Judge rules family can’t refuse chemo for boy
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT “MSNBC.COM”
MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota judge has ruled that a 13-year-old cancer patient whose parents want to treat him with “alternative medicine” must seek conventional medical treatment for their son.
In a 58-page ruling Friday, Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg found that Daniel Hauser has been “medically neglected” and is in need of child protection services.
Rodenberg said Daniel will stay in the custody of his parents, but Colleen and Anthony Hauser have until May 19 to get an updated chest X-ray for their son and select an oncologist
The judge wrote that Daniel has only a “rudimentary understanding at best of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. … he does not believe he is ill currently. The fact is that he is very ill currently.”
Daniel’s court-appointed attorney, Philip Elbert, called the decision unfortunate.
“I feel it’s a blow to families,” he said. “It marginalizes 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.”
OK, in the Atheist big-government sub-culture, this is going to be heresy. I don’t want the government interfering with these choices even IF it results in outcomes I prefer. Government with THAT authority is undesirable. To me, this judges intervention is lamentable.
Any other “crazy” libertarian skeptics out there?