Parker Jensen is still alive -- and he's not sick, either

About a year ago, the big story here in Utah was about a 13 year-old boy who the state was taking away from his parents because they refused to treat him for cancer. The boy, Parker Jensen, had been diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, and when his parents had the temerity to ask for a second opinion, the snooty doctor at Primary Children's Medical Center (their motto: "The Child, first and always" which should be amended to read "The Parents: Last, if ever") turned them into the state Division of Child and Family Services. The DCFS, used to taking kids away from drug-addled single moms, went to a judge and started their normal process.

And then all hell broke loose.

Parker's parents were not pushovers. Instead of caving in to the DCFS, they took him and fled the state, and then got the media involved. By the time the smoke had cleared, the DCFS and their lawyers, the Guardian ad Litem office, had their butts handed to them by a massive swell of public outrage. The outrage carried over to this year's Legislative session, but only a couple of reform bills passed.

(I blogged about this extensively when it was happening, but that was in the old, Bigwig-hosted Warren days. The old Warren is no more, the links to my posts have all rotted away, and I don't have the patience to wait for Bigwig to send me copies of the posts via e-mail. Check here and here and here for background information.)

Well, the Deseret News recently followed up with the Jensen family, and found that Parker is quite well and happy, with no sign of cancer. Aside from impending bankruptcy, Mr. Jensen's continuing unemployment, and over $400,000 in debt, the Jensen family is doing about as well as can be expected.

The state DCFS now admit that Parker is healthy, but add that he faces an elevated chance of developing cancer in the next 3-5 years. But that's not what they told the judge a year ago. Back then, Parker was close to death and needed immediate treatment. As that was before the public knew the details of the story, they could get away with it. Once the public found out the details, they were forced into a humiliating retreat.

One could say that the Jensens "beat" the DCFS. With all their problems, it would appear to be Pyrrhic victory, indeed. Once again, the awesome power of the state was used to crush some recalcitrant individuals. Unfortunately for everyone involved, those individuals were innocent.