Categories
Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Religion

Guilty, guilty, guilty: The mother who relied on prayer instead of medicine for her child

About a year ago in Wisconsin, an 11-year-old girl named Madeleine Neumann died of diabetic ketoacidosis thanks of the irrational religious beliefs of her parents, who prayed for her but did not take her to a physician even as Madeleine became weaker and more ill, her deterioration leading to a most unpleasant death. Highly unusual […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

The case of chemotherapy refusenik Daniel Hauser: I was afraid of this

Maybe I was wrong. I praised the decision of Judge Rodenberg last Friday, in which he placed chemotherapy refusenik Daniel Hauser in the custody of his parents and ordered them to take him to an oncologist and have him undergo repeat staging studies in order to determine the extent of his Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I did […]

Categories
Cancer Medicine Politics Quackery Religion

Judge John Rodenberg gives chemotherapy refusenik Daniel Hauser a chance to live

Over the last week, I’ve written about the case of a 13-year-old chemotherapy refusenik named Daniel Hauser, who lives in Minnesota. After having been diagnosed with a highly curable form of cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, back in February and having undergone one cycle of chemotherapy that apparently made him very sick, he refused further chemotherapy and […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Simon Singh will appeal?

About a week ago, I lamented an astoundingly bad ruling in the libel case brought by the British Chiropractic Association against skeptic Simon Singh. The ruling was so bad that many observers are wondering whether it’s possible for Singh to go on or whether he can afford to appeal. Blogger Jack of Kent, who has […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Another child sacrificing himself on the altar of irrational belief

Regular readers here know that I really hate to see stories like the one I’m about to discuss, specifically that of 13-year-old Daniel Hauser, a boy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma who is refusing chemotherapy based on religion and his preference for “alternative” therapy, whose parents are also supporting his decision. Since I’m a bit behind on […]