Colleen Hauser #fundie

Colleen Hauser #fundie msnbc.msn.com

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January. It was recommended that he have six rounds of chemotherapy but he stopped after one round in February.

Doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 percent. Child protection workers accused Daniel’s parents of medical neglect, and went to court seeking custody.

Court testimony indicated Daniel’s tumor shrank after the first round of chemo, but has since grown. His mother, Colleen Hauser, testified last week: “My son is not in any medical danger at this point.”

She has been treating his cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water, and other natural alternatives she learned about on the Internet — despite testimony from five doctors who agreed Daniel needed chemotherapy.

....

The Hausers, who have eight children, are Roman Catholic and also believe in the “do no harm” philosophy of the Nemenhah Band. The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods practiced by some American Indians.

63 comments

old comment by EvoPagan

The boy needs to be removed from his mother's custody and placed into counseling. Perhaps then he would be able to understand that his mother's mindset is warped. While I believe that the mother is abusing her son by keeping him from being treated for his cancer, I also don't believe in violently forcing medical care on anyone. And what I heard on CNN was "he should be strapped down and forcibly treated". That's wrong. Doctors should never have that power over anyone. This child needs to be treated with kid gloves so that his fragile psyche isn't damaged further. Everyone in this situation, included the judge, has behaved like idiotic stampeding cattle.

old comment by Lucilius

@EvoPagan: There is more to the story. The judge acknowledged in his decision that parental rights must be considered, as well as the child's wishes, but that Daniel Hauser was clearly not competent to make a decision on his own. Specifically, he's been so "thoroughly" hOmsKeulEd that, at age 13, he's illiterate. And parental rights don't extend to killing your kid; if Daniel wants to refuse medical treatment after age 18, that's his right but the community has a responsibility to keep him alive long enough to make that decision.

As for strapping him down, Daniel told people that he planned to hit, kick and bite anyone who tried to treat him, so restraint would be for the safety of the health care workers.

old comment by Horsefeathers

"His mother, Colleen Hauser, testified last week: “My son is not in any medical danger at this point.”"

I see. And you got your medical degree where?

"She has been treating his cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water, and other natural alternatives she learned about on the Internet"

The internet is an excellent source for medical advice. Who needs them edumacated doctor types and all their fancy tests and treatments, right?

"The Hausers, who have eight children, are Roman Catholic and also believe in the “do no harm” philosophy of the Nemenhah Band. The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods practiced by some American Indians."

Just do what the doctor tells you. Why the hell is that so hard for some people?

old comment by Dr. Novakaine

I was originally fine with taking the boy out of the parents' custody and placing him in treatment. When the mother took the boy and ran, my position changed. She should be charged with attempted murder, negligence, and child abuse. Now, I'm not against religious freedom in the broad sense. But there are several factors that drive my position here:

1) The person making the decision is not the one suffering from the disease. If it was the mother, I'd say go ahead and remove yourself from the gene pool (though of course I'd feel sorry for the kids - heck, I feel sorry for them now, with the kind of parents they have). The person suffering from the disease is a minor that does not understand his condition, has at least mild learning disabilities and is mostly if not completely illiterate, and has been exposed to rhetoric that impairs his ability to understand his problems.

2) The disease is not a simple cold or other minor ailment, nor is it a necessarily terminal condition. In either case, I would relinquish the choice of treatment to the family - even if it's not sound, it's not likely to change the outcome. In this case, however, it is a disease that has a very high survival rate if treated properly, and a very high death rate if not.

3) There is an easily accessible and highly effective treatment available. If this were a one in ten chance, or even a 50% chance, I would be willing to accept that someone might not want the treatment. Or if it was available at one hospital two thousand miles away and cost $150,000, that's not accessible and most treatments like that aren't reliable. None of those apply in this case - it's a widely available treatment with a high success rate.

The mother has been told repeatedly the risks, she knows what will happen if Daniel doesn't get the treatment. Her choice to take him and deprive him of a working treatment I believe constitutes attempted murder. Religion is not an excuse. I don't buy "God told me to kill him" and I don't buy this.

old comment by Painful

@ solomongrundy - Gee, thanks, my minor is in Alternative Medicine and Complimentary therapies. Maybe you should read up a bit more on how successful and PROVEN they can be in double blind tests. Yes, even stuff you may not believe in personally, like prayer, has benefit.

