Parents' Rights on Children's Medical Treatment in Hot Debate in U.S.

by George Bao
A federal warrant to arrest an American mother who ran away with her son to flee medical treatment has raised questions in the United States whether parents have the right on their children's medical treatment and to what degree the government can intervene in this aspect. Daniel Hauser, a 13-year-old boy in Minnesota , was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a kind of cancer doctors say is highly curable unless it is too late for the chemotherapy to work. But after only one treatment, his parents decided to stop chemotherapy. Then the government intervened. A judge ruled that Hauser's parents were neglecting for stopping their son's chemotherapy and ordered them to appear in court on Tuesday. However, on Tuesday, only Hauser's father Anthony showed up in court, while the boy's mother Colleen Hauser failed to report to the judge. Anthony Hauser told the judge that his wife and son disappeared, but he did not know where they were, nor did they tell him where they would go. The judge ruled that it was in the boy's best interests to resume medical treatment for fear that the boy would die without proper treatment. The judge also issued a warrant to arrest Colleen Hauser and ordered that the boy be placed in a foster home, which means the boy's parents would have no right to take care of their son.
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/05/24/1781s487276.htm