Parents In Cancer Custody Case Sue

The parents of a boy once at the center of a fierce battle over orders to treat his cancer with chemotherapy are suing the state, its child welfare system and a hospital where he was treated.

Daren and Barbara Jensen are asking for unspecified damages for emotional distress in the case, which prompted them to temporarily flee the state with the child. The lawsuit filed late Monday also names four doctors who diagnosed their son, a state social worker and a lawyer.

The Jensens claim they had the right to direct care for their son and to refuse medical treatments. They contend the state violated those rights when it sought custody of then-12-year-old Parker to force medical care under the guidance of physicians his parents had not selected.

A telephone message left with the Jensens' attorney was not immediately returned.

Spokesmen for the Utah Attorney General's office, the Division and Child and Family Services and the hospital said they could not comment because their agencies had not yet been served with the suit.

Two years ago, the Jensens were charged with felony kidnapping and medical neglect for refusing chemotherapy treatments recommended for their son.

Parker had been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer that doctors said could reappear and spread rapidly through his body, even though he seemed healthy at the time.

The parents were unsure about the accuracy of the diagnosis and feared that chemotherapy could make the boy sicker than the cancer, cause other illnesses, stunt his growth or leave him sterile.

The lawsuit alleges that physicians at Primary Children's Medical Center failed to complete, and in some instances refused, sufficient additional tests to accurately diagnose the disease.

The kidnapping and medical neglect charges against the Jensens eventually were dropped, though the couple pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of custodial interference and were sentenced to probation, which ended last October.

Parker, now 14, appears to be well and healthy.