Boy’s Family Refuses Chemo

After a judge ruled that a Minnesota teenager could not treat his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma solely with vitamins, his mother has absconded with the boy to an unknown location. A judge issued a warrant for the mother’s arrest, and wants 13-year-old Daniel Hauser, who vowed he would fight Western treatment, to be placed in a foster home and immediately treated for the curable disease. The debate over whether parents should have complete control over their children’s medical care is an ethical and religious minefield. The question of what’s in a child’s “best interest” is complicated: someone who believes Western medical practices will send their child to hell is likely to think treatment is more harmful than letting their child die of a curable disease. The Hausers follow “do no harm” Native American healing practices called Nemenhah.