Just a spoonful of Nemenhah makes the chemotherapy go down...

A week or two ago I heard someone mention a case of a boy who was refusing to get medical treatment because of his religion, so for this weeks blog I decided to find out more. Daniel Hauser is a 13 year old who has Hodgkins lymphoma, but he refuses to get chemotherapy treatments, because according to his religion, chemotherapy and radiation therapy would be poisoning his body. Daniel and his parents belong to the Nemenhah Church, a Native American based group that believes in natural, holistic medicine. So I can sympathize with people having freedom of religion and not wanting to accept western medicine if they believe in something else, but there are a few very frustrating parts of this story that convince me that Daniel Hauser's faith is dangerous and probably just based on his parents' beliefs.
The Hausers are not Native American, so it is still confusing to me how they found the Nemenhah Band and why they would be so devout as to follow it's belief system when it contradicts Western medicine that would almost certainly cure their son. Part of this story that really bothered me is that several pediatric oncologists testified in court saying that Daniel's cancer has gotten worse since he refused the treatment. Furthermore, he has a 95% chance of dying without the treatment and a 90% chance of recovering if he starts the chemotherapy. However, Daniel and his mother have held strong in refusing chemotherapy and when the court ordered Daniel get treatment, he and his mother ran away. It just seems frustrating to me, especially on the mother's part, that she would put her son at risk to make a religious point. As one article I read states, the Nemenhah Band seems from this case more like a brainwashing cult that a religion. Daniel Hauser and his parents deny that his condition is getting worse, even though there are X-rays that show the cancer in his chest is metastasizing. Instead Hauser's parents have been treating him with herbs and vitamins.
Another point this case brings up, aside from people's ability to be blind to reason because of religion, is the influence Daniel's parents have had on him. One of the reasons Daniel said that he didn't want to have the treatment is because he is a medicine man and it would be a bad example for him to be receiving such treatments. However, when one asks this 13-year-old how he got a position in the church such a medicine man, he says, because his mom told him he was. In the Nemenhah Band anyone can be a Holy Man or Holy Woman by signing a simple contract and sending a check for $250 to the founder of the "Church" (does anyone else smell a scam?). Aside from this religion being money-making scam, it is sad, though not surprising, how Daniel goes along with his mother's beliefs. The judge ruled that Hauser must get the chemotherapy treatment because he believed Daniel is only being influenced by his parents' beliefs. His opposition to chemotherapy was also based on what his mother told his about the side effects. He is only 13 years old, and even if he was mature for his age this would be a big decision to let a 13 year old make for himself. But Daniel has been diagnosed with a learning disorder. He is educationally up to a 5th grade level and he is illiterate. Of course Daniel believes he is a medicine man and that his cancer isn't getting worse, he is going on the religious beliefs he was raised with and trusting what his parents tell him. This is one of those cases where people are using religion to hide from unpleasant reality, but the more they use their religion to deny their son's cancer, the more unpleasant their reality will get.
Nemenhah Band official website
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"Boy with cancer refuses chemotherapy"