The Danny Hauser Case...

[The Postmaster General]

Not sure if this story is getting attention outside BFE, Minnesota - but this is the story of Danny Hauser, a 13 year old kid with a curable form of cancer. His parents, and Danny (apparently), do not want to submit to chemo, which has a high rate of curing the cancer. They were taken to court and eventually ordered that the boy must undergo the medical treatment. After the order, Danny and his mom disappeared, pressumed to be headed to Mexico for alternative treatments. Now, though, they are back and today went in for a consult on the treatments.

Just wondering if anyone here had heard of this, and what their thoughts were.

This is one account of the story - http://www.keyc.com/node/22113

Here is the website the Hauser's lawyer put up, asking for donations for medical care and legal fees.... http://www.dannyhauser.com/

This is the official Facebook site, that their lawyer (put up 5 days ago)...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mankato-MN/Calvin-P-Johnson-Law-Firm-LLC/105046460298

On the facebook page, I haven't tried to verify this but no one has corrected it, one of the people commented said that at 13, Danny can't read - not sure if that's true. The lawyer's website assures that Danny will be reading everyone's messages and suggestions on facebook.

[Homyrrh]

No word in the Garden or Empire States. I almost feel like I've heard a very similar tale a long way back, but I could be getting some deja vu...

[Badbird]

No word in the Garden or Empire States. I almost feel like I've heard a very similar tale a long way back, but I could be getting some deja vu...

Well, then Fox News must not be covering it. All the channels I watch have had plenty of coverage (MSNBC, CNN, Headline News).

I guess on one hand we just aren't surprised by these kind of showboating antics of parents/family who think they know more than doctors and scientists (EI, experts).

From what I gather they pretty much gave up and now are willing to give chemo a go, but I still hope the parents are investigated and charged with something.

[The Postmaster General]

I hear you Homyrrh - assuming you referencing Schiavo. This case gives me that same uneasy feeling.

Very trivial, but I was living in FLA for years prior to that^ case and heard about it daily. I move out of state and about a week later it gets national coverage and there it all is again. It's like I'm plagued (of course in the context here, I should say it could be much worse for me. :cool:)

Has anyone checked out the facebook site? I'm going to be honest, and hearing that the lawyer was the one who put up the site asking for donations THEN later learning that it's for medical AND LEGAL fees, it really irked me and makes me wonder if this family was taken advantage of by a sort-of ambulance chaser... Hm... Very harsh accusations, but this leaves a worse taste in my mouth than that time I got slipped rohypnol down in Key West.

[Homyrrh]

Well, then Fox News must not be covering it. All the channels I watch have had plenty of coverage (MSNBC, CNN, Headline News).
Boooooooo boooooooo....alright, alright. I don't have a TV right so that's not fair. In fact, no mention in the Daily Mainfesto, er, NY Times, or, to be fair, New Corp.'s Wall Street Journal.

[Homyrrh]

I hear you Homyrrh - assuming you referencing Schiavo. This case gives me that same uneasy feeling.

Very trivial, but I was living in FLA for years prior to that^ case and heard about it daily. I move out of state and about a week later it gets national coverage and there it all is again. It's like I'm plagued (of course in the context here, I should say it could be much worse for me. :cool:)

Has anyone checked out the facebook site? I'm going to be honest, and hearing that the lawyer was the one who put up the site asking for donations THEN later learning that it's for medical AND LEGAL fees, it really irked me and makes me wonder if this family was taken advantage of by a sort-of ambulance chaser... Hm... Very harsh accusations, but this leaves a worse taste in my mouth than that time I got slipped rohypnol down in Key West.
That Facebook site looks pretty hokey...

[The Postmaster General]

Yeah, and it's just tacky.

I meant to mention earlier on, I found it awesome that they took it to the internet like that, because it's obvious by some of the comments they are getting that they had no idea what would be in store for them.

I'm half-minded to go post a link to it up on YouTube and IMDb...

Am I taking sides? Maybe...

