Should The State Be Able To Order Chemo Treatment For A 13-Year-Old?

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Hauser and his mother, Colleen,  disappeared on purpose this week, looking to avoid forced chemo treatment   Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The two have not been seen since Monday, after a court-mandated X-ray revealed the teen’s tumor had grown. Daniel’s father was open to some sort of treatment — his mother was not.

“Once Daniel has been found and brought before the court, the court is either going to have them immediately determine an oncologist, or the court’s going to make that decision for them,” Brown County Attorney James Olson said.

After his diagnosis, Daniel received an initial round of chemotherapy to fight his Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Doctors say with chemo the teen has a 90 percent chance of beating the cancer. Without, less than 50.

Anthony Hauser says he last spoke to his wife Monday at 4PM when she told him they were leaving and said,  “That’s all you need to know.” Colleen is considered in contempt of court, and the court says when they are found Daniel will be put in a foster home.  Olson is considering asking the court to find the father in contempt as well, and possibly even jail him until the boy is found.  The Hausers are citing fear that the chemotherapy will do more harm than good, and also religious beliefs.

Those religious beliefs involve the Nemenha Band.

This Nemenhah Band is a group established in the 1990s by Philip Cloudpiler Landis. Landis founded the faith called the Nemenhah Band after he treated his own cancer with diet, sweat ledge therapy and other natural remedies.

Colleen Hauser said Daniel is an elder in Nemenhah Band and is a medicine man. Mrs Hauser meant Daniel understood what he was selecting over conventional cancer treatment. There is some dispute on how well Daniel knows what he is choosing as he has a learning disability and can’t read.

So, can the state force a family to give its child a certain kind of treatment? What happens when the parents disagree with each other?  And who gets to decide if something is a protected religious praaice?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.