UP parent neglect case dismissed

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WOOD) - A circuit court judge dismissed the case against Upper Peninsula parents who refused chemotherapy for their son after two PET scans didn't show any more signs of cancer.

J udge Thomas Solka threw out the state's petition to force the parents to resume 10-year-old Jacob Stieler's chemotherapy, a UP newssource reported.

Jacob Stieler was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a type of malignant bone cancer, and was treated at DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids.

In the summer of 2011, scans indicated no signs of cancer, but doctors recommended further radiation and chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from coming back.

But Jacob hadn't fared well during the original bout of treatments, telling his mother Erin that he wished he would fall asleep and not wake up. Ken and Erin Stieler of Skandia decided that they would not make Jacob undergo treatment as long as PET scans were clear.

"It's been a very long last several months going through this, especially waiting and not knowing what's going to happen next," Erin Stieler told 24 Hour News 8 via phone on Wednesday.

The Stielers also said they had faith that the case would get thrown out.

Judge Solka wrote in his ruling, "The court concludes as a matter of law that Jacob's parents have not been negligent in making decisions about his [Jacob's] course of treatment...

"The court is not making a finding that Jacob does not have cancer. A second opinion of a pediatric oncologist on additional treatment would be reasonable and should be considered by the parents...

"These decisions are better made in a clinical setting without resort to the courts. This is a physician-patient issue. The court should become involved only if an impasse is reached. The court does not find such an impasse here that the state should intervene and the family subjected to the rigors and uncertain outcome of a jury trial."

But Jacob's pediatric oncologist Dr. Beth Kurt said that Jacob still has cancer cells.

"There is a very big potential for relapse," she testified. "And if he relapses in another bone, in his lungs, in someplace else, this survival is dismal. It's abysmal."

"I'm not against treatment," Erin Stieler told 24 Hour News 8. "I'm against treatment in this form for my child." She also said she would get Jacob treatment if it becomes needed.  

In the meantime, Jacob will continue on a strict vitamin and diet regiment in hopes that the cancer doesn't return.

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24 Hour News 8's Marlee Ginter contributed to this report.