Daniel Hauser’s Mom Takes Off Running

Daniel Hauser‘s mother has fled the scene with him — more evidence that she can’t be trusted to make responsible decisions.

Colleen Hauser had already brainwashed her son into thinking his Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be cured by “natural remedies” instead of chemotherapy. She had a court date scheduled yesterday, but she was nowhere to be found:

… only Daniel’s father appeared. He told [Brown County District Judge John] Rodenberg he last saw his wife 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.”

There’s a warrant out for her arrest. In the meantime, the judge has “ordered that Daniel Hauser be placed in a foster home and be sent for an immediate examination by a pediatric oncologist so he can get treated for Hodgkins lymphoma.”

This lady must *really* want her son to die… I wish I could say she has Daniel’s best interests at heart, but her flight was selfish. It’s riskier for him than her. He needs medical help now. To prolong it will just hasten the suffering.

(Thanks to Nick for the link!)

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t3knomanser

I can’t wait for the schlocky and overly credulous Lifetime movie on the subject.

While we should always be skeptical of government dictates in child rearing, providing basic care for a child is a perfectly reasonable legal requirement. You must feed your child, you must clothe your child. You must provide basic medical care for your child.

Neglect is a form of abuse, and in this particular case, it will likely be lethal. And if this child dies, I hope that the mother is charged with manslaughter and everything else that can be chucked at her.
Erik

They are very likely staying with people they know, or people sympathetic to their cause. Hopefully those people get prosecuted for harboring a fugitive. Of great interest is what would happen if they were staying at a church… would they be treated differently by the law than if this woman were just at some friend’s house?
Michael Nietzsche

People, we need to stop worrying about this 13 year old kid and his disturbed Mother. Let him die already, that’s what he wants to do, and from here, it appears his mother doesn’t really care. It’s not our problem…. it’s theirs. I wish they would both die already! It would free up some space for some more NORMAL, thinking people who weren’t messed up by religion. We’re (The ENTIRE PLANET IS) over-crowded anyway.
Michael Nietzsche

It was mentioned on the news last night, that this kid has been “home schooled” his whole life too…. and at age 13 he doesn’t know how to read………. Who needs him?
littlejohn

Sorry Michael, but I can’t be that cold-hearted. Most likely the kid will die and the mom will go to prison. This is a pointless tragedy. The boy’s only 13, and clearly brainwashed (and stupid: he hasn’t learned to read).
Richard Wade

In cases like this, the parents always say they are only interested in the child’s well being, the child’s salvation. No, they’re not. The parents are solely interested in themselves. They’re interested in preserving their addiction to feelings of certainty, in keeping their status in their religious community, in their chance, even if it is slim, to be right and say “I told you so,” and in the most perverse cases, in how the child’s death will be a testament to how strong their faith was, a badge of honor:

For Bob and Cindy so loved the Lord that they gave their only begotten son to cancer so that all would know how deeply pious they are.
Richard Wade

Michael Nietzsche,
If you are so concerned about how overcrowded our planet is, perhaps you’d be willing to donate your space.

Your cold-hearted routine comes off as a pretense, an act. Ask yourself if you could really look that kid in the eye as you slit his throat. You talk about how “normal” people should not care about the unnecessary deaths of others who are “messed up by religion,” and you seem to say that “normal” people should even welcome those peoples’ deaths.

Sorry, that’s not normal. Drop the macho, tough guy act before it sticks.
Cypress Green

@Richard Wade…
For Bob and Cindy so loved the Lord that they gave their only begotten son to cancer so that all would know how deeply pious they are.
I believe you’ve got it! Kinda like a modern day Abraham and Isaac. I was disgusted reading a children’s bible story book the other day. My ex’s family gave it to him. All cutesy cartoon pictures, and details of many of the stories are wrong to get the story to say what they want.

Anyway, Abraham tells his son, sorry kid, I love you but I love god more! And the parent’s guide note after that story said the point to emphasize is that god should come before everyone else in your life! (Respect thy mom and dad, anyone?)
Cypress Green

I just checked Amber Alert. Why doesn’t he have an Amber Alert?!!!
Cypress Green

Here’s something really scary. MSNBC has a detailed article on the case followed by a poll. Results?

Should parents be allowed to refuse cancer treatments for their sick children?

Yes. Families should be allowed to make their own decisions in every aspect of medical care. 41.5 %
No. Refusing care that could save the child’s life is a form of medical neglect, as the judge ruled in the recent Minnesota case. 58.5%
chris hannigan

Why are all the news outlets not calling this what it is, religious fatalism?
Fredrik

@littlejohn

The boy’s only 13, and clearly brainwashed (and stupid: he hasn’t learned to read).

