Friday, May 15, 2009

What do you think?

I just finished reading this article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_he_me/us_med_forced_chemo about a boy with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He and his parents chose to stop chemo after one treatment in favor of his religion's natural remedies. A judge decided that his parents are medically neglecting him and that he has to seek treatment. With treatment there is a 95% chance that he'll live, without, only 5%. What do you think? Is the judge usurping the parent's or the child's rights to adhere to their beliefs? What trumps, saving the life of a child or the rights of parents to make choices that they feel are best for their children? I was wondering how I would deal with this case as a judge and I think it's a very hard call. I feel strongly about parental rights but by the time these parents realize that their beliefs are unfounded it will almost certainly be too late. What would you do as the judge?
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2 comments:

  1. The WriterMay 17, 2009 at 7:01 AM

    I would argue that a judge is allowed to rule to preserve the LIFE, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of a child when the parents try to deny him/her those rights. That's what the judge is there for.

    The real question, in my opinion, is where you draw the line. In this case, the judge is relying on a few doctors and the lack of any research on "natural remedies" to decide that the child's rights were being restricted. Maybe that's fair. What if there WAS a published scientific paper saying the natural remedy had a 30% chance of success. Can the judge still force them to choose the other treatment? What if the natural remedy had a 60% chance of success? 90%? 95%? How close to the "scientific" remedy does it have to be before a parent is allowed to choose?

    In short, a parent should not take away their children's rights, but a judge better be very sure they are before taking away "parental rights."

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  2. Anna MarieMay 17, 2009 at 6:18 PM

    Yeah, preserve LIFE, but what about preserve LIBERTY? It is a hard call. I don't know what I would do. In this case, the judge made a ruling, but was it based upon any law?

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