Should a thirteen year-old boy be allowed to decide what kind of cancer treatments, if any, he receives?  That’s what a judge had to decide last week in Minnesota.  The judge’s decision was against this child’s wishes, and now Daniel Hauser must undergo chemotherapy and any radiation treatments his doctors rule necessary.

The boy and his family wanted to pursue alternative treatments that didn’t include any kind of chemicals unnatural to the human body, even though the form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma he’s diagnosed with has a 90% cure rate.  He will remain in his parent’s custody, even though they were charged with medical neglect, provided they schedule an appointment no later than this week with an oncologist.  His mother has stated she wouldn’t force her son to abide by the court’s ruling.

The court says it was acting in the child’s best interest and since he’s only thirteen, he’s too young to make that determination.  This stands to reason since we don’t allow thirteen year-old kids to drink alcohol nor do we allow them to vote.  They’re too young.  Ah, but then again, we do allow underage kids to undergo

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abortions and in some states, not even the parent’s notification is required.  So should this boy be allowed to cease his medical treatment?  Was the judge’s ruling right?  And what happens if the parents choose to not seek medical treatment as their way of honoring their son’s request?  Maybe more importantly, what if there are there natural remedies that can cure cancer without introducing radiation to the human body?  The parents insist their religious beliefs teach natural healing as a way to cure all that ails the human’s body and mind.  Regardless of how any of us feel about it, it’s a huge gamble to take with a young boy who has a cancer that responds well to modern medicine.  Further, this boy also has a learning disability that might be influencing the decision his family says he’s made with no influence from them.

The doctors who testified say six treatments of chemotherapy over six months would most certainly kill the tumor in its entirety.  One man who says he was cured of the same cancer via natural herbs stands behind this family and its decision on how their son lives his life.  He says the boy could die from the chemotherapy if he’s forced to undergo it, but that he’d stand by the family as they rejoice in his brave attempts to “test the law of the land”.

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