Parents of teen cancer patient now agree to chemo

[FitnessBrat]

Parents of teen cancer patient agree to chemo - Yahoo! News




Basically, this is a story about a young teen with cancer, whose parents denied chemo because it went against their religious beliefs (American Indian beliefs).

Just curious what others believe - should parents be allowed to deny medical treatment for their minor children in life or death situations?

[Turbo3000]

Parents of teen cancer patient agree to chemo - Yahoo! News




Basically, this is a story about a young teen with cancer, whose parents denied chemo because it went against their religious beliefs (American Indian beliefs).

Just curious what others believe - should parents be allowed to deny medical treatment for their minor children in life or death situations?

This is a difficult subject for me. I hadn't read anything about this recent young boy, I was under the assumption that he was being forced to undergo chemo treatment, but I thought he was against it for medical/health reasons, didn't know it was religious.

I want to say that the treatment decision should be left up to the child, but I understand that reasoning won't always work, the child might not fully understand the consequences of doing/not doing chemo, but yet I don't feel like most parents put enough research into it. Seems to me that parents will follow a doctor off a bridge before actually putting them time in to fully research the pros/cons of a treatment.

I see tons of adults that have no idea what drug they are taking, why they are taking it, most don't even know the strength of said medicine. :wack:

I was a sick child, I had strep throat all through my childhood, yet I remember my 12 year old ass coming home with prescriptions and trying to look up all the information on the pills I was taking, I wanted to know what I was putting into my body.

I take Adderall about 2 times a month, and it is much too powerful for parents to give to kids, yet it happens everyday. Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall,.....the list goes on and on, parents are popping these powerful stimulants into their children everyday, but I am glad they government is at least keeping the kids away from evil marijuana..........:wack:

Our entire healthcare/pharmaceutical system is fucked.

Odd that the U.S. that allows drug companies to advertise directly to the consumer, and odd that most of the people that take large amounts of painkillers and the parents that have their kids all hoped up on meds are low income/uneducated. Do those doctors really care for the patient? Or do they just like the money they get from medicade? I would guess the latter.

Sorry for getting off topic, this subject just hits a nerve with me.