The pair sued state officials and doctors in 2005, saying they violated their constitutional right to decide what was best for their child. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, is scheduled to go to trial next year.
The Jensens say in a Monday court filing that Parker, now 17, is in great health.
Daren and Barbara Jensen say a doctor ignored their doubts about whether their son really had a rare form of cancer and used scare tactics to try to force him into chemotherapy, including telling them the boy would be dead soon without the treatment.
The Sandy couple also contend the state failed to fairly investigate a claim of medical neglect against them. And an assistant state attorney general appeared to have let an experience with cancer in her family affect her decisions in the Jensen case.
The Jensens made the claims in a brief filed late Monday that opposes requests by state officials and physicians to dismiss a lawsuit the couple filed against them in U.S. District Court.
In the suit, the parents claim their right to decide on medical treatment for their son was violated. The defendants have responded that they merely were trying to get potentially life-saving treatment for Parker and are asking Judge Ted Stewart to throw out the suit.
Claims against the state of Utah and two doctors have been thrown out. Remaining as defendants are Lars Wagner, an Intermountain Healthcare physician; Karen Albritton, a University of Utah physician; Richard Anderson, then-director of the Division of Child and Family Services; Karl Cunningham, a DCFS social worker; and Susan Eisenman, an assistant Utah attorney general.
The Jensens say in Monday's brief that they used to be a typical Utah family.
Then in 2003, doctors said Parker had Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, and needed to undergo 45 weeks of chemotherapy. When they researched the disease and started questioning the diagnosis, Wagner falsely told them that there was no additional testing that could be done to confirm whether the boy had cancer, according the Jensens.
His motivation, they claim, was to get their son into a clinical trial.
The Jensens said they declined chemotherapy only after physicians refused to perform more definitive genetic testing to show that a tumor removed from under Parker's tongue really was Ewing's sarcoma.
The two say a number of factors, including the location of the tumor in soft tissue, contradicted the diagnosis. And Wagner acknowledged that chemotherapy “posed a likelihood of sterility” only after they raised the subject, their brief says. The defendants could not be reached late Monday but have denied wrongdoing.
pmanson@sltrib.com
