Work, and that kid with cancer.

[wednes]

I'm working a short shift today. It's our slow time of year, so I'm working less than usual. Not really ideal from a financial standpoint, but completely swellenor (of Ellenor "gee I think you're swellenor" fame) from a finishing-my-novel standpoint. Got a bit of editing and polishing done yesterday, but not much actual writing. Going to work on it some more today and tomorrow...and probably all weekend since I'm going to have a few days to myself. We get Monday off for Memorial Day, which is neat. I've worked retail for most of my life, so it's still a little surprising when I get a bank holiday off of work. Plus, I'm going on a writing weekend with absinthofheart in June, (right before my deadline is up) so I'm starting to save up money for it now.

I'm sure by now you've all heard about the little boy with cancer whose parents are refusing the prescribed medical treatment. A judge ordered them to get the kid some chemo (he has some kind of treatable lymphoma), so the mom took the kid and split. According to the kid, he doesn't want the chemo either. They beleive in prayer and natural medicine.
Most of what people have been saying about this summs up as Well, I think parents should be the final authority on their kids--within reason. And then they go on to say how sad and irresponsible it is not to get the kid chemo, how "stupid" natural medicines are, and how the kid shouldn't have to suffer because the parents are "religious nuts." What they seem to mean is Parents should be the final authority, until they choose to do something I wouldn't do.
Of course we should protect kids from abuse. Of course it is sad when a little kid has cancer. Of course most people will want to do what their doctor prescribes...or do they? I certainly don't follow all of my doctors advice--as is my right. But they're choosing for a CHILD people say Parents have a responsibility to do what's "right". Right, of course, being completely subjective.
For a long time, the prescribed treatment for mental illness was electroshock therapy. Basically, they hook you up to a machine and shock your brain a la One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest. When people refused this treatment, they were often threatened with involuntary committment even if they were not violent. After all, it could be "proven" that this treatment could bring good results, so anyone who doesn't want it is a crazy fool, right?
I've never had chemo, but I hear tell it's fucking terrible. It makes you sick, you lose your hair, your appetite, you're weak and dizzy. So what? people say, If it helps you live, it's worth it! Well that, my friends, is in the eye of the beholder. No court in the world should have the right to make me hook my kid up to a machine and get radiation all over him. It's vile. And while some people can and do choose to utilize chemo to good effect, it should by no means be required.
ANY medical treatment be it natural or man-made, is not guaranteed to work. It should be a fundamental right to be able to choose what treatments to pursue, and what not to pursue. That's what freedom is, after all.

Comments

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Indeed, most parents tend to want their kids to grow up believing as they do--and take steps to make that happen, with mixed results. Personally, I think teaching children the concept of "original sin" can by psychologically damaging to them. But you rarely hear people discussing the dangers of Christian parenting.

I totally agree that it's a sad situation with this kid. Kids shouldn't have to think about whether or not to get chemo. They should be thinking about baseball and college and Xbox and stuff. But a judge is not a medical doctor, and it shouldn't be up to any non-medical person to decide what a patient needs or doesn't.
That said, the law works in such a way that a doctor cannot legally mandate treatment. The most they can say is "well, if you don't want to die you should have X procedure." Then the people involved can make informed choices.

Frankly, this kid's mother sounds like a loon. And if she's judged incompetant (by a doctor, not a judge) to raise her kid, that's another story.