Forces nationwide on alert for mom, son who are on the run.
(Image is ubiquitous, represents but does not depict child in question)
Health and faith clashed in the courtroom, with police on the lookout for a Minnesota mother who fled with her obese 13-year-old son rather than consent to a diet and exercise program.
A court-ordered BMI examination on Monday showed that Danny Hoosier is severely obese, with a score of 43, and that he would likely die from the symptoms of obesity if he did not receive physical and diet therapy.
Before she fled, Caileen Hoosier, a Roman Catholic, told a judge that she wished to treat her son’s obesity with spiritual healing methods advocated by an American Spaniard religious group known as the Nameless Band.
Danny has severe childhood obesity, a highly curable form of obesity when treated with a regimen of diet and exercise. But the teen and his parents rejected the regimen after a single workout session followed by having to eat broccoli. The boy’s mother said that exercise and putting healthy substances in the body violates the family’s religious convictions.
Authorities are alerting the public to report the mother and son’s whereabouts, if seen, and that they have frequently been sighted at McDonald’s drive-thrus. 1
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Seems silly, no matter how you look at it, eh?2
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Isn’t this mother’s action equivalent to post-partum abortion, or should parents be allowed to “care for” their children in whatever manner they feel appropriate? What do the Libertarians say about this?
In addition, isn’t it curious how it seems that religion gets a free pass in many aspects of law and society (e.g., tax breaks, requiring monotheistic belief for public office, hate crimes based on religion, general inability to criticize religion, lighter sentences), but when society doesn’t agree with someone’s specific actions, it condemns those actions, even if they were motivated by sincere religious conviction?
Broken down, here’s what it means: Religion does not give you a free pass. Accepted religion does. That means someone’s dancing a jig on the grave marked “R.I.P. First Amendment.”
Speaking of the First Amendment, does this case threaten to violate it in the reverse respect? In other words, by not allowing someone to practice their religion as they see fit (no matter how kooky we perceive it), isn’t that “prohibiting the free exercise thereof”? Heck, perhaps the First Amendment does need an overhaul. It obviously doesn’t take into account all the wacky religions out there, and all the wacky people who do crazy things in the name of their religion. What the Supreme Court and others say is, “Oh, the founders didn’t mean absolutely no prohibitions! There has to be some reasonable guideline to keep the kooks from doing really crazy stuff.” Hmm, I wonder who establishes those guidelines. Could it be… mainstream Christians?
Either we need to eliminate reading between the First Amendment’s lines, risking religious justification for all sorts of heinous acts, or we need to eliminate religion as a justification for any action. In other words, if an act is harmful, it’s harmful. If it’s not, it’s not. Religious conviction should not be able to adjust that fact.
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UPDATE:
Believe it or not, my satire has manifested in reality.
From CNN:
Authorities arrest mom for medical neglect of 555-pound teen
South Carolina authorities have located a 555-pound teenager and his mother, who faces a charge of violating a custody order, police said Thursday.
Alexander Deundray Draper, 14, “is possibly at a stage of critical health risk,” social services said.Alexander Deundray Draper, 14, of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, and his mother, Jerri Althea Gray, were located at about 4:30 p.m. near a laundromat in Baltimore, Maryland, by the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office, said Matt Armstrong, a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office in Greenville, South Carolina.
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“The understanding was that the individual was of the weight where it was decided by medical authorities that he needed treatment that was not being provided for by his mother,” Armstrong said.
Earlier in the day officials said the boy “is possibly at a stage of critical health risk.”
Gray was supposed to appear in family court Tuesday with her son and failed to do so, the sheriff’s office said. During the family court hearing, the boy was ordered into state custody because of medical neglect, as well as his mother’s failure to appear. The Department of Social Services then contacted the sheriff’s office, authorities said.
The warrant said Gray was served with papers Monday and told to report to court for a hearing in which the department would seek state custody of Draper. “The defendant has avoided the custody proceeding and has concealed the child,” the warrant says.
Wow. Or is this more satire? How can anyone be sure?