Like I said, there's two things I see going on - one being the kids story, and second being my concern over them being taken advantage of through legal advocacy. It's always hard to make claims like that, but again, there's a lot of things about the lawyer's involvement that bothers me. The family, when interviewed, doesn't... em... It's just too hard to say. Where's THC or someguy?

[Potter82]

I'm 100% on the court's side on this one.

As a child, he is legally incapable of making decisions about his own care and so it falls to his parents. However, since the parents failed to take adequate steps in caring for their son, it becomes the responsiblity of the state to provide for his best interests - just as it would in any other case of child endangerment and that is what this is; a case of child endangerment akin to deliberate neglect.

The fact is, the parent's beliefs and their adherence to them was endangering the child's life by preventing him from receiving life saving care - and in this case, it wasn't just a "what if" - his form of cancer has a 90% survival rate with chemo! You can't do much better than that.

If he had been an adult, then he had every right to essentially kill himself by acting on his ridiculous religious beliefs. But he's not and that makes all the difference....

I am COMPLETELY comfortable with setting a precendent which says; if parents have particular religious beliefs which are reasonably likely to result in harm being inflicted on their child, than the court and the state is fully within their rights to overrule the parents and take whatever reasonable steps necessary to protect the child.

The way I see it, these parents FAILED in the basic, fundamental duty of all parents - to protect their children by whatever means that they can. As parents, they are complete FAILURES.

Since the parents failed in this most basic of duties, either the child dies or someone/something else has to step up to the plate and I for one, do not think it logical or moral in any sense of the word to let a kid die of a very curable type of cancer just to satisfy some ridiculous primitive religious belief - the 1st amendment has limits (i.e. you can't sacrifice a virigin b/c your religion says so) and this is one of them.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

I am COMPLETELY comfortable with setting a precendent which says; if parents have particular religious beliefs which are reasonably likely to result in harm being inflicted on their child, than the court and the state is fully within their rights to overrule the parents and take whatever reasonable steps necessary to protect the child.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the parents in this particular case belonged to an extreme sect or anything like that. Not one that was as radical as, say, Jehovah's Witnesses. They sought alternative treatments for their child that wouldn't have been as effective, which isn't as irrational as praying the cancer away. Maybe I'm wrong, because my knowledge of this case is limited, but none of the coverage I've seen has even mentioned their religious views. Some people just distrust modern medicine.

[The Postmaster General]

I believe one of the issues was that they wanted natural cures (which have had success at a cheaper cost) but that they weren't really doing anything and it wasn't until the neglect charges started that they made their move. I'm not finding any sources for this though, and am not sure if it was just something that got passed along or was even misreported. It was my understanding though that he was getting worse before social services stepped in.

One thing that bothers me about the case is the claim that Danny is a "13-year old man" fully capable of making life decisions... I wonder if the people who are saying are the same people who marry off daughters at 13.

[Potter82]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the parents in this particular case belonged to an extreme sect or anything like that. Not one that was as radical as, say, Jehovah's Witnesses. They sought alternative treatments for their child that wouldn't have been as effective, which isn't as irrational as praying the cancer away. Maybe I'm wrong, because my knowledge of this case is limited, but none of the coverage I've seen has even mentioned their religious views. Some people just distrust modern medicine.

From what I recall, they weren't apart of an organized religious group like the Jehovah Witnesses but I do recall that they belonged to some sort of new age cult and this kid was actually considered to be a sort of religious figure to them :P In any event, I know there was some religious/spiritual element to it. As far as I'm concerned, the same thing applies to Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Scientists, etc.

I do know his cancer was progressing quickly though, I remember hearing something about his lymph nodes radically increasing in size, which was a very troubling sign.

I just don't understand how a parent can sit by and not undertake a treatment with a 90% success rate? I know that if that was my child I'd do everything within my ability to save them, no matter what it took.

[countchocula]

This is why God must be killed.

It's not just a local thing; I've seen it on the news. Mom's a fucking basketcase.