Court forcing 16 yr old with cancer into chemo

[Alex]

It depends on what the alternative treatment they were considering was, I suppose, for me to decide how strongly I feel about it.

Courts have been forcing medical procedures on children despite the protestations of the parents for a long time. Christian Scientists and Jehovah's Witnesses are well aware of that.


As you might guess I'm doubtful of most "alternative" methods of treatment. Most are simply bunk, the rest have never been subjected to actual validation and many are actually harmful.

Personally, I am pro-suicide so everybody should be free to choose whatever treatment they want, no matter how stupid. But in our society we have already decided that there are certain decisions of risk that parents are not allowed to make for their children (not wearing seatbelts, for example; or driving cars on public roads; or, frequently, refusing surgery and blood transfusions for religious reasons). The only wrinkle in this one is that the boy is old enough to make a compelling case for himself but legally there is nothing different here than if it were a 10-year-old.

I do wonder, though, if this is the same Mexico clinic that killed Coretta Scott King.