For the past several days, 13 year old Daniel Hauser and his mother have been on the run from the law (and believed to be headed for Mexico). Hauser’s mother is refusing to allow doctors to treat him with chemotherapy for cancer (hotchkins lymphoma) that will kill him if he does not get help soon.

In the clip below, Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) talks with Jeffrey Toobin (Sr. Legal Analyst) and Art Kaplan (Medical Ethicist).

The question: When is a state obligated to step in and protect a child from parents whose religious beliefs prevents that child from receiving life-saving medical treatment?

Toobin sheds like on the legal debate by stating the following facts:

• Daniel Hauser has a 90% chance of survival with chemotherapy treatment for his cancer and only 5% without
• There are many legal precedents on this issue mainly involving Christian Scientists and Jehovah Witnesses and in almost every case the Courts rule that (although they sympathize with the position of parents who wish to exercise their religious belief in the hopes of saving their children) it is, in actuality considered child abuse.

• Legally, as an adult, she could deny treatment for herself but she cannot do the same for a minor even if that minor is her child.
• The mother would be charged with child neglect and child abuse. It would be an open-shut case.

Dr. Kaplan, of course, agrees with Toobin and adds to the point:

• A proven method of recovery (like chemotherapy which, based on Daniel’s type of cancer, has a 95% success rate) versus the method of recovery that the parents want to implement instead of chemotherapy has a known success rate of 0% is the key point that makes this open-shut;
• Parental rights are strong and protected but they do have a limit when you sacrifice a child for a religious belief you cannot articulate or prove

Anderson Cooper raises the point that 13-year-old Daniel said he will kick and scream and physically refuse treatment. But Dr. Kaplan (who has seen many of these cases) says that the father (who has changed his position and now wants his son to receive treatment) will be key in working (with pshycologists) to help Daniel understand that he needs this but, in the end, they will strap him down and give him the treatment none-the-less because he is too young to make that decision himself.

After the Anderson Cooper video below is a random video we pulled from YouTube of a young man named ShwaNerd who felt compelled to talk about this heated issue and responds to the Anderson Cooper vidoe.

Should Daniel be forced to receive treatments? Should his mother be arrested?

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• When Parents Call God Instead of the Doctor (time.com)
• Leave ‘em alone (keepbreathing.wordpress.com)

Twitter tag: Daniel Hauser