Parental Rights Cancer Controversy

Texas Takes Girl From Kin; Wants Her To Get Radiation Treatment

(CBS)  The girl's parents and state officials agreed that if a PET scan shows Katie's cancer has been stopped with chemotherapy alone, radiation could be cancelled, McNamara says. A judge will ultimately decide.

"If there are some alternatives that the parents prefer and those were proven medical alternatives that we could actually do," Azar says, "then we would work with parents on that. But we don't seem to have alternatives."

The case nearly cost the Werneckes' custody of their three other children but, after a hearing, a judge allowed the three to stay home.

On The Early Show Friday, the Werneckes' lawyer, Daniel Horne, cautioned Russ Mitchell that, "The whole issue has been mischaracterized as the Werneckes wanting to deny medical treatment. That's really not the case. If it comes out that, after informed consent to the parents and the parents being involved in some decision-making with the doctors, that Katie needs radiation therapy or any other type of therapy, they would be willing to consent to that."

Edward Wernecke told Mitchell, "Religion is not an issue here. It is just our right to choose the best care for our daughter. My understanding was the last PET scan, which was just over 30 days ago, there was no active cancer in her body."

Katie's mother, Michele, told Mitchell she doesn't even know how Katie is faring in state custody. ""I would really like to know. I'm afraid that she's under a lot of stress. She told me before she left that she'd quit eating and get depressed. I hope she keeps her strength up and keeps going. I would really like to know how she's doing, because I know she can't be handling this too well, either.

"(Doctors are) just looking at her tumor. They're not looking at what the body really, really needs and what she needs."