- Yes, this is satire. Yes, I have to say it. The real subjects of this insanity are Colleen and Daniel Hauser. Daniel has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a highly curable form of cancer when treated with chemo and radiation. His parents did, in fact, reject chemo after only a single treatment, and now mother and son are on the run, and the court has issued an arrest warrant for her arrest. [<]
- Note that my perhaps even more subtle satire here deals with the fact that in the real case, the mother said that putting toxic substances in the body violates the family’s religious convictions. When I read the story, I wondered how much fast food the kid had eaten (and how much more he’ll be eating on the run). We’re constantly putting toxic substances in our bodies. Quite a bit of it is natural. What the mother really meant to say is that under circumstances of her choosing, she’ll allow her god to kill her child, because that’s what Jesus would do. Or Abraham. Or someone ancient. She shouldn’t interfere. Funny how she still manages to find a way to ingest food. You know, if God wanted her to survive, she wouldn’t have to eat food at all, or take any action whatsoever to preserve her own life. Fucking hypocrite. [<]
Tags: Abrahamic, Amendment, ancient, authority, belief, Catholic, children, Christianity, CNN, consent, court, establishment, examiner, faith, family, First Amendment, founders, fuck, god, heal, Jesus, Law, libertarian, medical, Minnesota, naturalization, police, Religion, ripping, society, tax
What do the Libertarians say about this?
as a libertarian, i say it’s ridiculous that you and other citizens want to somehow legislate and oversee how tens of millions of other citizens raise their children. how many trillions of dollars to you propose stealing from me and fellow taxpayers to manage this fascist intrusion into personal liberty?
as a libertarian, i don’t think government has an appropriate role in sorting out these issues. choosing medical care (or choosing to refuse it) for one’s children is as appropriate as doing the same for oneself.
if idiots create bad outcomes for their children, it is not society’s job to step in, particularly when society’s interference generally creates even _worse_ outcomes for most children who become wards of the state.
absent force or fraud effected against children, government and citizens ought to mind their own effing business.
There are some who might say that allowing a child to die from an easily curable disease is akin to “force” (i.e., battery). Even some who say overfeeding falls under that category as well. What line do you draw for “force”?
And thanks for your comment. As for me being one of the citizens who wants to somehow legislate and oversee, I’m more of the person who is asking questions and trying to figure out the best course of action for all.
I would say that you’re being quite the religious knee-jerk libertarian. The more rational ones like Milton Friedman I do not think would have disagreed with the courts ruling given the circumstances.
Yes the current organization of society could be hugely improved. I as some what of an anarchist (also know as libertarian socialist) would very much like to see strengthened communities. Courts would still most certainly have a place in such a society in order to try to mediate in disputes and local issues. But things would ideally be dealt with by those that live in the community.
Given a decent, well educated community, I am sure that the same conclusion would be drawn that the child should receive chemo therapy. Only an uncaring human could, given sufficient knowledge of what will happen to the child, suggest that the parents have the right to refuse medical help, which would be to suggest they have the right to ensure the early and unnecassary death of their child. The child is also too poorly educated (I have read else where he has learning difficulties, possible euphimism for being retarded), he can not read, so I highly doubt his ability to comprehend the situation and think sensibly about this.
Now I realise people would quickly raise the objection to the idea of such a society having the right to collectively dictate that the parents can not refuse the medical treatment, because if we were to change the situation to that of an intelligent rational person living in a community of stupid credulous people, we could easily imagine the intelligent person pressured into some very terrible situation. To that I would say, if we had society set up with stronger communities, it is the duty of every rational person to do what they can to educate the community in order to stop the spread of superstition and stupidity that would lead to people being pressured into terrible situations.
Hope I’ve made my ideas clear enough.
It is amazing how so many people seek legislation against abortion yet believe that it is solely in the parents’ discretion what happens with children once they are born. This is totally perplexing to me. It’s not okay to abort a fetus but it is okay to slowly kill a child?
Oh come on. Police are hunting for a very large child with a BMI of 43. Just look at him, he isnt going to go to far. Nearest Mcy D’s, maybe. Anything farther than that he will drop dead from exhaustion. The police could not be search very hard at all. If you want to catch a fat person, ask someone at Famous Daves what to do.
I made the call. Police need to set up a grill up wind in the neighborhood and start cooking ribs and chicken. Barbecued of course and some Johnsville Brats. If that doesnt get him moving … nothing will.
Maybe, just maybe. Christians from around the world, could join hands in the places of worship. Pray for him to make it home safely. Then maybe God will intervene and perform the first verifiable miracle in 2000 years, by levitating him home as the crow flies.
I always make sure that i get an exercise each day, exercise keeps me fit and healthy.”`,
Well im a student in school trying to become a nurse… not much to say about that except that I love anatomy… and nude people too lol! If you want to help me study for anatomy lmk. Great blog!
the best exercise are full body exercises like military press and also swimming.*-’