Religion vs Medicine

A mother testified that religious beliefs prevent her son from taking chemo. Doctors said he will likely die without it.

By MAURA LERNER, Star Tribune
Last update: May 8, 2009 - 11:03 PM

The mother of 13-year-old Daniel Hauser testified Friday that she and her son would refuse to comply with any court order requiring the boy to resume chemotherapy for his cancer.

"Danny clearly made up his mind. He's not doing it,'' Colleen Hauser, of Sleepy Eye, Minn., testified on the opening day of a trial over whether a court should order the boy into medical treatment against the family's wishes.

Hauser, whose son was diagnosed in January with Hodgkin's lymphoma, said conventional treatments such as chemotherapy conflict with the family's religious beliefs. She said they prefer natural remedies such as herbs and vitamins.

Asked where she learned about the alternative healing techniques, Hauser said, "on the Internet.''

Daniel sat stoically through the opening part of the trial as his first oncologist, Dr. Bruce Bostrom of Children's Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis, testified that his chances of survival would drop to 5 percent without treatment.

The boy left shortly afterward and never returned to the courtroom. He is scheduled to testify this morning in a closed session before the judge, after his lawyer said he was uncomfortable talking in open court. The case is expected to be finished today, and the judge said he didn't expect to issue a ruling this weekend.

As a day of tense testimony began, dozens of family friends and supporters lined the courtroom, but the mood was subdued. At one point, a handful of natural-health advocates arrived with signs to show their support for the Hausers. But they were ordered to leave their placards outside the courthouse.

The Hausers declined to speak to reporters after Friday's court session. But Dan Zwakman, a member of the Nemenhah religious group to which they belong, acted as the family spokesman. He argued that this is a case about religious freedom, noting that the group's motto is "our religion is our medicine."

Link to original article: HERE

I'm trying to figure out where I would stand on something like this. Obviously the parents are clinically insane for believing prayer or their religion (or some "natural" remedies) will cure their child of cancer. Dangerously insane since their child will likely die without chemotherapy.

I suppose the horrible question is... do I care?

Of course I would feel bad for the kid. He's been raised to trust his parents and he believes what they are telling him. That's not his fault, he's just a kid and kids (as I well know. I AM the one who almost jumped from a 19th story balcony when I was 8 because I was thinking if I believed it enough, I would fly. I guess you would call that, "throwing myself at the ground and missing" :P) have great imaginations and a huge capacity for belief.
I do believe in the freedom to do what you think is right for yourself as long as it doesn't harm others. In this case, the parents would be harming a young child but he is THEIR young child. If he passes away that is really just natural selection at work, is it not? Their genes will not live on because they were maladaptive. Bad for the kid, better for humanity.
Yet if they were physically abusing him through beatings and neglect I WOULD advocate removing him from their home, so how is this any different? I suppose that is the fine line here.

My other thought was, "What if they are doing this to force the issue so they won't have to pay for treatment?" That really would be some evil genius right there. Imagine: Parents take the kid for chemo once (the article clearly states he won't "resume chemotherapy"), spend their savings, the kid's college fund, their 401K - then decide they just can't afford any more. What to do? Refuse treatment so the courts force the issue and make the kid get chemo! Then the parents can argue, "We never wanted chemo, you don't know if he would have gotten better with our INTERNET remedies - WE AIN'T PAYING!" and then the payment can be forced onto the taxpayers. Brilliant.

So I suppose at the end, I hope they take that kid away from the parents all together - not that they will. They are allowed to be as religiously kooky as they like and everyone else will continue to pay the price, including their children.

Shirt.Woot is Awesome.

Shirt.Woot sells wonderful, clever t-shirts for just $10. Different shirt every day - but you can ofetn go back and order older ones for $15.
I finally bought something from them (http://shirt.woot.com/) after lurking around a while. It was this:




I love that colour!

Anyway, my shirt arrived and it was the wrong size. I looked back at what my receipt said and either I put in the wrong size to begin with or some snafu happened when I clicked "order" because the size was incorrect.
I emailed Woot to ask if there was anything that could be done. I sent the email Friday afternoon and it got answered Monday. (they don't work on the weekends which was perfectly fine with me. It's a t-shirt, not insulin)
They asked what size I wanted and promptly sent me a new shirt in the correct size.
I asked how they wanted the original shirt returned and they said to keep it! Normally (even if it costs them money to restock or something) companies won't do that kind of thing just on principle.
Their customer service was wonderful and they were extremely friendly and personable in their emails to me.

How can you beat a beautiful $10 t-shirt (no shipping, no tax) and great customer service? They rule!

My 10 Seconds.

Steve Agee promised to read the names of all of his Twitter followers if he hit the 5k mark before a certain date. He did. He read about 7,800 names total over 6 hours. This is my 10 seconds of fame!

So beautiful.

Super slo-mo with a gorgeous camera.


I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

Puppy Hat Series # 1-3

What would Jesus not do?

This is almost TOO good, awesome. :D
Until it's all put together like this you don't realize just HOW FUCKING SILLY it all is, even if you think it's silly in the first place.

My Letter to Fox.

(EDIT: It MAY not be being cancelled after all! YAY!)

There is a petition to save Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.


Some choice quotes and VERY good points:

"This is one of the best sci-fi shows on TV. Now that Battlestar Galactica is done, it will attract new viewers."

"Please renew Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles.

It is a great science fiction show, of which there are far too little of on television right now.

Take advantage of keeping the 'smart crowd' (IE: the science fiction watchers) pleased, they are the ones with the money to spend on products advertised by your sponsors. Intelligent Sci-Fi is efficient business. Just because American idol had 5 times the people watching does not mean 5 times the spenders.

Stop canceling the good sci-fi!"

"This show has higher ratings than most of your FX programs. Don't let the Terminator fans down when you're so close to potentially expanding the fanbase with the upcoming movie."

"Fox cannot live on "The Simpsons" alone.... TSCC is a great show and can only continue to grow in popularity once the new Terminator movie comes out. Please reconsider! Thank you!"

"It is an intelligent show with a lot of potential if marketed correctly. The BSG viewers (and there are MANY) are looking for a new show. Many are unaware of T:SCC. Find a way to market to them and you have a hot commodity."

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/the-sarah-connor-chronicles/signatures.html


Moving the show to another night when TEENAGERS are home (you are really missing out, having this show on Friday nights. You don't need the few sci-fi geeks that are geeky enough to be home on a Friday night - me, for example :P - you need the hordes of kids that grew up with computers, the ones that GET this stuff like it's second nature to them. Sci-fi is fast becoming a mainstream genre. It is no longer "dorky" to love it.) will guarantee you more viewers and with the movie coming out it's a slam dunk!

Please don't cancel T:TSSC. Not only for the sake of your wallets but for the sake of good television. Think of the human race! There need to be more shows that deal with deep issues of love, redemption, terror, fear of the "other", loyalty, heroism, war and family bonds. This show has moved me with it's ability to see to the heart of humanity.
What kind of society would we be if we always appealed to the lowest common denominator?

Thank you for your consideration, Fox.

Nikki Smith