Judge Orders Boy to Have Chemotherapy Over His Religious Objection

Somebody emailed me this story last week before the judge had ruled, but I wanted to see how it turned out. The short background is that a thirteen year-old Minnesota boy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, one of the most curable forms of cancer, decided to refuse chemo after his first treatment sucked so much. His parents supported his decision even though it gives him only a five percent chance of survival.

Of course, child protective services caught wind of that (maybe the doctors called them), and sued to force the boy to continue treatment with chemo and radiation. As if this wasn't enough of a mess, the boy and his parents defended their decision not to continue treatment on religious grounds.

The boy claims that he is a medicine man and church elder in an American Indian religious organization called Nemenhah. His parents joined the movement, although they don’t claim to be Indians. They're also Catholic.

So there are lots of juicy issues here including parental rights, religious rights, medical control, and alternative medicine. The Minnesota judge ruled yesterday that the state's interest in protecting the child overrides the constitutional right to freedom of religious expression and a parent's right to direct a child's upbringing. The judge also ruled that state laws which require that parents give their children "necessary medical care" are not met by alternative medicine.

The judge also discovered that the boy at 13 cannot read or write. The final order allows the boy to stay with his parents, provided they complete the medical procedures recommended by the boy's doctors.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 06:29 PM

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