Michigan Sues to Force Cancer Drugs on Kid

[miles]

What do you guys think about this? Is it child endangerment/abuse or should the parents be allowed to make decisions for their child based on him being healthy for several months?

Here's the synop:

9-year old kid "was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a dangerous bone cancer, and he had surgery to remove a tumor and then chemotherapy to follow up"...

“After all of these rounds of chemotherapy were completed, there was a PET scan done to check on the status of the cancer. There was no evidence of cancer detected in Jacob’s body. Jacob’s family and friends rejoiced in his healing – praising God for this wonderful outcome,” Farris said.

But he said the doctors demanded to continue chemotherapy and radiation, citing their “standard of care.”

Jacob’s parents “begged the doctors to make an individual diagnosis, rather than simply following unbending standards. But the doctors were steadfast. All children with this cancer needed multiple rounds of these drugs – regardless of PET scan results, the doctors contended,” HSLDA reported.

The parents refused, and the doctors contacted Child Protective Services to ask that the parents be charged.

When the local CPS agency and prosecuting attorney refused, the doctors called the state to pressure the agency to file charges.

That's when "the Michigan Department of Human Services" "filed suit to force the parents to administer the chemicals to their son even though he’s been clean of cancer on scans over the past year"...

..."lower courts twice have ruled against the demands of state agency officials."

One ruling of which was last December when the State of Michigan pursued a "medical neglect" case against the parents; now the government is fighting against “the ability of parents to make medical decisions contrary to the views of doctors.”

...the state agency has filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals demanding Jacob be given the chemicals, including ifosfamide, etoposide and doxorubicin, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that for ifosfamide and etoposide, the “safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.”

The warning for doxorubicin is stronger, stating, “Pediatric patients are at increased risk for developing delayed cardiotoxicity.”

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/state-demands-child-take-cancer-causing-drugs/

 

[Razgriz]

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What. The. Fuck?!

So.....They say a bunch of doctors have the right to completely bypass a parent's NATURAL intuition into the well-being of their child and give them these drugs that could bring their cancer back? Not to mention possibly fuck them up in so many other ways?

You know, books like "1984" and "Brave New World" suddenly aren't so much "What If....?" scenarios, but more "When will......?".

I'm sorry, but this is over the line. Now I may not be a parent, but I know for a damn fact the state is overstepping its boundaries here; if I were the parents, I'd countersue that stupid bitch and the state for malpractice. They have no right doing this to a kid, ANYONE's kid.

 

[Hahvoc The Decepticon]

I think what drives me nuts is that doctors have to ask CONSENT from the parents to administer drugs to their children. And yet they are now trying to completely bypass it simply because...they think they know better? Better than scans and results? It sounds to me that they want to force this issue just because they have a superiority complex. "Well we can't have someone saying no! That's just ridiculous!"

 

[Wingshadow]

First of all, I am not at all in support of ruling for the doctors in this case, nor of any other such clear over-stepping of authority (especially in the medical field).

Why is it, however, that I am not surprised at all? I've already heard of schools confiscating a child's home-made lunch since it was deemed "insufficient" (the meal itself was a turkey sandwich and fruit, but lacked milk and veggies) and provided chicken nuggets instead, with the parents charged for the cost of the nuggets. Children attending public schools have also been diagnosed with certain "ailments" (which I believe are simply behavioral patterns that are disruptive to schools and so are prescribed drugs in order to subdue them). When parents refuse the mind-influencing drugs prescribed for their children, they are promptly prosecuted. When do we say enough is enough already?

 

[Zhelbie]

Why wouldn't they demand subsequent rounds? The parents, I'm assuming, have decent insurance and, therefore, each drug that is pumped into that poor kid's body brings in the big bucks for the doctors and the hospital. It's sick, and those doctors need to have chemo drugs pumped into their bodies to see if they'd like to go a few rounds.

Those drugs are, literally, poison. And to pump them into a kid once has dangers above and beyond the cancer. To do it multiple times when the kid is, by all accounts, healthy? That's reckless endangerment.

 

[EnlightenedAneurysm]

If the parents genuinely believe it was God's work that took away the cancer then yes, their children should be taken away from them and they should be prohibited from having any further infants.

 

[Talin]

This is sickening... I am a parent. This is so stupid that THEY think they know better than ME. WOW what is this world coming to.

And Enlightened... it is their freedom and right to state that God or any other deity healed their child... for you to even say what you said is infuriating in and of itself. You are just as bad as the government saying things like that. *shakes head*

As long as their child is cared for and enjoying life, allow them to believe what they want DON'T drag their religious beliefs into it, that is NOT what this is about!

/soapbox rant

 

[CeronosLive]

I have to say, not the story I was expecting.


...But in my opinion (unless if in the cases of Cancer Patients that discontinued Chemotherapy in this situation that the likelihood that the cancer would come back was highly likely.) if they don't want to continue the Chemotherapy because it's pumping poison in the kid's system when the cancer is gone, then don't force it on them. I mean, the treatment is pretty rough. The only thing they should be forcing(if anything) is at least some check ups to see if the treatment continues to work as well as first thought.


....And as much as I'd like to comment on Enlightened's comment... I won't, since honestly I don't like dragging in religion into unrelated debates. Just feels like that person just completely missed the point when they do.

 

[Lyra]

This is sickening... I am a parent. This is so stupid that THEY think they know better than ME. WOW what is this world coming to.

And Enlightened... it is their freedom and right to state that God or any other deity healed their child... for you to even say what you said is infuriating in and of itself. You are just as bad as the government saying things like that. *shakes head*

As long as their child is cared for and enjoying life, allow them to believe what they want DON'T drag their religious beliefs into it, that is NOT what this is about!

/soapbox rant

I don't think he was being 100% serious.

 

[Ashes Rising]

Things like this make me afraid to be a parent. If I choose to raise my child a certain way and someone disagrees with my morals, they can simply complain about it and bring the government into it.