Many followed the case (here) of Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota when his fundamentalist Mom fled with him to avoid chemotherapy for his cancer on religious grounds. Few may be aware of the end of the story. He has completed his last chemotherapy sessions and is now cancer-free — thanks to the judge who overrode his mother’s objections.
At 13-years-old, Daniel now has the potential of a full life ahead of him. I have previously written about the need for courts to reject such “good-faith defenses” to the denial of life-sustaining medical care for minors, here.
In February, the family fled with Daniel as a Hodgkins lymphoma tumor grew within his chest.
His mother said “It’s really nice that he’s done. We’re happy, that’s for sure.”
Mike,
As much as I like science, scientists and doctors are human and as I’m fond of saying: people are people.
That said, science more recognizes the power of positive thinking (even if it doesn’t claim to have an explanation for all the mechanized involved), thus the first “blind” of double blind tests, (the use of placebos).
Most scientists I’ve known are far more open minded about their world view than the practitioners of alternative medicine I’ve met. The two things inherent in scientific research are honesty and an desire to find the truth, even if the truth is that the researcher was wrong about their assumptions.