Dutch court rules 12-year-old boy can refuse chemotherapy

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.”