Full Investigation · Canada & the United States · 1999–2015
When Parents Refuse Chemotherapy: Four Children, Four Courts
Childhood cancers are among the great successes of modern medicine, and the cure depends on finishing treatment. When parents say no — out of fear, faith, or a promise from an alternative healer — a court is asked to decide. These are four cases from Saskatchewan, Utah, Minnesota and Ontario, and what the courts actually did.
| Child | Cancer | What the court did | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyrell Dueck, 13 Saskatchewan, 1999 | Osteosarcoma (bone) | Ordered chemotherapy and surgery; found he could not make the decision himself. | The cancer spread while the case was fought; the family went to a Tijuana clinic. Died 30 June 1999. |
| Parker Jensen, 12 Utah, 2003 | Ewing's sarcoma (diagnosed by three institutions) | Ordered him into treatment; the family fled to Idaho. The state later dropped the case. | Never had chemotherapy. Alive and well as an adult; his parents dispute that he ever had cancer. |
| Daniel Hauser, 13 Minnesota, 2009 | Hodgkin lymphoma | Ordered chemotherapy; his mother fled with him for about a week. | Completed chemotherapy and radiation; case closed November 2009. |
| J.J., 11 Ontario, 2014–15 | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia | Declined to order treatment, recognizing an Aboriginal right to traditional medicine; amended in 2015 to make the child's best interests paramount. | Relapsed in March 2015; resumed chemotherapy alongside traditional medicine. |
Tyrell Dueck, Saskatchewan, 1999
Tyrell had osteosarcoma in his leg. His doctors recommended chemotherapy and amputation, with a good chance of survival if he finished treatment. He and his parents, supported by fundamentalist religious backers and an alternative-cancer network that included Ottawa's Canadian Cancer Research Group, refused. A Saskatchewan court found that at 13 he was not able to make the decision and ordered treatment. Within weeks the cancer was found to have spread to his lungs, his doctors said treatment would no longer change the outcome, and the order lapsed. His family took him to a Tijuana clinic for laetrile, vitamins and shark cartilage. He died on 30 June 1999. The full Dueck record →
Parker Jensen, Utah, 2003
A growth under 12-year-old Parker's tongue was removed and found to be Ewing's sarcoma — confirmed by Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, and later by Children's Hospital Los Angeles. At least four doctors recommended chemotherapy. His parents, Daren and Barbara Jensen, feared it would stunt his growth and leave him sterile. When a juvenile court ordered him into treatment by 8 August 2003, the family went to Idaho, and Utah took legal custody that day.
The Jensens were charged with kidnapping, a first-degree felony. In October 2003 the charge was reduced to misdemeanour custodial interference, held in abeyance for a year. An Idaho oncologist who examined Parker under an interim agreement also recommended eleven months of chemotherapy. The parents refused again, and on 1 October 2003 the state dropped its efforts, concluding that chemotherapy could not work with parents determined to resist it.
The Jensens then sued the doctors and state officials personally. Federal and state courts dismissed the suits; the Utah Supreme Court ended the case in March 2011. Parker, by then 20, was serving a church mission in Chile and reported to be well.
Daniel Hauser, Minnesota, 2009
Daniel, 13, had Hodgkin lymphoma — one of the most curable childhood cancers, with survival above 90 per cent when treated. After one round of chemotherapy his family stopped, citing their beliefs and their membership in a self-described Native American healing organization, the Nemenhah Band. Judge John Rodenberg of Brown County District Court ordered treatment to continue. In May 2009 Daniel's mother, Colleen Hauser, fled with him; a search extended into Mexico before they returned about a week later.
Daniel resumed chemotherapy, finished it in September 2009, and completed twelve radiation sessions that November, after which the judge closed the case. His family said he had been in remission for some time.
J.J., Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, 2014–2015
J.J., 11, had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia — a cancer cured in the great majority of children who complete treatment. Her mother stopped chemotherapy at McMaster Children's Hospital and took her to an alternative treatment centre in Florida. The hospital asked the Ontario Court of Justice to have the children's aid society intervene.
In November 2014 Justice Gethin Edward declined. He found that the family's use of Haudenosaunee traditional medicine was a constitutionally protected Aboriginal right, which could not be limited to remedies proven by Western medicine, and that J.J. was not a child in need of protection. The decision was widely criticized by physicians and legal commentators for treating the right as if it could override the child's survival.
J.J.'s cancer returned in March 2015. Her family decided to resume chemotherapy while continuing traditional medicine. On 24 April 2015 the court issued an addendum, on a joint submission from all the parties, stating that the child's best interests are paramount, that respecting the Aboriginal right is part of deciding those best interests, and that Haudenosaunee people have the same right as anyone else to provincial health care.
Between those two rulings, on 19 January 2015, another Six Nations girl, Makayla Sault, also 11 and also with leukaemia, died after leaving chemotherapy for the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. No court was asked to intervene in her case.
What the cases show
- Court orders rarely deliver treatment by themselves. In every case, a determined family could delay or defeat the order — by crossing a border, by hiding, or by simply refusing to cooperate. Utah gave up because chemotherapy depends on parents bringing a child back week after week.
- Time is the real casualty. Tyrell Dueck's cancer spread during the fight; by the time anyone could act, there was nothing left to order.
- Someone was always selling the alternative. A Tijuana clinic, an Ottawa “research group”, a healing band, a Florida institute. None of them was ever held responsible for any of these children.
- Canada's leading case went furthest toward the parents. The 2014 Ontario decision is the only one of the four in which the court declined to protect the child — and it took a relapse and a joint request from the parties to restore the principle that the child's interests come first.
Related on QuackeryWatch
Sources
- “3 institutions diagnosed boy with sarcoma, Utah office says,” Deseret News, 2 September 2003; “State won't pursue custody or chemotherapy for Parker Jensen,” 1 October 2003; “Judge suspends Jensens' sentence,” 3 October 2003; “State judge tosses Parker Jensen suit,” 20 February 2009.
- “Parker Jensen's parents lose cancer case rights battle.” Salt Lake Tribune, March 2011.
- “Judge will close Hauser case if no new issues arise.” MPR News, 26 October 2009; and MPR News reports of June and September 2009.
- Hamilton Health Sciences Corp. v. D.H., 2014 ONCJ 603 (14 November 2014), and addendum of 24 April 2015; summaries by the University of Saskatchewan Indigenous Law Centre and Nelligan Law.
- This site's Tyrell Dueck record and Brian Clement investigation.
J.J. is identified by initials only, as in the court decision. Survival figures are general ones for each cancer in children who complete standard treatment, not predictions for any child. Corrections are welcome and are recorded on the page.