Since he is home-schooled, he hasn’t learned to read because his ass hat parents haven’t taught him. Stupidity and ignorance are not the same thing.
Gabriel

Michael Nietzsche

If you are so concerned with the overcrowded planet you can always depopulate by one more person. This kid has been screwed from the begining. It isn’t his fault that his parents are evil. He still deserves a fair chance.
Michael Nietzsche

To Richard Wade…. Hello my friend, I must let you know, I’ve already done my part. After the wife and I had our two children,back in the 70’s, I had a vasectomy 25 years ago! If you stop to think about it. It isn’t global warming that’s going to kill us all, or polution…. It’s over-population!
Greg

As a parent of a 4 year old who has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia I am appalled that these parents would endanger their son in such a way. Had we done nothing when my daughter was diagnosed 2 years ago she would have died within 3 weeks, and I’m quite certain no god would have saved her.

While my wife does thank God quite regularly for the ‘miracle’ of my daughter’s recovery I profusely thank science and the caring doctors and nurses who have helped blood cancers (including lymphoma) become far more survivable than they were just 30 years ago. My daughter has 2 months left in her treatment protocol and will go on to live a happy, full life.

That boy absolutely should be taken from those parents, no ifs, ands, or buts and I hope that there is still time for science and medicine to work their ‘magic’ on him and for reasonable people to undo his brainwashing.
Stephan Goodwin

I have to disagree with those that would say “just let him die”.
For starters, he obviously doesn’t have the knowledge or world experience necessary to make such a decision.

In addition, saying “just let the religious die” is not fundamentally different than saying “let those with AIDS/cancer/any other disease die”. In the case of this child, he never had a chance. Just because his parents are criminals doesn’t make him a bad person. He should have a chance just like anyone else would.

Hopefully memes like this child’s will, however, end themselves. You can only reject the doctor and reality so long before selection chooses you. Let’s hope that people wise up before the harsh reality of evolution deals with them in its own way.
Richard Wade

Hi Michael,
Sorry if I was overly harsh. Like you, I think the primary problem facing this world is overpopulation, with its many dire consequences that are already taking place, and like you my wife and I did our part by having only one child. (Lucky we did too, since she is a helluva handful.)

But the answer to overpopulation is not about allowing unjust and unnecessary death to fall upon the innocent, nor upon the foolish either. The answer is to promote rationalism and humanistic social values everywhere we can, to combat the short-sighted and self-centered attitudes of people, who for cultural, religious or simply personal reasons have large families. The answer is to build a culture of quality of life over quantity of life. The answer is in promoting wise living instead of foolish dying.

My dad was one of three siblings, I am one of two siblings, and my brother and I have had only one child each. Our branch of the family is going extinct. No matter, the continuation of the family name is unimportant. That’s just a word. What is important is living a life of consequence rather than continuance, a life where things are a little better for others because we were briefly here.

I’m way off topic so I’ll be quiet now.
revatheist

Here’s the link where I originally read the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/20/minnesota.forced.chemo/index.html
One thing I noticed and talked about on my blog is that the whole issue isn’t about religion. Their religion didn’t prevent them from taking the kid to the doctor for the original diagnosis and first round of chemo. It was because of the chemo side-effects that they decided to stop treatment and use concentrated idiocy instead. Supposedly, further chemo (and thus further side-effects) would be torture for the poor ignorant lad. It is interesting that they don’t consider the prolonged, agonizing, process of being consumed by cancer as torture. Go figure: po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
Michael Nietzsche

Hi Richard Wade, thanks for this new letter…. but No apology was necessary, really! We’re all entitled to our own opinions! I can see that you’re a thoughtful person, and I enjoy the exchange of ideas. Sometimes I say things too strongly, in an attempt to just stir up people’s minds and get a reaction. That is my way. sorry if I offended you or anyone else. Now, you say that the way to deal with this problem is to promote Rationalism & Humanistic social values wherever we can…. I agree with you! There’s aproblem here though. The problem is, RATIONALISM & HUMANISM just doesn’t work with people whose minds have already been infected with RELIGION! And, unfortunately you can’t even talk to those people because their minds are completely closed to any other input.
Orac

It is interesting that they don’t consider the prolonged, agonizing, process of being consumed by cancer as torture.

Indeed.
Fredrik

The problem is, RATIONALISM & HUMANISM just doesn’t work with people whose minds have already been infected with RELIGION!

Religion, illiteracy and Hodgkins lymphoma are all curable. The kid is not beyond hope yet. Although I think the odds are long and getting worse.
Roy Schwartz

You can read more about Hodgkin’s and why treating Daniel is so important here:
http://bit.ly/PtgV3
Miko

Update:

Mrs Hauser told a court hearing in Brown County that she now believed chemotherapy was the best option for her son, reported the Associated Press news agency.

Judge John Rodenberg said Daniel should remain with his parents but that “this course of chemotherapy has to commence and commence soon”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8069375.stm