Hot Button Issue

[drjmaxwell]

I'm looking forward to this woman languishing in prison:

Court orders chemotherapy treatment with 90% success rate (5% chance of survival without it) on 13-year old boy who isn't old enough to give consent and can't read anyway.
AND
Mom takes the kid and runs for California or Mexico for 'alternative medicine'.I suppose it would be cruel and

Comments

[knittingknots]

When our world views contradict reality, things we don't like happen, even when we have the best of intentions.

Sigh.

We're pretty much agreed on this one.

[drjmaxwell]

Unless of course those religious beliefs are actually correct, and then we're the ones fucking up.

I always hate that nagging sensation I get with religion that I've got it all wrong.

[knittingknots]

I flip back and forth between catholic mysticism and Zen Buddhism...this leads me towards a compassionate outlook. I do not claim any ultimate answers, merely suspicions that we project a whole lot of what we want and need and fear onto the shoulders of deity.

[xenophyle]

I know people who are anti-vaccination. Nice people, good friends of mine. And, in my opinion, illogical. I keep my mouth shut though, seriously, it's like trying to explain agnosticism to a Baptist. They made an emotional decision.

[emrlddragon]

I really don't get the anti-vaccination people. The research saying vaccines were dangerous was faulty at best, and even if it was correct; autism is a far better option then death.

[drjmaxwell]

Weird analogy for the day: vaccines are like mass transit.

How so?

Because the best outcome for you is to get everyone else to use it while you don't.

[xenophyle]

I am not sure they cause autism. I say this as the parent of an autistic child who has heard alot about the controversy. These same anti-vaccine proponents will say organic food "reverses" some cases. Well, healthy food is good for everyone, period. And alot of research suggests it is hereditary to a large extent. But no study has linked vaccines to autism. It is all anectodal. I know a family with two autistic boys: one is NOT vaccinated because they bought the "common knowledge."

Even if it did cause autism, the overall social good outweighs the individual benefit. I hate to say it. But we have to be real. We can't lose millions to polio because we do not want thousands to be autistic.

[0nm10wn2feet]

As a mother, stories like this tend to inflame my sensibilities. I cannot imagine not doing everything humanly AND inhumanly possible to treat my child. If they tend to clash... I have a more pragmatic view toward that. I'll take what's been PROVEN to work, thanks!

I try not to go all 'mom-ish' when I hear stories like this, but it is so very hard. It is even harder knowing that my religion of birth doesn't indoctrinate its followers against using science for their benefit (well, except for that whole stem cell thing). I find it virtually impossible to place any credence in a faith-based "reality" that would deny my children access to the best, most effective human treatment possible. And I cannot, for the life of me, understand any mother who would believe in such a system to the point where she would condemn her child to a lingering, painful death.
Yes, my views are harsh on this one. And I'm not sure why I am that way when children are involved. Maybe it's because I feel they don't have any real say in the matter. *deep

[drjmaxwell]

I'm pretty much with you on that.

[madmiko]

I'll simply say that any parent who lets a child suffer and die from something which can be treated is not acting in the best interests of that child. Period. Not only should the court order the treatment, but the child should be taken out of that home. As for the punishment for the mother, true justice would be the ability to inject her with something to induce that particular form of cancer and let her martyr herself for her religious beliefs. That way, we'd all be happy.

[drjmaxwell]

I mean, if Jehovah's witnesses are correct that getting that kind of treatment will cause you to burn in hell, they're actually making the right decision. If you don't have those beliefs, it just seems absolutely insane, but if you supposed for a moment that they're correct, then choosing infinite suffering just to prolong your life a few decades is what's actually nuts.

Always a thorny decision, but I do agree that the state should force the kids to get treatment. They're not old enough to have formed their beliefs outside of simple indoctrination, and no religion I know of will hold it against them if they're essentially raped with chemotherapy anyway.

[madmiko]

"They're not old enough to have formed their beliefs outside of simple indoctrination, and no religion I know of will hold it against them if they're essentially raped with chemotherapy anyway

[drjmaxwell]

Oh yeah. I was speaking more generally there in my last comment. This particular couple is shady.

If it was like a 20% chance of survival, then I could see them deciding that maybe it's not worth putting him through hell(meaning the pain of chemo - bad choice of word given the religious components of the discussion) (though I'd probably be pushing it even then), but 90%? Motherfuckers.

[drjmaxwell]

I just feel bad for you if you ever end up in a situation where you have to forcibly restrain a kid who thinks he's going to burn in hell if you give him a blood transfusion.

Good luck with that!