PrintMay 28, 2009
What Happened to the Right of the Patient to Choose?
The parents of a 13 year old Minnesota boy, Daniel Hauser, who with their support refused chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, have now told Judge John Rodenberg that they will agree to the treatment. Previously, they had missed a court date and fled the state in order to avoid judicially imposed chemotherapy. Their recent reversal came after they were given a choice; agree to chemotherapy for their son or lose custody of him. This immediately brought to my mind the movie Sophie's Choice, in which the main character, a Nazi era Jewish mother of two played by Meryl Streep, revealed her terrible choice. When she arrived at Auschwitz with her children, a Nazi officer sadistically forced her to choose which one of her two children would live and which one would die. Faced with an irresolvable conflict, she made a choice that by its very nature could never be morally reconciled.Many would disagree with the comparison. However, we are faced in both instances with a parent or parents...(Read Full Article)
