Originally published August 4 2005
Utah couple that refused chemotherapy for son files lawsuit
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A Utah couple has filed a lawsuit against doctors, prosecutors and child welfare officials involved in a 2003 dispute in which the couples' custody of their then 12-year old son was threatened after they refused to force him to undergo chemotherapy to treat his cancer, when his condition at the time had not even been fully confirmed.
A Utah couple who were threatened with losing custody of their son when they refused to force him to undergo chemotherapy filed a lawsuit Monday against the physicians, prosecutors and child welfare officials involved in the 2003 dispute.
Barbara and Daren Jensen say their constitutional right to decide what was best for their son was violated, according to the complaint filed in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.
Parker Jensen, then 12, had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
The high-profile case drew national attention and led to flurry of parental rights bills on Utah's Capitol Hill.
Two bills strengthening parents' rights became law.
of Child and Family Services (DCFS) Director Richard Anderson and social worker Kari Cunningham, and assistant attorney general Susan Eisenman.
The suit also names Intermountain Health Care (IHC) and three of its physicians, Lars Wagner, David Corwin, and Cheryl Coffin, and University of Utah physician Karen Albritton.
Officials at DCFS, Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC), the U. and IHC declined to comment on the lawsuit until their attorneys have a chance to review it.
In the suit, the Jensens claim they declined chemotherapy only after physicians refused to perform testing that would have definitively confirmed their son had Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that occurs mainly in children.
After a laboratory tested a sample of a small tumor removed from under Parker's tongue and found it to be cancerous, PCMC conducted further testing, according to the lawsuit.
Hospital officials eventually filed a medical neglect complaint against the Jensens, and DCFS sought custody of Parker.
But the lawsuit also alleges DCFS caseworker Cunningham never spoke with the Jensens or investigated Wagner's claims that the Ewing's diagnosis had been confirmed.
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