Mom allows treatment in religious child neglect case

The mother of Daniel Hauser, a 13 year-old Hodgkin's disease sufferer, says that she wants her son to have "alternative" treatment, but will abide by the orders of the court if it rules differently.

According to CNN, Jennifer Keller, a defense lawyer for the Hauser family, has said that Colleen Hauser wants to do the best she can to give her son alternative treatments but that she will nevertheless comply with what the court orders, should it decide otherwise. Keller says that they are very clear on that and that this is her advice. Daniel and his mother arrived in New Ulm at 3 am Monday morning, the day after Keller had phoned the office of the Brown County Sheriff to tell them that the mother wanted to take her son home. The chartered flight for Daniel and his mother was paid for by Asgaard Media of Corona, California. "We wanted him to be able to come back quietly, not have cameras in his face, not have people shouting questions at him, allow him to get back to the farm and his father and his siblings and some sense of a normal life," said Jennifer Keller. "He's a nice boy but he's been through a lot. He really deserves a chance at this point to get some rest and peace and quiet." Keller had a meeting with Daniel and his mother in her Irvine office. They had talked on the phone a few days before that. Keller said that "He did not appear in pain. He was tired and anxious to get home," and "He didn't appear to be in any acute distress. He misses his home, he misses his family and he wanted to see his dad." She did not charge for her services. Brown County Sheriff Rich Hoffmann said the same thing and he added that "It all turned out for the good." Whether the Sheriff is correct, remains to be seen. An X-ray made last week had revealed that Daniel's tumour had grown substantially after weeks of neglect, and every day without treatment reduces the probability for a successful treatment. Daniel was checked out at a hospital when he returned, but the results of that exam are currently unknown. Judge Rodenberg of the Brown County court had issued an arrest warrant for Colleen Hauser after she disappeared with Daniel. He had said that he would cancel the order if Colleen started to co-operate voluntarily and Sheriff Hoffmann says that this is exactly what the judge has done. He said that a federal fugitive warrant will also be dropped. Philip Elbert, the court-appointed guardian ad litem, thinks that Daniel has diminished capacity as a result of both his age and his illness and that he thinks that he should be treated by a cancer specialist.