TORONTO—A decision to forcibly impose chemotherapy on an 11-year-old Hamilton boy who didn’t want to go through another round of painful treatment was “heavy-handed” and “worrisome” considering how often similar conflicts arise, several bioethicists said yesterday.
The boy, who cannot be named because he is now in the care of the Children’s Aid Society, has been thrust into the thorny debate over the right to seek alternative therapies and ignore conventional wisdom.