Should a father have the right to refuse chemotherapy for his son?
That’s a debate going on right now. A boy in Ontario has leukemia, and the father says the son only has a 20 per cent chance of surviving. The 11-year-old boy didn’t want to continue with his treatments.
“He doesn’t want to die this way, he would rather die at home in a peaceful, comfortable way,” said the father in an article found here.
So the son doesn’t want to continue, and the father respects his son’s wishes. But the Children’s Aid Society disagrees, and has taken the son away and has him locked up in a hospital.
So who should have the right here, the father or the Children’s Aid Society? It’s a difficult issue for sure. I think there should be a way for the two sides to compromise. Maybe do the chemotherapy, and if the boy gets worse, then the son’s wishes could be honoured.
But I’m pretty sure the kid doesn’t want to spend the last few months of his life locked up and involved in a court battle.
1 Comment
May 14, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Glad to see the situation has been remedied: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/05/13/chemo-boy.html