From WCCO: 13-year-old Minnesota boy resisting chemotherapy for cancer has missed a court hearing on his welfare, and his father says the whereabouts of the boy and his mother are unknown.
MPR points out the similarities with the case of Chad Green, whose parents likewise refused chemo and fled to Tijuana, where the boy died at age 3.
7 Reader Comments
2:39 pm
I’m kind of surprised that he wasn’t placed in a foster home or other state care given his and his mother’s statements in court that they would refuse to comply with court ordered chemo.
I do hope that if he dies as a result of this, that the parents face manslaughter or other appropriate criminal charges.
3:26 pm
Since they missed the hearing, he will be placed in “protective custody” if/when he is found. According to the strib.
3:50 pm
Breaking: The two were just seen near the Mexican border with former Twin Cities anchor Rick Kupchella, who is filming a independent documentary on their flight.
4:14 pm
With subcomandante Marcos?
8:05 pm
Benjamin Rush, MD, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and personal physician to George Washington said: “Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom.” And remember that George Washington was killed by the then current medical practice of blood letting. Asserting that the medical profession is all-wise may be equivalent to consenting to modern versions of blood letting.
8:33 pm
But, what’s the point of medical school, internships, and residency then if we grant equal healing powers to all? There’s a reason why blood-letting is no longer acceptable medical practice, that snake-oil salesmen no longer exist, and why physicians carry malpractice insurance. Frankly, if I have cancer, or heart disease, or a broken foot, I’m going to go to a doctor, not the bait guy selling 50 leeches for $1. Lets not forget that during Washington’s time, they did not yet know that hand washing prevented the spread of bacteria, that in some towns, the barber was acting physician, that many women died simply from giving birth.
8:37 pm
Also, modern medicine is far from a dictatorship. Adults can refuse treatment and there are a myriad of laws protecting a person’s right to refuse treatment (much to the consternation of mental health providers). The issue in this case is not the medical community, but the age of legal consent for medical treatment.