State won't pursue custody or chemotherapy for Parker Jensen

Utah's Division of Child and Family Services is dropping efforts to get custody of 12-year-old Parker Jensen or force chemotherapy on him, officials said Monday.

The Jensen family's fierce resistance to the treatment — recommended by at least four doctors after the boy had a cancerous tumor diagnosed as Ewing's sarcoma removed from his mouth — makes forced custody and treatment unworkable because chemotherapy needs supportive parents to work, said Carol Sisco, a spokeswoman for the Division of Children and Family Services.

Daren and Barbara Jensens have twice agreed in court to follow doctors' recommended treatments, but refused each time — most recently last week — after an oncologist advised chemotherapy, which the parents fear would stunt the boy's growth and leave him sterile.

Monday's move by DCFS has the blessing of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

"They agreed in court that they would follow the doctor's recommendations. They've now said they won't do that. So what can we do?" Sisco said. "Do we take in him custody and force him into chemotherapy? We just don't think that will work."

The Jensens, who want to pursue alternative treatments for Parker, fled Utah in August after the state ordered them to turn the boy over to their custody to receive chemotherapy. They were charged with kidnapping, but later surrendered.

In exchange for keeping Parker, the parents agreed to a new round of tests by an Idaho oncologist, Dr. Martin Johnston, and abide by his treatment recommendation.

Johnston recommended an 11-month regimen of chemotherapy, but the Jensens maintain new tests do not show signs of cancer in Parker's body. One of the tests, however, showed the boy has an abnormality in his mouth that needs attention from an oral surgeon.

Johnston also recommended a bone marrow test because in about 5 percent of cases, the bone marrow can be the only site of a demonstrated spread of cancer. Virtually all patients with Ewing's sarcoma have undetectable cancer cells that spread.

Kidnapping charges are still pending against the parents, who were released on their own recognizance after they surrendered.

Last week, the Office of the Guardian Ad Litem, a state agency whose attorneys were appointed to act as Parker's guardians in the custody dispute, released a four-page history of the case.

According to the release, the Jensens in July agreed in court to get a diagnosis from Children's Hospital Los Angeles and immediately begin any treatment recommended by doctors, who later confirmed the sarcoma diagnosis and recommended chemotherapy. But the Jensens refused the treatment.

The report also showed that earlier this year, the Jensens requested a second opinion from Harvard after a diagnosis from Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. But the Jensens declined the testing after learning their insurance provider would not pay for a second opinion. When Primary Children's offered to pay for the Harvard tests, the family still refused.