Quebec's child protection agency is refusing to force chemotherapy on a three-year-old boy with cancer after his parents opted to treat him with alternative medicine instead.
Last fall, Anael L'Esperance-Nascimento, from Ripon., Que. was diagnosed with cancerous cells in his brain and spinal cord.
He was initially cared for at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario but his parents have since decided to try an alternative treatment that involves a diet of raw vegetables.
Arthur Schafer, an ethics professor at the University of Manitoba, said the court ruled against the medical staff at the hospital because the boy's condition, which is currently not life threatening, is not an emergency situation.
"The chemo is toxic, it's highly aggressive treatment," Schafer told CTV's Canada AM on Friday. "It may be that the child is likely not to survive anyway, it may be that there's time to survive and that the chemo doesn't have to be given now."
Schafer said that if the doctors had testified that it was a medical emergency, the province probably would have intervened.
"There's a heavy burden of proof on the state if you're going to interfere on the judgments of a loving family about their own young child," he said. "You better have good medical evidence and my supposition is that we haven't seen that evidence yet."
Still, Shafer said the province could eventually change the ruling.
"The parents are making what is doubtless a loving decision but it's not a rational decision and I think that public authorities will override their wishes if there is an effective alternative."
The boy's mother, Marie-�lise L'Esp�rance, says that since starting the new diet her son's condition has improved. L'Esp�rance said if his health worsens she will seek chemotherapy again.
The mainly raw vegetable diet is based on that of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. They claim their diet promotes the oxygenation of blood through enzymes found in raw vegetables.
