[lit-ideas] Re: I'm going to try this one more time
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:05:06 +0900
Julie,
For what it's worth, this strikes me as a case of probably
well-intended but badly written law zealously applied. Not having read
the law and simply speculating, I suspect that it was framed with much
younger children in mind--to address, for example, the case of a child
who, while in a life-threatening situation, has parents who, for
religious reasons, refuse to agree to the treatment.
Here the facts that the young man is sixteen, chemotherapy is scary,
ugly, unpleasant and by no means guaranteed to be successful, and the
alternative approach that he and his parents prefer is controversial
have created a "shocking" story.
An appeal to another court may be successful. The law may be amended.
The consumer advocate's statement is, however, intemperate. With its
sweeping generalizations and ominous threats of medical tyranny, it
harms rather than helps the case to be made for altering the law
and/or judgment in question.
What I would be prepared to support is an alternative to the
mechanical use of "minor" in defining when the law applies. I would
suggest a process along the lines of having a court-appointed
psychiatrist interview the child in question, determine if the child
understands the ramifications of the decision being made and is
competent to make it. If so, the child's decision stands.
But, hey, what do I know.
John
On 7/24/06, JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx <JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx> wrote:
For some reason this e-mail didn't get to the lit-id list......maybe
"medical" was a spam filtering word. Anyway, I'm trying again.
Click here: AOL News - Judge Orders Teen to Have Cancer Treatment
<<The judge also found Starchild Abraham Cherrix's parents were neglectful
for allowing him to pursue alternative treatment of a sugar-free, organic
diet and herbal supplements supervised by a clinic in Mexico, lawyer John
Stepanovich said. >>
. Statements on Abraham Cherrix chemotherapy court decision by Mike Adams,
consumer health advocate
Preach it brother.
Julie Krueger
appalled parent
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
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