Warrant For Mom Of Boy Refusing Chemo

(AP)  A judge issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for the mother of a 13-year-old boy resisting chemotherapy after the pair missed a court hearing on his welfare.

Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg also ordered that Daniel Hauser be placed in protective custody so he can get proper medical treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The cancer is considered highly curable with proper treatment, but Daniel quit chemo after a single treatment and with his parents opted instead for "alternative medicines," citing religious beliefs. That led authorities to seek custody. Rodenberg last week ruled that Daniel's parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser, were medically neglecting their son.

The family was due in court Tuesday to tell the judge results of a chest X-ray and arrangements for an oncologist. But Daniel's father was the only one who appeared. He told Rodenberg he last saw Colleen Hauser on Monday evening.

"She said she was going to leave," Hauser testified. "She said, `That's all you need to know.' And that's all I know."

He said his wife left her cell phone at home.

The family's doctor, James Joyce, testified by telephone that Daniel's tumor has grown and he needs immediate assessment by a pediatric cancer doctor.

Joyce said he examined Daniel on Monday, with an X-ray showing that his tumor had grown to the size it was when he was first diagnosed.

"He had basically gotten back all the trouble he had in January," the doctor said.

Daniel was accompanied by his mother and Susan Daya, who Joyce said was an attorney from California.

Joyce testified that he offered to make appointments for Daniel with oncologists at Children's Hospital, the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic or elsewhere, but the Hausers declined.

He also said he tried to give Daniel more information about lymphoma but that Daya, Daniel and his mother left in a rush.

"Under Susan Daya's urging, they indicated they had other places to go," Joyce said.

Daya did not immediately return a page left on her cell phone Tuesday by The Associated Press. Her voice mailbox was full.

Besides examining Daniel's chest X-ray, Joyce also said he asked Daniel how he was feeling. The doctor said the boy told him he had pain on the right side of his chest, which Daniel rated a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Joyce said the pain was around the port that was inserted into Daniel's chest to administer chemotherapy. He attributed the pain to the growing tumor, which is pushing the port out of place.

Daniel also told the doctor he had a cough, though he wasn't having any trouble breathing, Joyce said.

Daniel's court-appointed attorney, Phil Elbert, asked Joyce if Daniel was at risk of substantial physical harm if no action is taken. The doctor said yes.

In his ruling last week, Rodenberg wrote that he would not order chemotherapy if Daniel's prognosis was poor. But if the outlook was good, it appeared chemotherapy and possibly radiation was in the boy's best interest, he wrote.

Daniel's lymphoma was diagnosed in January, and six rounds of chemotherapy were recommended. Daniel underwent one round in February but stopped after that single treatment. He and his parents sought other opinions, but the doctors agreed with the initial assessment.

Colleen Hauser testified at the earlier hearing that her son "is not in any medical danger." She said she had been treating his cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives.

Rodenberg wrote that state statutes require parents to provide necessary medical care for a child. The statutes say alternative and complementary health care methods aren't enough.

He also wrote that Daniel, who cannot read, did not understand the risks and benefits of chemotherapy and didn't believe he was ill.

Daniel testified that he believed the chemo would kill him and told the judge in private testimony unsealed later that if anyone tried to force him to take it, "I'd fight it. I'd punch them and I'd kick them."

The Hausers, who have eight children, are Roman Catholic. They also believe in the "do no harm" philosophy of the Nemenhah Band, a Missouri-based religious group that believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians.

[venkata4--2008]

" This is FALSE. The boy has a type of cancer that is highly curable. Curable means it is gone, not just remission.
Posted by at 11:01 AM : May 20, 2009 "

I did not check that grade cancer this boy has, but if doctor says it is 80 to 90% curable, then is a curable one. Even it is not curable 80% also, the boy and mother are wrong is running away from the treatment. I have personal experience from close relative's son who under went different kind of grade 3 cancer, survived and cancer free for 7 years after last chemo. Yes, chemo's side affects are bad. But not bad as cancer that is growing. This boy need to be treated and should look into the cancer surviors may ne at St. Jude hospital.

[ge556]

My point is that everyone keeps claiming this is a 100% cure. It is not. It is a delay, nothing more.
Posted by debinok1 at 6:36 AM : May 20, 2009

This is FALSE. The boy has a type of cancer that is highly curable. Curable means it is gone, not just remission.

[kdmontana]

They need to find this boy. He is being told by his mom that he will die. If the boy can not read, then he is going by the word of his mom. I am sure the doctors did not tell him he is die.
I have cancer (Lymphoma) and my doctors said He can treat me. they need to find this mom and bring this boy to get help. and show is mom that things will work. It may take time but things can help. Pray that the mom is reading this. this boy is in my prayers

[ge556]

There is NO cure for cancer.
Posted by debinok1 at 7:21 AM

Your statement is FALSE. THIS cancer is considered to be highly curable.

[hamiltongrad]

the boy is too young to decide.
the parents do not know anything about medicine and treatment.
The question is, is there any real hope for cure ?? If not, then the parents should do what they feel is best. If there is documented success, and the boy can thus be cured, the courts should and must step in and help this tyke out.

What if he had appendicitis, and the parents refused surgery ???

Thus , the only question is, DOES the RX WORK ??

[ccdsswrkr09]

Plus if it was an adult refusing treatment would people even care and would this even be an article.
Posted by patocc123 at 7:30 AM


So do we let children decide everything for themselves? No, because they are children. Do we allow a child to decide whether or not they want to go to school, no, do we allow a child to decide whether or not they want surgery that will save their lives if their apendix explodes, no. This is no different.

[Slrman-21001573651763300012869]

Will the mother will remain missing until this child dies? Once again, religion prevails over science. At least in the warped minds of its followers.

My question is, why cannot alternative methods be tried while undergoing chemo-therapy. I know if it were myself or one of my family, I would try anything that might help. But the religious reich will not allow anything that might disprove their ridiculous teachings.

[debinok1]

I mean the kid thinks the treatment will kill him!!!
Posted by melchg

Yes he does. But they have not proven why he thinks that. They assume his parents told him. Knowing how the treatments can make a person feel, it is just as likely that after he took the first treatment he felt like he was dying. If that is the case, then all the Doctors explanations are not going to convince him otherwise. It is also possible that the child was being upset by the discussion and that is why the mother took him out. I am sure that would not have made it into the Doctors testimony.

[patocc123]

Lets say someone has AIDS and some alternative methods are avail, they have yet to approved by the FDA. The new treatment can be found in some other countries and you have the means to obtain them. Does a judge have the right to force you to take an approved US drug that in the end will not cure but can help prolong your life. Does it have the right to pursue criminal charges against you upon re-entry to the country for not using the treatment the US ok's. Or does the individual has the right to chose thier own path on what effects thier body. I am curious what pro-choice people get outta this article. Thier body thier choice. I know the decision is being made or influenced by the parent, so its not comparing apples to apples but it is withing the parents legal rights. Plus if it was an adult refusing treatment would people even care and would this even be an article.

[debinok1]

I will say this. I am not afraid of death, my body as a natural course of life has been dying since the day I was born. We all are going to die. Be it today or tomorrow or in 10 years or 50. Perhaps that is why I can see both sides of this issue. I know death is a given. The only question left is how it happens.