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Land of the Free…as long as you take chemo?
2009-05-28 |
Like many of you, last week I read about the plight of Daniel Hauser. He‘s the 13-year-old boy from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota who has Hodgkins lymphoma. Six months ago, a family doctor diagnosed young Daniel with the disease. It must have been a shocking blow to his family, who lives on a farm in rural Minnesota.
Daniel‘s doctors ordered six rounds of chemo to treat his tumors. So in February of this year, Daniel underwent his first round. But he got so sick, he and his family refused to continue treatment.
Daniel‘s parents sought the advice of several other oncologists. Not surprisingly, they all recommended Daniel continue with the chemo. But Daniel and his parents belong to a religious group that believes in the tenet, "first do no harm." So the family began to investigate and use natural methods to fight Daniel‘s disease.
Well, that wasn‘t enough according to one Minnesota judge. Last week, judge John R. Rodenberg found that by discontinuing chemo, Daniel had been "medically neglected" by his parents. He ruled that the State had a right to intervene in the interests of Daniel‘s health and welfare.
On May 19th, Rodenberg ordered the Hausers to start seeing their oncologist again. In addition, he ordered Daniel to get another chest x-ray to reassess the size of the tumors. The judge said if the x-rays showed Daniel would still benefit from chemo, and the family still refused, that the boy would be placed with child protective services.
So last week, Daniel and his mom fled Minnesota, presumably to avoid forced medical treatment. As a consequence, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Daniel‘s mom. After a week on the run, Daniel and his mom turned themselves into authorities in California on Monday and returned home. I‘m sure the decision was difficult and heart-wrenching. They‘ve agreed to continue with Daniel‘s court-ordered chemo treatments.
Will chemo work for Daniel?
Yes, according to much mainstream research out there, Daniel‘s cancer will likely respond to chemotherapy. But do I believe the Hauser‘s "medically neglected" their child by attempting to treat his disease differently?
Of course not!
It may not be the choice you or I would have made for young Daniel, but it‘s the Hauser‘s choice. And the last I checked, parents have a constitutionally-protected right to make choices about the welfare of their children.
Of course, even parental rights have their limits according to the laws of our free republic. And the line has to be drawn somewhere. Neglecting or abusing children should not be tolerated. I‘m not questioning that.
But mandating chemo? It‘s a scary place we live in, folks, when anything other than chemotherapy is considered "medical neglect"! What‘s next? Requiring the Gardasil vaccine for all 12-year-old girls? State-mandated Ritalin for any kid who’s got ADHD? How about required genetic testing for pregnant mothers? In fact, why don‘t we limit the number of children you have in the first place? That will really save lives!
You think I‘m kidding, but in a government-controlled health care system, this very easily could become a reality. All that state-mandated chemo will get really expensive, really quickly.
Daniel‘s not alone
Daniel‘s case is not an isolated one. Big Brother has often stepped in, forcing chemo upon families seeking "alternative" treatments. In fact, many years ago in Florida, I experienced a similar case.
A father came in to see me with his 12 year-old son who had osteosarcoma of the knee. He had been told it was child abuse to refuse chemotherapy for his son even AFTER being told that the treatment was admittedly experimental!
His entire family had to leave in the middle of the night to Canada before agents got there the next day to take the child away. They snuck him up there for Essiac herbal treatment.
They had also been told that the treatment probably wouldn‘t work, and that they should prepare for above-the-knee amputation (the worst type). At the time, the boy had a large asymmetry of one knee, with a large, firm lump.
But unlike Daniel, my patient and his family got out. The got away from Big Brother and the State-mandated chemotherapy. And guess what?
Two or three years later, a lanky teenager I failed to recognize walked into my office (on both legs, no limp and no lump) looking totally healthy. His father walked in after him. They stopped by just to show me what the outcome had been with his now-normal son. They couldn’t stay long though because they were still under an arrest warrant and had snuck into the state for some business.
Beating cancer without chemo
Interestingly, according to one report I read on MSNBC.com, Daniel and his mom in their travels last week may have met up with a "man named Billy Best, who as a teenager in 1994 ran away from home to escape chemotherapy for cancer similar to Daniel‘s." Apparently, Billy was also "medically-neglected" by his parents. They sought "alternative" treatment. And now, as a grown adult, he‘s cured. (Imagine that! He too beat cancer without chemo!)
As a final note, in the same MSNBC article I read that Daniel‘s mom got a lot of information about treating lymphoma off the Internet. I have to admit, that worried me. What did she do, Google "curing lymphoma naturally"? Maybe the reporter glossed over the finer details. I‘d like to think she looked into it more than that. (Let‘s just chalk that one up to a biased reporter with an ax to grind.)
Daniel and his mom need to find a good naturopath to help with this fight, even if it‘s now in collaboration with their oncologist. That‘s what we mean when we talk about "complementary" medicine. It‘s supposed to complement or accompany traditional treatments.
The American College for the Advancement in Medicine is a great place to start when looking for an established naturopath or an MD who specializes in "complementary" medicine. Also, I recommend taking a look at my book Tomorrow‘s Cancer Cures TODAY. In it, you‘ll find 25 of the best and most cutting-edge cancer cures from around the world. Here‘s the link to learn more: https://www.web-purchases.com/640SHTOMC/E6NSK5XD/landing.html
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