Daniel Hauser Case Study

Daniel Hauser is a 13-year-old boy from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in January 2009. Doctors stated that this type of cancer was highly curable, but if he did not get the proper treatment then he would most certainly not survive. The proper treatment according to the doctors was six rounds of chemotherapy. Daniel completed one round of chemotherapy in February. After that Daniel and his family refused to go through more rounds of chemotherapy and opted for more “natural” ways for Daniel’s treatment. This was due to Daniel’s rejection of the treatment because it was too hard on his body and that he and his family had a religious belief in “do no harm” (Warrant Issued for Mother of Boy Resisting Chemo for …show more content…
In a court hearing, the judge declared that Daniel was not capable of deciding what was good or bad for him since he had a learning disability and did not know how to read. The judge decided to have another chest X-ray done son Daniel. He said if the tumor had not grown since then and he also had a chance of being cured, then Daniel will have to continue with the proper treatment decided by the doctors. Philip J Elbert, the attorney for Daniel Hauser stated that the doctors were not exactly sure of the exact likelihood of the treatment working. The doctors repeatedly said that the chance of success was 90%-95%. But after more investigation they found out the cure rate is “upwards to 80, 90 or 95%” (Elbert). The chest X-ray was done, but after that Daniel and his mother fled to California, but came back after five days. While they were gone the state decided that Daniel’s mother will get arrested if she does not return within two days. The X-ray had indicated that the tumor had shrunk after the first chemotherapy but then grew