On February 26, Arizona police officers had invaded a home of two parents who denied to take their sick 2-year-old son to the hospital. This thus constructed several alarming questions about the limitations of parental rights and the carelessness of seeking medical help.
Moreover, experts have admitted that parents who do not pursue any medical attention to their life threatening children have little to no legal stability and the state can come intervene. In this particular case, the mother had brought her son to the doctor and it had been revealed that he had a fever above 105. The doctor concluded that the child could have meningitis (life threatening brain/spinal cord infection), but the clinic did not have the resources to perform a test. As a result, the doctor referred the parent to the hospital which later was investigated that the mother never took the child. The doctor later called the Department of Child Safety and in return, the Chandler police department got involved because the life of the child was being threatened and mandated immediate medical help. With this in mind, there are certain states that allow public professionals to report to the state authorities if the life of the child is threatened by the parent’s poor medical decisions.
However, the police invasion involved officers holding ballistic shields, pistols, and a body camera to record the entire raid. Several speculate if the tactics of the police were ethical. The father of the child spoke to the local television station and declared that they were treated like animals and the children are probably traumatized by the event. It is unclear as to why the parents did not take their child to the hospital since they blame not vaccinating their child initially. Parents who do not take their children to get vaccinated usually do it for religious, philosophical, and medical reasons. Yet, in this case, the parents did not fall into those categories and neglected to care of their child because they believed the fever would subside.
All in all, the police report demonstrated something different. When the officers were inside the home, they found two other children in their bedroom covered in what appeared to be vomit and unknown particles. The children admitted they had been vomiting continuously and there were evident stains around their mouth. This proved that the police involvement was required and essential. In my opinion, parents who cannot give their children the necessary medical help should not have the legal rights of their healthcare. State officials should get involved in order to preserve the life of the child. At the point of jeopardizing the life of the child, parents should have no rights over the child and they should reevaluate their parental rights and decisions. When a child cannot fend for their own medical self, someone needs to step up in order to defend their health.