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May 14, 2009 11:40 am US/Central
Family In Chemo Trial Want Beliefs Respected
SLEEPY EYE, Minn. (AP) ―
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Daniel Hauser, of Sleepy Eye, and his parents are fighting efforts by Brown County officials to force him to undergo chemotherapy. The family says that would violate their religious beliefs.
CBS
As a Sleepy Eye mother awaits word from a judge on whether her 13-year-old son can refuse chemotherapy, she's insisting hers is a normal family that just want their beliefs respected.
"We're just a simple, honest family," Colleen Hauser told the New Ulm Journal in an interview at the family's home. "We're not out to harm anyone."
Judge John Rodenberg is expected to rule Friday on whether Brown County can force Daniel Hauser to undergo more chemotherapy treatments that doctors say are the best chance to cure his Hodgkin's lymphoma. Doctors say there's a 90 percent chance chemotherapy would save his life, and a 95 percent chance he'll die without it.
The Hausers are Roman Catholics, and members of a church called the Nemenhah band that advocates natural remedies and alternative methods to kill illness. In the family's home are statues of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, crucifixes and crosses and American Indian figurines, a medicine wheel and a symbol made up of a circle of stones.
The family prays the rosary every night and always ask for help, Colleen Hauser said.
The kitchen is stocked with bottles of nutritional supplements that Colleen Hauser feeds herself, her husband and eight children. The refrigerator contains organic food and bottles of ionized water.
Colleen and Anthony Hauser want to treat their son with alternative methods, including a special diet recommended by the Nemenhah.
Critics, including other American Indian groups, charge that Nemenhah is fraudulent. But Colleen Hauser said she has used natural remedies for sore throats and headaches since she was a child.
Hauser said she harbors no disrespect toward the medical doctors who want to treat her son with chemotherapy. But she has a message for them: "Back off. Respect our beliefs."
The family hasn't decided how to respond if Rodenberg orders Daniel to undergo chemotherapy, Colleen Hauser said. A lawyer for the Nemenhah band and spokeswoman for the family said further court appeals are a possibility.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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