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4. I've not read anywhere that his parents believe he is a shaman and tribal elder. Perhaps you can provide a citation on that. What I have read is that his parents sought medical treatment when he became ill, and that the first round of chemo and radiation therapy was painful to the point he wanted to discontinue. His parents decided to try an alternative therapy. That therapy seems to have been detrimental to his condition, but the parents and the boy are reluctant to return to the chemo/radiation the doctors feel is his best choice.
His mother testified to that effect.
Judge rules family can't refuse chemo for boy (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/ap_on_he_me/us_med_forced_chemo - broken link)
Look on the positive side though...since his parents are going to let him die, he won't add anything defective to the gene pool.
[I don't impose my beliefs. I give my children alternatives and choices. I tell them, "Some people believe in heaven, some people do not. You ask all the questions you need to make up your own mind."
I give them power and choice to determine things within their understanding and ability.
[/quote]
Yes you are imposing your own beliefs on your child. When you "guide" your child, you are actually slanting him in the direction you want him to pursue.
The other thing is, there are axioms that you just have to accept to be true. 1 + 1 will always be 2. You can't tell your child he is free to answer 3 if he wants to (just because according to you, he has the inherent and inalienable right to voice his opinion). Jumping out of a plane from 30,000 feet without a parachute will almost always lead to certain death, and refusing chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease will almost always kill the patient.
The laws of nature are consistent that way. Mother nature is indifferent to your absolutist beliefs about individual rights.
Without getting into details, it was unexpected, it was a shock, and they feel the loss.
Unlike many households, we do not shy away from discussions about death.
Get off your parenting high horse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scarmig
They can't reach the pedals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndfmnlf
Can't reach the pedals? Why should you let a minor technical difficulty impede your 5 yr old child's ability to assert his right to drive a car? I'm sure a mechanical solution can be found.
Well, hell, yes. Blocks, for instance. I remember some dumb-bunny father of an 8 yr old, just a little older than your oldest, scarmig, who "taught" her how to fly a plane that way. When they went to fly it, she crashed it and killed them both. This was in Wyoming, I believe, a number of years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scarmig
Because seventeen years, three-hundred and sixty-four days, twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes into your life, you are utterly incapable of having any decision-making capability over your body. But one minute later, you are immediately and utterly competent to make any and all decisions without question?
Heck, no, they're not totally competent at 18 years of age. But more competent than a 13 yr old.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge
So, under eighteen, absolutely no say in the medical care you receive.
What if a sixteen-year-old girl had a genetic cervical anomaly, and she accidentally became pregnant? Her doctor is of the opinion that she cannot support a pregnancy, and that at some point in the third trimester, her cervix will hemorhage and she's at risk for dying. Her doctor wants to abort the child and also perform a hysterectomy. It's a life and death matter. She and her parents are opposed.
You've just stated unequivocally that the child has "no right to refuse" treatment intended to save her life and that right should not be shifted to the parent.
Do you still think so?
Actually, pregnant females are generally allowed to make decisions about the pregnancy even if they are underage. It's one of those "gray areas". So not so great of an example.
Here is another link on children and death, from another belief system:
"preschool children usually see death as reversible, temporary, and impersonal. Watching cartoon characters on television miraculously rise up whole again after having been crushed or blown apart tends to reinforce this notion."
2 - 6 Years Old: Family is centre of child's world – Confident family will care for her needs – Plays grown-ups, imitates adults. – Functions on a day-to-day basis. – No understanding of time or death – Cannot imagine life without mum or dad – Picks up on non-verbal communication. – Thinks dead people continue to do things (eat, drink, go to the bathroom), but only in the sky – Thinks if you walk on the grave the person feels it – Magical thinking: you wish it, it happens (bring the dead back or wishing someone was dead) – Death brings confusion, guilt [magically thought someone dead] – Tendency to connect things which are not related.
Of course not. You make sure the person understands what death is. You make sure the person understands that without the medicine they will probably die. You determine the intent of the person, whether they want to live or die. Then you explain what is necessary to achieve that intent, and at what cost, and make it happen.
That's the role of a guardian/parent/teacher in this whole debacle.
This 13 year old boy is mentally challenged. Do you think he understand he is about to die?
I don't think we have enough information to truly know what's going on in this case. But I think that all of these cases are more complex and less cut and dried than they appear at first reading.
This kids cancer is very survivable if he gets his treatment. If he does not get the treatment he has 5 % chance of survival. Thats a fact!
Well, parents should have the right to make decisions for their kids...unless society as a whole, or government, or some other entity that has no business inserting itself in the matter, says different.
If you had kids, would you want to let the government raise them? Let the government make all the decisions on how they are to be raised? Then why should the government get to tell anyone what to do with their kids?
I totally agree, I am a parent and I want what's best for my son. I choose what is good for him, yes I ask other good parents their opinions but the final say is mine. Only another parent would understand. I work with other non-parents and they are soooo judgemental on parenting a kid and how they look, act, ect. I keep reminding them thats what I thought until...I had a child.
Exactly...the sheriff doesn't want to arrest her, simply to get treatment for the boy. My best friend had Hodgkin's; she died before we turned 40, in spite of excellent and rapid treatment.
Abortion is VERY different from this.
A fetus in the first trimester will not survive outside the womb.
This little boy has GREAT prospects for survival if he receives chemo.
I too think the mother should rethink helping the child. But do you see what chemo does to people extremely weak, don't want to eat,lose tons of weight and some times chemo alone can kill you. you have to be strong to make it.
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I totally agree, I am a parent and I want what's best for my son. I choose what is good for him, yes I ask other good parents their opinions but the final say is mine. Only another parent would understand. I work with other non-parents and they are soooo judgemental on parenting a kid and how they look, act, ect. I keep reminding them thats what I thought until...I had a child.
