, who said Thursday that he was one-fourth American Indian. Nemenhah adherents are asked to pay $250 to be members. "We're non-dogmatic, a very universal faith," Landis said.

Landis said he founded the faith after facing his diagnosis of a cancer similar to Daniel Hauser. He said he treated it with diet choices, visits to a sweat lodge and other natural remedies. Landis also once served four months in prison in Idaho for fraud related to advocating natural remedies.

"The issue is Danny's right to decide how he wants to live his life," Landis said. "What if they make him take chemotherapy and he dies from that? The band will mourn with the family if that's the case, but we'll rejoice that Danny had the opportunity to test the law of the land."

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Poor kid.

[almaty 19]

I agree.....he is 13 and a life ahead of him..90% chance of success..hope the judge does the right thing

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I agree.....he is 13 and a life ahead of him..90% chance of success..hope the judge does the right thing

I can empathize with parents that don't want to see their child suffer after he had his first session of chemo, but they need to put trust in the doctors who are telling them that he's not going to survive unless he has chemo therapy.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Why is it a judges decision to make? Sheesh!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Why is it a judges decision to make? Sheesh!

Endangering the life of a child?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Who's child is it? The courts? I wouldn't want some judge deciding my fate or that of my family members. But that's just me. Carry on.

[Oosie 1]

Why is it a judges decision to make? Sheesh!

http://www.nemenhah.org/

The parents claim the child is a Medicine Man and can treat himself.

The link above will tell you all you need to know about his "training".

Any one of us who want to pay the fees can be a medicine man in this band.

These parents are endangering their child's life based on the teachings of a plastic shaman.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Who's child is it? The courts? I wouldn't want some judge deciding my fate or that of my family members. But that's just me. Carry on.

Well, because he's a minor. Not an easy issue to deal with, but parents do not have the right to endanger their own child's life.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Poor kid.

I thought you'd support the families wishes, otherwise it is a vioation of their rights to have the police state tell them what to do?

[Peikko 1,575]

I could understand it if the odds were against a successful outcome. Essentially that is why the court must intervene in this case. Unless the Doctors are lying and the odds are different to that being claimed, the parent's are essentially placing a death sentence on their 13 year old (a minor who is considered unfit to be able to determine/or be outside the influence of the parent's prejudices). It's an uncomfortable situation of course, but in a case like this, that has to be the course of action or society is accepting that a parent can kill their children in these types of circumstances.

[almaty 19]

i agree..it is a different case..i have seen it in illinois..and the courts ruled for the medical community

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I think we should all just stfu and pray for the kid. Power of prayer people.... ** science and medicine.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Put those parents in jail. Give the kid his 90%.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Put those parents in jail. Give the kid his 90%.

Nanny State FTW.