State of Michigan Appeals Case Against Parents to Force Chemo on Cancer-free Child

Health Impact News Editor Comments:

We reported the story of Jacob Stieler last year, and his parents won a hard fought battle with the state of Michigan, where the Michigan Department of Human Services wanted to force a dangerous chemo therapy treatment on their cancer-free child. Read the original story here.

Unfortunately, even though a judge ruled against the state and allowed Jacob’s parents to choose what was best for their son, the state of Michigan is continuing to harass the family and has appealed the decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Here is an update from their Facebook Page from Michael Farris of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association:

Stieler Case Update: Michigan Department of Human Services appeals pro-family decision to Michigan Court of Appeals.

Ken and Erin Stieler are the mom and dad of Jacob—who has been cancer-free since his PET scan in early July. He has had two clean PET scans since then—the most recent in January.

Despite all of this, the Michigan Department of Human Services continues to attempt to prosecute this family for medical neglect. If they succeed they will force Jacob to resume chemotherapy despite the fact that the drugs in question are not FDA approved (either for children in general or for this particular cancer). Moreover, these drugs do not promise anything close to a guaranteed cure. And, the FDA requires the drug manufacturers to disclose that these drugs cause new cancers to form, heart disease in children, failure to sexually mature, and many other serious side effects in some cases.

The Marquette County Probate Court has twice ruled against the Department. Yet, the department keeps on fighting against these parents.

Just this afternoon, the Department’s appeal was filed in the Michigan Court of Appeals. The irony is that the Department has alleged that this case should be expedited because the situation is urgent. If it was urgent, why did the Department wait 55 days from the initial hotline call until filing its complaint? Why did the Department and a consulting doctor call two local judges trying to influence them to prosecute the Stielers—despite the fact that such out of court calls are clearly unethical? These calls required the case to be re-assigned twice—wasting another two months. If it was urgent, why did the Department ask for a continuance of the December trial date by almost a month? If it was urgent, when the Department lost why did it seek a motion for rehearing, a step that is rarely granted and which took another two months to resolve? And when they filed this motion for rehearing, why did they wait until the very last day—21 days—before filing the motion? And when it came time to appeal, why did they wait until the 20th day—beating the deadline by a single day?

The Department’s actions prove that they don’t really believe in the medical urgency theory—they only believe in hassling parents that have the courage to tell them “no.”

Please “like” this if you will commit to pray for this family and this case. And pray that Jacob will remain cancer free.

If you want to help with the funding of this case, please go to the Homeschool Foundation’s site. This is not a homeschool case, but we stand for the rights of all parents to direct the upbringing of their child. Thanks.

https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/support.aspx

Read the Original Story Here.

UPDATE March 21 from Hope for Jacob Facebook Page: “We got the news today that the Court of Appeals have approved DHS’ appeal. Meaning that they will listen to what DHS has to say. DHS will have 28 days to file their brief and then we will have 21 days to file ours. If the court of Appeals then agrees to listen to an oral argument, that will happen 2-4 months from then. I actually started laughing when Michael Farris told me that. At the earliest, it’ll be over a year from when CPS started their investigation in the first place. Craziness!!!