Counterpoint: In medical crisis, family needs support, not punishment

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A child has cancer. Should parents or the medical establishment decide the healing journey? Do parents have a right to seek alternative approaches, or are they beholden to the cancer industry and its protocols? Should the state have the right to remove a child from the home if parents decline a treatment they deem destructive? ("Chemo refusal brings parental rights fight," May 24.)

As a psychotherapist and children's advocate, I am disillusioned, but not surprised, that Keaton Peck's parents were reported for medical neglect by declining chemotherapy. The pressure to comply with conventional cancer treatment is high.

While the medical community has much to offer, they should not decide what we should or shouldn't do with our bodies. There are other healing modalities we can choose, including declining treatment and, possibly, death.

Peck's doctors fear he could die without preventive treatment even though he is currently cancer free. The child's previous treatments resulted in brain bleeds, muscle weakness and slurred speech. The parents want a different journey for Keaton, one where he might experience more ease and get to be a child again. Is that not a credible option?

The view that we must save lives at all costs needs a fresh conversation. Are we here only to see how long we can survive no matter the consequences? Has the quality of life taken a back seat? Has our resistance to death become so high that we will suffer through hell just not to die? Do doctors feel so pressured to save a life that they start to pressure us? Do they dismiss alternative healing approaches because they are trained to follow only evidence-based medical interventions despite the side effects a patient must endure?

I have lived with a chronic illness for over 30 years, suffering bodily pain and drug side effects. Rarely have doctors discussed side effects before treatment. Rarely do they cheer when I tell them diet and mindfulness meditation have changed my condition. Basically, drugs are all they have to offer. I find this extremely limiting and sad for everyone.

In many cancer cases, the patient's life span is significantly shortened. All of us need to consider how we want our children and ourselves to spend that time. Are we being pressured (and, as in this case, forced) by the medical and cancer industries to prolong life as long as possible even if the side effects are abhorrent? Isn't that abuse in itself?

Maybe these parents would like to see what a natural approach might do even if it hasn't been researched. Maybe they would like to give their child a life he can enjoy for whatever time he has left. Maybe the child shouldn't have to suffer through a litany of other problems. At some point, maybe Peck's parents would like him to experience a quality death, one where doctors stop making it a medical experiment to see how long they can keep him alive.

Maybe we should support this family instead of punishing them.

Lisa Swanson, of Minnetonka, is a therapist.