Reply #278: I don't agree with the parents' choice, but they have that right.

[knitter4democracy]

I'm sorry about the med school thing, but it was a snarky comment that riled me up more than it should have, and I probably overreacted. No, my husband's opinion, on this board, is meaningless, ultimately, and just as meaningless as all of our chat about this topic. It's not like the parents or the teen are reading all of this and will change their minds about it based on anything we say.

*sigh* I don't agree with the parents. I haven't from the beginning. In my mind, cancer isn't anything to mess with, and the treatments are almost always better than other options. I can understand where they're coming from, though. When they have doctors saying they have to kill all of his bone marrow, hope he doesn't get an infection, and then replace his bone marrow to kill the cancer, I can understand them thinking of other options.

Also, the teen agrees with them. If he didn't, I'd be the first to say the state should step in. Yes, he might only agree with them because they're his parents and because they're coercing him in some way, but the teenaged boys I taught almost never automatically agreed with anything their parents said. Chances are, it's the other way around--he found that clinic on-line or something, said he wanted to do that instead, and they're supporting his decision for some reason.

Yes, he could die from that decision, and dead is dead. You're right. It's his right, though. It's horribly frustrating, and it feels super wrong, but it's his right. The rest of us will be able to move on, and his parents will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

I can't imagine that they don't question this every second of every day--I mean, how could they not with it in the paper, on-line, and in every call with their lawyer, not to mention the court days with opposition lawyers and experts calling them horrible parents? I doubt they are sticking to this entirely out of a need to prove all the doctors wrong (I could be wrong on that), but more like they're doing it because their son has asked them to.

*sigh* It's just bad all around. I hope the right thing happens, that he lives a long and productive life, and that in the end, he and his parents are better people for going through this.