Mom flees with cancer stricken child over court order chemo over religious reasons

[Le Libérer]

SLEEPY EYE, Minn. (AP) - A courtroom clash between medicine and faith took a criminal turn, with police around the country on the lookout Wednesday for a Minnesota mother who fled with her cancer-stricken 13-year-old son rather than consent to chemotherapy.

A court-ordered X-ray on Monday showed a tumor growing in Daniel Hauser's chest. Doctors said it will probably kill him without conventional medical treatment.

Before she took off, Colleen Hauser told a judge that she wished to treat her son's cancer with natural healing methods advocated by an American Indian religious group known as the Nemenhah Band. But even that group's founder said Hauser made a mistake by running from the law.

Daniel has Hodgkins lymphoma, a highly curable form of cancer when treated with chemo and radiation. But the teen and his parents rejected chemo after a single treatment, with the boy's mother saying that putting toxic substances in the body violates the family's religious convictions.

Colleen Hauser said she had been treating the boy's cancer instead with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives - a regimen based mostly on information she found on the Internet.

More here. (http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1100&u_sid=10638453)

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Ugh. I have been following this story elsewhere (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/modern_day_isaacs.php) on the web, and people have expressed my feelings on the matter far more eloquently than I ever could.

Suffice to say that this sort of shit would happen far less often if we stopped giving religion as a whole the respect it simply does not deserve.

[Le Libérer]

Well i totally agree with you. And thanks for that link, it fills in alot of the background info on this woman.

I also agree with one of the commenters on your link who said:

"These people are so misled by fear tactic principles that they would stand aside and watch their children die. Its doesnt excuse them of their monstrousness - and make no mistake, if you can stand aside and watch your child die of a treatable disease then You. Are. A. Monster. I dont care if your parents raised you to be a monster, at some point you have to take responsibility for your actions. "

God told me to isnt an excuse to kill your own child. And I cant think of many Bible thumpers who would disagree with the same sentiment.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

I don't care if it's unethical. Science needs to study the possibility of curing religious belief more thoroughly. It's getting to the point where religious children who've been removed from communes won't receive treatment. They're horrible depressed because their religion makes them terrible people, and there is no consistent way to resolve that dispute, but people won't attack the religion.

Dr. Phil and Oprah are a decent reflection of modern idiocy. They've started having Mormons on their programs and legitimately respecting their viewpoints. We used to have at least "some" religions that were considered over the top and unacceptable.

Religious tolerance is going in the wrong direction. Maybe this will wake some people up. I mean look at the atheist bus campaign. Religious people are happy about having a debate because it legitimizes their opinion, as they see it. Atheists used to be demonized as terrible. Now we are respected as having a different opinion? I'd rather fight and get this whole nonsense over with as soon as possible. I'll debate 20 religious people to 1 for as long as it takes if they agree to sit in the room and not leave.

[Sasha]

ehmm, while i for the rest agree with you;



God told me to isnt an excuse to kill your own child. And I cant think of many Bible thumpers who would disagree with the same sentiment.

acording to the bible it is.

Gen 22:1-14 KJV And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. [v. 2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
the bible (and btw some ancient greek texts) is rather full of that shit.
and while people killing their children on direct orders of god is rare, killing them by refusing medical care on religious grounds, like this mom is, is all to common.
every year kids in the hardcore protestant vilages around here die from avoidable diseases becaase their parents refuse vacination or treatment.

[Le Libérer]

ehmm, while i for the rest agree with you;



acording to the bible it is.

the bible (and btw some ancient greek texts) is rather full of that shit.
and while people killing their children on direct orders of god is rare, killing them by refusing medical care on religious grounds, like this mom is, is all to common.
every year kids in the hardcore protestant vilages around here die from avoidable diseases becaase their parents refuse vacination or treatment.
Yeah but in the story of Abraham, even Gd stopped him right before it was too late.

Here earlier this year, there was a case where the mom allowed her daughter to die of diabetes for the same reasons. She was charged with second-degree reckless homicide in her daughter's death. I hope to Gd (pun ) this woman gets the same charges when her son dies from her neglect.

[MikeSC]

It must be awful to be that mother- she's getting pulled every which way. It's completely irresponsible for religions to spread this nonsense. And sure, she shouldn't be doing this- but from her point of view, she can choose between her son's life on Earth and her son's religious reward, it must be a terrible position to be in, I don't think we should sit here and judge her too harshly. The hacks that indoctrinate this kind of thing though- that's another story.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

I think we can judge her stupidity quite fine thank you very much.

