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Court order forcing chemo treatment causes mother and son to go into hiding
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flickr.com Darren Sylvester
It is appalling in this day and age, that courts interfere between parents and their healthcare decisions for their children. Not only that, it is appalling that courts also interfere in the religious beliefs of said parents. Our founding fathers placed the freedom of religion as a cornerstone of this nation. What has happened to that freedom now?
When the parents of thirteen-year-old Daniel Hauser chose not to treat with chemotherapy and radiation due to religious beliefs that prohibit introducing toxins into the body, the court in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota issued an order forcing the toxic treatment on them. This brings up a very important question: just when did the “State” decide it owns our children?
Daniel and his mother Colleen have fled into hiding as a result. They were planning to seek natural therapies instead of chemotherapy. That should be the decision of the parent and the right to choose treatments should be honored, right? Apparently not. This is a frightening precedent that the courts have taken.
Natural therapies are often regarded as quackery at best. However, people have been treating themselves with natural remedies for thousands of years with quite a lot of success and few side effects, if any. With millennia of tests, trials and errors, natural remedies should be considered to be valid. Modern drugs have only been in use for the last century or so. Many are toxic and downright dangerous.
The salient point at issue is the letter of the law regarding the rights of parents and the freedom of religion in this case. This writer is no lawyer, but there appears to be few laws that protect the rights of parents regarding the healthcare or treatment of their children. The care of a spouse is legally covered, but not children. There have been five such cases of parents fleeing forced medical treatment over the past few years. There is something terribly wrong with our system if parents feel they have no other choice. Many of those who chose to fight survived without the chemotherapy.
As for freedom of religion, it is the Constitutional right that Americans be permitted to practice their religion. Apparently, that is not important if it is deemed by others that the practice of religion might harm one of its members. It still feels quite wrong to interfere in this case. Daniel Hauser (the child in question) believes that chemotherapy will kill him and he does not wish to continue it after trying one treatment. Such strong treatments as chemotherapy or radiation should be a personal decision, not a court ordered one.
This writer strongly supports the rights of parents in regards to all aspects of their child’s welfare without government interference. The choice of using natural treatments instead of “accepted” methods should also be the choice of the individual and not the government. Having seen chemotherapy and the damage it causes up close and personal, the choice for this writer would be death before ever using chemo for any reason. A family’s rights should be respected.
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