Cancer therapies becomes central issue of court battle

• First, Katie Wernecke must receive five days of traditional chemotherapy at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, state District Judge Jack Hunter, newly appointed to the contentious case, ruled Friday.
• Dr. Robert Wells, the pediatric oncologist treating Katie in Houston, said the chances the teen can beat the illness are now between 20 percent and 25 percent because of repeated delays in her receiving proper care.
• Attorneys in the case were in Hunter's court Friday after Katie's parents attempted to halt chemotherapy that was to begin this weekend.
• They argued the treatment was experimental and that they had not been properly informed about it.
• "My job is to save this baby, and I'm going to do it," Hunter said in Saturday's online edition of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
• Hunter said Katie's parents could take her for consultation with a Kansas physician on the alternative treatment, even though Wells testified it is not a viable option.
• Katie's parents have made several attempts to stop treatment for the girl's Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes.
• They believe the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation could be more harmful than the disease.
• Katie was diagnosed in January and began receiving chemotherapy, which doctors recommended be followed with radiation.
• Her parents kept Katie from the radiation, prompting Child Protective Services to remove Katie from her family.
• Edward Wernecke said the treatment could put Katie at a heightened risk for breast cancer, stunt her growth and cause learning problems.
• A judge gave CPS temporary custody of Katie in June after doctors testified the Werneckes were risking their daughter's life and a scan showed the cancer had returned.
• Hunter is the third judge assigned to the case.