By Dan Linehan
NEW ULM — Daniel Hauser answered a judge’s questions behind closed doors Saturday morning, but part of his testimony was reflected in court proceedings later in the day.
Testimony wrapped up in Brown County’s child neglect petition, which seeks to force Hauser’s Sleepy Eye parents to continue chemotherapy for Daniel, a 13-year-old with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The boy refuses chemotherapy and his parents, Colleen and Anthony, say they support his decision.
Doctors testified Friday that he will probably die without chemotherapy.
Danny was diagnosed with cancer in January and received one dose of chemotherapy in early February. His mother said she was pressured into allowing that treatment and now respects her son’s decision to refuse it.
The second day of testimony focused largely on medical professionals called by the Hausers’ lawyer, Calvin Johnson. These witnesses spoke about the value of the alternative, diet-based treatments favored by Daniel and his parents.
Daniel’s private testimony came first.
Danny, as his parents call him, was slated to be called to the stand publicly but said through his lawyer, Phillip Elbert, that he didn’t want to testify at all. Failing that, he asked to answer questions in private.
Judge Rodenberg agreed, and Danny testified in the judge’s chambers for about an hour.
Discussion about that testimony was forbidden by the judge, but an attorney assigned by the court to represent Danny’s best interests emerged from the session with a different perspective.
The lawyer, Thomas Sinas, said he’ll no longer acknowledge “the genuineness of Danny Hauser’s religious beliefs” based on his closed-door testimony. Sinas offered to explain the change, but Judge Rodenberg told him not to.
The judge said a transcript of his testimony would be released at the same time as his ruling.
Later Saturday, Sinas called guardian ad litem Shiree Oliver to the stand. She has been appointed by the court to represent Danny’s best interests, and is represented by Sinas and other attorneys.
Oliver said Danny doesn’t have the “capacity or ability” to understand his religious beliefs. She also said Danny was “incredibly below” his peers in academic achievement, according to her interviews with his teachers.
The Hausers’ spiritual beliefs, specifically their membership in the Native American Nemenhah band, has been central to the case.
Sinas made a motion asking the judge to bar experts from testifying about alternative healing techniques.
First, he cited a state law: “A parent who obtains complementary and alternative health care for the parent’s minor child is not relieved of the duty to seek necessary medical care ...,” the law reads.
Here “complementary and alternative” health care would refer to their Nemenhah practices, which focus on diet but include a wide array of other methods. Necessary medical care, according to several doctors who testified, means chemotherapy and radiation.
Sinas also argued these alternative healers weren’t “experts” as state law describes them.
In his response to Sinas’ motion, Johnson called it “absolutely ludicrous” for the court to deny his client the ability to explain their religious practices.
“They want us to believe that there is only one standard of care on this Earth and that is not true,” Johnson said.
Judge Rodenberg allowed three alternative medicine specialists to testify on their practices in general but not on Danny because none has treated him. They all testified by phone.
Clyde Shealy, a 76-year-old former neurosurgeon, said he has “moderate” experience with cancer patients.
“You couldn’t pay me a trillion dollars to have chemotherapy,” he said. “... I say that four months of life is not worth six months of torture of chemotherapy.”
Shealy said there is “quite striking evidence” that a patient’s belief about the efficacy of their therapy affects its outcome.
“It is absolutely criminal to force therapy on a child when the parents object to it,” he said.
In cross-examination by Sinas, Shealy said patients as young as 12 should be able to decide their own care.
Shealy said “at least a dozen” patients of his have been cured of cancer by natural remedies like high doses of vitamins.
He also used the term “pharmacomafia” to deride pharmaceutical companies’ interest in drug-related therapy at the expense of natural techniques.
Robert Irons, a former researcher at the National Institutes of Health, called chemotherapy “a short-term gain for a long-term cost” because the treatment doesn’t discriminate between healthy and cancerous cells.
But he said chemotherapy has the best evidence of success in the case of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Helen Healy, a naturopathic health care provider in St. Paul, spoke about her specialty, which avoids drugs, major surgery and radiation in favor of natural techniques. Those include green tea extract, which she said reduces tumor growth.
She is not a medical doctor and can’t prescribe medicine.
Healy said she is willing to treat Danny, but would recommend that he receive chemotherapy in addition to her treatment.
Written arguments are due Tuesday and District Judge John Rodenberg will make a ruling after that.
