BREAKING NEWS: Daniel Hauser is back and his parents have agreed to chemotherapy

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Colleen Hauser, the Minnesota mother who wants her son to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy, has fled with him and is now "on the lam." Both the sheriff's office in Brown County, Minnesota, and the FBI are looking for them.

Son Daniel Hauser was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer considered treatable with chemotherapy and radiation. Minnesota family services went to court and obtained parental rights to force Daniel to have therapy. The boy had a first round of chemotherapy in February

I have not checked my own statistics, but news articles are reporting that "Hodgkins has a 90 per cent cure rate in children treated with chemotherapy and radiation, but the survival rate drops to 5 per cent for those who do not have treatment."

This is a heart-wrenching case, and involves fundamental questions about the rights of parents, state family service agencies, children, and more. While I doubt that I would eschew chemotherapy and radiation for my child, if in a similar situation, I don't know if I want courts ever to have the authority to force treatment. In terms of medical care and cancer treatment, this is one of the thorniest issues of our time.

Should the courts be involved in medical treatment?

Should family services intervene?

Would your opinion differ if chemotherapy were less debilitating?

Voice your opinion in the blog

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