I've heard quite a bit on this story as they are from MN, my home state. The kid refused treatment, and even if you may think his is brainwashed, this is a VERY slippery slope. I don't think we should force treatment on anyone and once you do it to one person via the courts, everyone will try to have a say in YOUR health.

On a related note, my family refused to treat my 13 year old brother's leukemia and he died. Will you judge us?
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By the time he was diagnosed he was declared brain dead from a time in the ER waiting on a regular blood transfusion and he stopped breathing very briefly. With treatment for the cancer he had a less than 10% survival rate. We found out the statistics about his survival rate the day before we found out the extent of his brain damage. I know my parents made the right choice, but see how legislating this matter could seriously fuck some people's lives up?!?!?!

old comment by solomongrundy

@Painful

Gee, thanks, my minor is in Alternative Medicine and Complimentary therapies. Maybe you should read up a bit more on how successful and PROVEN they can be in double blind tests. Yes, even stuff you may not believe in personally, like prayer, has benefit.

The realm of 'alternative medicine' is home to countless frauds and conmen, If any of it actually worked it'd be mainstream medicine. There are no successful double blind tests of homeopathy, biorhythms, chiropractic, crystal healing, magnetic therapy, acupuncture or any similar tosh. All pseudo-scientific rubbish designed by cynics to part the gullible sick from their money. Repeated studies show that prayer is equally worthless, for that matter. The only effect prayer has been shown to have is to make the prayed for think they're more ill than they actually are. I hope the college you're studying in is a unaccredited one as any serious college that promotes that sort of BS deserves to have its status looked at very closely.

'The kid refused treatment'.
You hit it on the head. He's a kid, and a ill-educated and yes, brainwashed one at that. You'll call me leftist, I'm sure, but I believe the state has the duty to defend the weakest in society against those who would harm them. If that means taking a sick kid from abusive parents, so be it.

On a related note, my family refused to treat my 13 year old brother's leukemia and he died. Will you judge us?
By the time he was diagnosed he was declared brain dead from a time in the ER waiting on a regular blood transfusion and he stopped breathing very briefly. With treatment for the cancer he had a less than 10% survival rate. We found out the statistics about his survival rate the day before we found out the extent of his brain damage. I know my parents made the right choice, but see how legislating this matter could seriously fuck some people's lives up?!?!?!

I won't judge you, my own mother is terminally ill with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer. Surgery (Whipple's operation) hasn't worked, chemotherapy grows progressively nastier. At some point she'll decide the treatment isn't worth the benefit. Just as you did. You're right, that decision is no business of the state's. But we're all grown adults. There's the difference.

But if any snake-oil salesman tried to sell her a endlessly diluted solution of duck liver as a cure (aka homeopathy) I'd tear him a new one. I do wonder why pharmacies are allowed to sell that sort of crap, Bach's flower remedies etc. My brother is a qualified pharmacist (he works for the NHS} and he knows it's all BS. I guess the pharmacists who sell this worthless rubbish in commercial outfits must have a very selective conscience.

old comment by

I do wonder why pharmacies are allowed to sell that sort of crap, Bach's flower remedies etc. My brother is a qualified pharmacist (he works for the NHS} and he knows it's all BS. I guess the pharmacists who sell this worthless rubbish in commercial outfits must have a very selective conscience.

Pretty much - I once encountered one selling some kind of alleged health bracelets made of copper (the packaging stated that copper was a "trace element", a nice medical-sounding phrase the public can be expected to vaguely associate with vitamins and the like - well, sure it's a trace element, when it's in food! Not only does a solid mass of nonferrous metal emphatically not qualify as a "trace"; unless you're going to take a big goddamn bite out of the thing, that doesn't mean shit anyway. You might as well wear a necklace of aspirin tablets!)

I called the pharmacist out on this, and his fucking weak response was basically that if the ignorant public believe that kind of trash works and want to buy it, why shouldn't he sell it to them? I was tempted to go on a big rant about such topics as trust of authority, implicit endorsement, intellectual honesty, social responsibility and whatnot, but somehow I doubt he would have listened - the kind of person that gives a shit about that stuff probably wouldn't need telling.

Colleen Hauser #fundie msnbc.msn.com

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