[Jazzratt]

The only thing that puts her beyond our judgement is that she is beneath our contempt. I don't care how indocrinated you are, letting your kids die is barbarous.

[PCommie]

Chemotherapy is a capitalist lie. While I am opposed to religion, chemo is just a method of making money. If money were not involved, we'd have a better method by now. The cancer can kill you, but it's usually the treatments.

Laugh at this story like I give a damn, but in the Old Farmer's Almanac there was an ad for a book with a bunch of cancer cures. Anyway, the ad contained a story about a main who invented a cure that destroyed a tumor in 90 minutes. The AMA shut him down and banned from from the U.S.

So while I agree religion needs to be halted, I still think chemo and rado are BULLSHIT and do more harm than good. But if I had cancer? I'd leave it the fuck alone.

H&S forever,
-PC

[Jazzratt]

Chemotherapy is a capitalist lie.
No, no it isn't.


While I am opposed to religion, chemo is just a method of making money. If money were not involved, we'd have a better method by now.
Funny, I recieved my chemotherapy for free. But hey, since you're such a foreunner in the field of oncology and just know we'd have a better method for treating cancer I'll take your word for it.


The cancer can kill you, but it's usually the treatments.
No, this absolutely is not the case. Have you ever had direct expereince with cancer or people suffering cancer? Or do you just like shooting your ignorant mouth off?


Laugh at this story like I give a damn,
Actually your story makes me want to weep. It shows the evil cynicism of psuedoscientists everywhere - homeopaths, accupuncturists and other people who prey on the weak sucking up money in order to provide false hopes.


but in the Old Farmer's Almanac there was an ad for a book with a bunch of cancer cures.
This is exactly what I am talking about. The monstorous publishers and wirters of that book probably know that they're selling utter hokum and they probably know that there are hundreds of people too dim or too frightened to know or care that it's rubbish. Did any of them turn up here (http://www.quackwatch.com/).


Anyway, the ad contained a story about a main who invented a cure that destroyed a tumor in 90 minutes. The AMA shut him down and banned from from the U.S.
The AMA acted as any responsible medical body would. If this man's "miracle cures" have been subjected to any kind of scientific testing whatsoever I will boil and eat my own penis.


So while I agree religion needs to be halted, I still think chemo and rado are BULLSHIT and do more harm than good. But if I had cancer? I'd leave it the fuck alone.

No, please listen to me and sincerly reconsider your views. What is clearly "BULLSHIT" are the claims by the various quacks and psuedoscientists that they can cure cancer without recourse to surgery, chemo/rado therapy or drugs. The people who claim they can cure cancer in less time than it takes to watch the footie are a pack of frauds, frauds that trade off the credulity of the desperate. I hope you never suffer cancer and I hope that if you do you can be persuaded away from this madness.

[Glenn Beck]

Anyway, the ad contained a story about a main who invented a cure that destroyed a tumor in 90 minutes. The AMA shut him down and banned from from the U.S.


Probably because he was a fraud peddling fake cures for his own benefit. If this ever happened at all.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Quite ironic that the same people who will want a 14 yr old to keep her baby under any circumstances will condemn their children to death by not allowing them the treatment they need to survive.

[RedAnarchist]

Chemotherapy is a capitalist lie. While I am opposed to religion, chemo is just a method of making money. If money were not involved, we'd have a better method by now. The cancer can kill you, but it's usually the treatments.

Laugh at this story like I give a damn, but in the Old Farmer's Almanac there was an ad for a book with a bunch of cancer cures. Anyway, the ad contained a story about a main who invented a cure that destroyed a tumor in 90 minutes. The AMA shut him down and banned from from the U.S.

So while I agree religion needs to be halted, I still think chemo and rado are BULLSHIT and do more harm than good. But if I had cancer? I'd leave it the fuck alone.

H&S forever,
-PC

Does the tinfoil hat work or do you still get the black helicopters hovering above your house?:lol:

[RedAnarchist]

About the kid, I assume he's either been brainwashed into thinking that his mother is right, or he's being held against his will. I hope they find him soon and get him to an hospital quickly.

[PCommie]

Does the tinfoil hat work or do you still get the black helicopters hovering above your house?:lol:

The damn things are still there. I've been looking at a new kind of hat in a scientific journal. :D

I find it interesting that we blame everything on capitalism, yet trust these doctors and AMA who make money off this stuff. Where's some real research, research we can know wasn't done to make money, but to show facts? Jazzratt, just because you got it for free doesn't mean everyone does. Doc's don't care if it's from medical insurance or your pocket as long as they get it, I'm sorry you all think doctors are some kind of gods. But, show me the research that wasn't done for money's sake, proving that rado/chemo work, and I will believe you.

