I wondered what took him so long (maybe diving into heated debates is not his style), but fellow ScienceBlogger The Cheerful Oncologist has weighed on on the Cherrix case, in which a 16-year-old has refused chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's disease. And he would know better than I what the treatment options are for relapsed Hodgkin's disease. Personally, I'd like to see him chime in on such issues more often.
I'm glad he did also and will go over and congratulate/encourage him. This is one series of alt med cases where I feel that one should really be an MD to hold forth on the topic. However, that doesn't stop many other folks, does it?
Its a travesty how this case was handled by the media, and its sad that more oncologists, like The Cheerful Oncolgist, were not included on TV and newspapers, as well as hodgkins patients who have gone on to lead full lives after receiving transplants for relapsed hodgkins.
Instead, we were bombarded with news about a few cases where alt meds appeared to have worked, without discussion of the more likely reasons for their success that had nothing to do with the sham treatments they received. And, a child who's making a choice that will lead to his death was lauded as a hero rather than as seriously misguided.
I am seriously disappointed with how this case was handled by the media.
In a more callous moment, I feel that the outcome can be summed up as allowing Darwin to run its course.
Abel also has weighed in with a wonderful post on the topic-- see it here: http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2006/08/cherrix_refusal_of_pediatric_c…