Dutch Court Rules 12-Year-Old Boy Can Refuse Chemotherapy

The Canadian Press, 12 May, 2017 01:34 PM

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A judge in the Netherlands has ruled that a 12-year-old boy does not have to undergo chemotherapy if he does not want it.

The ruling Friday came after the boy's father asked a judge to order the treatment. The mother of the boy supported her son in his opposition to the chemotherapy.

The court in Alkmaar said in a statement that the chemotherapy was part of treatment for the boy, identified only as David, following the successful surgical removal last year of a brain tumour.

After consulting a psychiatric report into David's ability to make the decision, a judge at the court said that David "is capable of a reasonable evaluation of his interests and realizes the consequences — including the negative ones — of his decision."

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