Does refusing treatment equal child abuse?
Does refusing treatment equal child abuse? Saturday June 11, 2005#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)Update on the story of the Wernecke family, whose daughter was taken from their custody when they refused radation treatment for her Hodgkins disease (see yesterday’s entry): The parents of Katie Wernecke went to court to request that the hospital be prevented from starting the treatment against their will, but quickly dropped that suit and agreed to the radiation when faced with a medical report showing that the girl’s cancer was no longer in remission. The state, in turn, dropped charges against Michele Wernecke for resisting demands to turn her daughter over to authorities, and returned the family’s three sons to their custody. On the one hand, this outcome appears to support doctors’ contention that the parents made a wrong and harmful decision in delaying the radiation treatment.
