Court Overrules Parents in Religious Refusal of Chemotherapy for 13-Year-Old Boy

Minnesota Judge John Rodenberg has ruled in the case of Daniel Hauser, 13. We discussed this case earlier regarding the religious objections that the parents raised to chemotherapy for Daniel’s cancer –even though he has a 90 percent chance of survival with the treatment and little or no change of survival without it.

Daniel has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is now considered a highly treatable form of cancer. In his
58-page ruling, Rodenberg found that Daniel has been “medically neglected” and is in need of child protection services. He wrote ” “Brown County (Minnesota) Family services has demonstrated a compelling state interest in the life and welfare of Daniel Hauser sufficient to override the fundamental constitutional rights of both parents and Daniel to the free exercise of religion and the due process right of the parents to direct the religious and other upbringing of the child.”

Daniel opposed the treatment and his court-appointed criticized the ruling, saying
“It marginalizes the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children’s medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us.”

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