The family of the boy, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age seven, was in court Tuesday to fight for his custody. The boy was taken into the custody of the Children's Aid Society after his family supported the boy's decision to stop chemotherapy and seek alternative medicinal help.
The boy has been under treatment for four years. Doctors insisted that the boy continue with the treatment, warning his parents that the boy's life might end in six months without chemotherapy.
Dominic Verticchio, executive director of Hamilton CAS, said Monday night that CAS intervenes when parents block provincial legislation which mandates the right to treatment. "We certainly feel for this young lad and for his whole family," he said. "But on the other hand, it's something that provincial legislature provides for ... and the legislature does not discriminate based on religion or beliefs."
However, bioethicists said Monday that the decision to force the boy and his family is "heavy-handed" and "worrisome."
"If a doctor says [therapy] is in your best interest and you say you don't want it, within our laws, ethically and legally, that's fully acceptable," said Kerry Bowman of the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics. "And in this case that's kind of turned upside down. Best interests have taken over as opposed to what the family believes, and I think there's a lot of ethical tension here, and I think it's pretty worrisome."