-PC

[Sasha]

the medical industry conspiracisy in no more real than the judeo-communist one...

[Robert]

I'm sorry you all think doctors are some kind of gods. But, show me the research that wasn't done for money's sake, proving that rado/chemo work, and I will believe you.Do you actually know any physicians or researchers? They are about as close to gods as you can get, and if you haven't seen regular proof of this then you are sleep walking. Here is one of the more prominent examples in the cancer arena that all of us are surely familiar with:



Lance Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971) is an American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) professional road racing cyclist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_bicycle_racing) who rides for the Kazakhstan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan)-based UCI ProTeam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_ProTeam) Team Astana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Astana). He won the Tour de France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France) a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Tour_de_France) to 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Tour_de_France).
He is the only individual to win seven times, having broken the previous record of five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Indurain) and Bernard Hinault (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Hinault), Eddy Merckx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx) and Jacques Anquetil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Anquetil). He has survived testicular cancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_cancer), a tumor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor) that metastasized (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis) to his brain and lungs, in 1996. His cancer treatments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer) included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemotherapy), and his prognosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prognosis) was originally poor.
Cancer researchers and surgeons are among the smartest people on Earth, up there with rocket scientists. They know more about science and the human body than anybody. They succesfully separate siamese twins in 20 hour operations. They repair cleft palates.

Do you have the faintest idea how sophisticated and complex those procedures are? Doctors restore sight to the elderly who are blinded by cataracts. Some go to remote villages and do it for free. Cranio-facial surgeons work for practically nothing, less than nothing when you consider their tuition, for about 15-20 years before they are turned loose with a scalpel.

Support them and their great, life saving work, and don't envy them their red Porsches which, if anybody deserves one, they do.

[Sam_b]

The problem is although we can go on and on about this woman wanting to kill her own child, she's been so indocrtinated by religion that she believes he will get better with the so-called 'treatment' she advocates.

[Jazzratt]

The damn things are still there. I've been looking at a new kind of hat in a scientific journal. :D

You've never been within ten feet of a scientific journal.


I find it interesting that we blame everything on capitalism, yet trust these doctors and AMA who make money off this stuff.
That's because the science is readily available to anyone who cares to look. Certainly you may need a background in certain subjects to make sense of some of it, but they aren't hiding anything. Which is more than be said for the various frauds and liars out for your cash.


Where's some real research, research we can know wasn't done to make money, but to show facts?
Why not start here (http://www.bmj.com/)? But really, just about any peer-reviewd reputable publication (Nature, for example) is a good place to start. It's the quacks that you are defending who never produce any proper science. They play on emotion and gullibility, not repeatable published tests or empirical evidence. They have replaced science with marketing.


Jazzratt, just because you got it for free doesn't mean everyone does.
Yes, some uncivilised countries still expect you to pay for medicine, but I'd rather pay for a treatment that keeps me alive than for the sugar pills that these vultures hawk.


Doc's don't care if it's from medical insurance or your pocket as long as they get it, I'm sorry you all think doctors are some kind of gods.
It's not that they're gods, you dumbshit, it's that they know more about the subject and aren't actively evil like the fuckers who sell "90 minute miracle cures".


But, show me the research that wasn't done for money's sake, proving that rado/chemo work, and I will believe you.
You want me to trawl through the internet to find you research on a course of treatment that saves thousands of lives because you can't be arsed to look for yourself? Not only that but you're asking for proof of something pretty fucking evident to anyone who has ever had dealings with cancer patients, ever. At the same time you have presented no alternatives that have ever published in any journals that take the scientific method seriosuly.

You fucking sicken me.

[Lynx]

Medical science has its limitations. For every survival story there are many more stories of people who don't survive. No treatment, no cure is the reality for too many patients. I think there is a disconnect between the public's perception of what medicine can do and the reality of what it can deliver.

[Le Libérer]

Medical science has its limitations. For every survival story there are many more stories of people who don't survive. No treatment, no cure is the reality for too many patients. I think there is a disconnect between the public's perception of what medicine can do and the reality of what it can deliver.
And that disconnect alot of times has to do with religious indoctrination. I once read a post by Jazzratt or maybe NoXion, where there were statistics that showed those patients who were prayed over along with medical science vs those who only used medical science. The ones that were prayed over had less of a success rate. The arguement was the stress from living up to the expectations of prayer made them worse.

I'll have to dig that one up and link it.

[Lynx]

I read about a study concerning the healing claims of prayer. It wouldn't make sense for the patient to be aware they were being prayed for! Researchers should do a proper double-blind study in order to avoid the placebo or negative placebo effect, as well as other unintended effects.

