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.”
A judge in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, grants a 12-year-old boy the right to decide for himself on whether or not to continue chemotherapy. The ruling was based on a psychiatric evaluation of the patient as being "capable of a reasonable evaluation of his interests and realizes the consequences — including the negative ones — of his decision."