Seems there is a big debate being played out in the media- including on the NPR chat show that I hear from time to time. I don't know if this made the national news, but it certainly is a dog and pony show round hereabouts.
There was a woman who wanted to try naturalpathic health care for her critically ill little boy. The doctors went to court and got state custody of her son so that they could perform a kidney operation that they said was "critical". She took the baby and ran.
Now here is where the story gets interesting. She gets caught, thrown in jail with a $500K bail, and the kid is returned to the hospital. This was several days ago. They have scheduled the operation for today. Now here is my question- if the child was so bloody critical, why did they wait until today to operate? Not only that, but they stepped away from the whole "this kid WILL die" argument a few days ago, as well. I guess that hyperbole doesn't cut it in court, either, as she was released without bail yesterday.
The debate- where do parental rights begin and end vis a vis medical care. What an issue. She's a single mom, with the father having strictly limited visitation rights. I can only wonder what made her run- probably the biggest fear that she could imagine being played out in front of her- complete and total loss of control over the fate of her boy. And the doctors? I have no doubt that they think that their position is fully justified. And the state? Ditto. So, this is officially a clusterfuck of good intentions at cross purposes.
I have my doubts about the medical arts being always right. I also have my doubts about naturopathic remedies being always preferable. I just don't know what to think about this one- it's troubling all around. From every angle. I just really, really hope that the little boy is ok.
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