Parents Kidnap Son?

[Minnie824]

Here is a link to a news article I found. I'm curious how taking your son away and making decisions for his medical condition is considered kidnapping.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/09/01/parent.kidnapping.ap/index.html

 

[ducklite]

This one immediately reminded me of Hofbauer. 56 AD 2d 108, 411 NYS 2d 416 (App. Div. 1978). affd, NYS 2d. (1979).

Interesting reading.

Anne

 

[dtuleya]

ducklite - Can you translate your code into English please? Don't understand what you mean by all those numbers.

It's a sad day when parents aren't able to make medical decisions for their children. Guess Big Brother is watching.

 

[ducklite]

Sorry, that's the case numbers where you'd look up the case.

Basically, Joseph Hofbauer was nine years old and diagnosed with lymphoma in 1997. His parents chose to not treat him with conventional medicine, chemotherapy and radiation due to the toxic and potentially harmful side effects, and instead wanted to try a homeopathic therapy with Laetrile, a "drug" obtained from peach or apricot pits. It is not FDA approved, they were planning on traveling to Mexico for the treatment.

After quite a back and forth with the State of New York, the state Department of Child Protective Services seized the child under court order from his parents home to begin medical treatment with chemotherapy. The parents ultimately regained custody and moved to New Jersey, where they continued to treat the child homeopathically. Regretfully Joey died two years later.

If you do some research on the Internet you should be able to find more on it--it's a pretty landmark and well cited case becauses the Court of Appeals reversed the lower courts decision and gave custody of the child back to the parents, even though they were planning on treating the child with unconventional medicine. The Court of Appeals held that the parents were caring and doing what they felt was in the best interest of the child. I can pretty well guarantee that it's cited as case law in what will become Utah v. Jensen.

Anne

 

[CEDmom]

If the parents are putting the child's life in jepardy by withholding appropriate medical treatment because they think prayer alone or some other unconvential treatment will cure him than child services needs to step in. It's just another form of child neglect/abuse. If a parent takes their child from the custody of child services than this is kidnapping.

 

[dtuleya]

Not to get into a debate since this is the CB, but if I listened to every doctor that I've taken my boys to over the years I'd be in trouble. My youngest was misdiagnosed with PDD (Autism) at three. Turns out he had an APD (Auditory Processing Disorder). I was told I was a bad parent who just didn't wanted to deal with reality. The truth was I was a parent who was in tune with her son and realized, along with a Speech Pathologist and a great Pediatrician that the so called Specialists were wrong.

An orthopeadic surgeon told me that my oldest DS had a fractured vertabrae when in truth he had a pinched nerve from growing over 6 inches in 5 months.

I realize these weren't life threatening diagnosis, but what if the parents are right. I copied this from the beginning of CNN's article:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A Utah father charged with kidnapping his own son said Sunday that authorities were trying to force chemotherapy on the boy for a cancer that was unconfirmed.

The cancer is unconfirmed. All they are doing is seeking a second opinion.