[Le Libérer]

I read about a study concerning the healing claims of prayer. It wouldn't make sense for the patient to be aware they were being prayed for! Researchers should do a proper double-blind study in order to avoid the placebo or negative placebo effect, as well as other unintended effects.You would think, right? But even researchers are usually influenced by their own patriarchy influences.

[Lynx]

On 2nd thought, maybe these stats represent the behavior of religious families. The family prays for their loved one to recover and the loved one is all too aware that they are being prayed for.

[PCommie]

There's an article at "heall.com" or something, in the "medical freedom" section about an oppressed form of treatment called Hydrozine Sulfate or something. The American Cancer Society oppresses it because it's cheap and effective.

Honestly, I don't see how COMMUNISTS have so much faith in the capitalist system and capitalist research.

-PC

[PCommie]

At the same time you have presented no alternatives that have ever published in any journals that take the scientific method seriosuly.

See my latest, motherfucker.

[Jazzratt]

There's an article at "heall.com" or something,

I'm immediatly suspicious of any website that is selling crap on its front page. Seriously "youth pills"? Or my personal favorite: "Lions Mane Complex(Mushroom) to stimulate the growth of new nerve and brain cells. Made with organic mushrooms." As far as I can see this website is one big marketing vehicle for this kind of crap.


in the "medical freedom" sectionThis is the dirtiest trick in these hyenas' arsenal. They couch their ideas not in terms of science but of politics. The freedom to sell placebos or worse. The freedoms to claim that their foo-foo mushroom mix will "stimulate the growth of new nerve and brain cells". The freedom to call something a "cure" without first going through rigorous testing or publishing their results in peer-reviewed journals.


about an oppressed form of treatment called Hydrozine Sulfate or something. The American Cancer Society oppresses it because it's cheap and effective.It's "oppressed" worldwide because their is little proof that it works. From what I understand it is an inhibitor of glucogenisis (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/glucogenesis) which possibly makes it useful in lessening the effects of cachexia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachexia), although even this is debatable. As for it's anti-tumour propities that's very much up in the air - not really my definition of unquestionably "effective". You could really have found most of this out through a simple search online for the treatment, it only took me about five minutes. The most accessible report on it, by the way, is here (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1229327&blobtype=pdf).

You may be interested in part of the conclusion from the document I linked to above:

In addition, further animal and clinical studies to assess the antitumour effects of hydrazine sulfate, either alone or in combination with conventional chemotherapeutic agents, should be considered. The design of these studies is challenging, and in order to ensure that their results are of the greatest possible value in confirming or refuting claims of hydrazine sulfate’s effectiveness, the studies should ideally be done in collaboration with Gold, the main proponent of hydrazine sulfate in Canada and the US.Not what I would recommend if I was ruthlessly oppressing all research.


Honestly, I don't see how COMMUNISTS have so much faith in the capitalist system and capitalist research. Being opposed to an exploitative mode of production and believing whatever wild-eyed conspiracy theories a bunch of snake-oil hawking hacks are not the same thing. Simply because these people exist outside of government sanctioning doesn't make them any less capitalist or any better.

[Le Libérer]

There's an article at "heall.com" or something, in the "medical freedom" section about an oppressed form of treatment called Hydrozine Sulfate or something. The American Cancer Society oppresses it because it's cheap and effective.

Honestly, I don't see how COMMUNISTS have so much faith in the capitalist system and capitalist research.

-PC
PC Commie, You are trying to convince 2 leftists (Jazzratt and myself) that the very thing that has saved our lives arent to be trusted.
Its easy to scream " Bad Capitalism"! But our cancer treatments worked and when it saves lives, it doesnt matter where it came from, as long as it is accessable to everyone. I couldnt afford my treament, so the state paid for it. I'm pretty fucking grateful it was there.

[PCommie]

Oh well, maybe it works in some cases. I wouldn't touch it. The "grows new brain cell" crap is bull of course because brain cells can't divide.

-PC

[Robert]

Some cases? This report puts the cure rate at 90%:

Hodgkin's lymphoma has a 90 percent cure rate in children if treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors said Daniel was likely to die without those treatments.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521889,00.html

Don't like Faux News? Try the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page.adp?item_id=8312

The five-year relative survival rate for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma has increased dramatically from 40 percent in whites from 1960-1963 to more than 86 percent for all races in 1996-2004.* Five-year relative survival rates are 91.6 percent for all patients who were less than 45 years old at diagnosis.

On edit: the child is back home and the parents have supposedly consented to treatment.