By Jacob Santini
The Salt Lake Tribune
On a day when Daren Jensen made his first appearance at the state Capitol, Utah's senators approved a bill that would require parents to be deemed incompetent before the state could mandate medical treatment for their children.
Daren Jensen, who became the poster parent for the parental-rights movement last summer when he challenged the state's Division of Child and Family Services request to force chemotherapy on his 12-year-old son, sat next to his district representative on the House floor Thursday.
At the same time, Sen. Dave Thomas, R-South Weber, moved his medical neglect exemption bill through the Senate on a vote of 23-6, with all 22 Republicans and one Democrat -- Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City -- in favor and the six remaining Democrats opposed to the bill.
After seemingly dying in a committee earlier in the session, the bill returned and is the first of the so-called Parker Jensen measures -- a group of bills with major impact on the child-welfare system -- to be passed by either chamber.
"The crux of it is when a parent makes a medical decision, the Division of Child and Family Services and the state" must prove the parents are incompetent, not just that DCFS disagrees with the parents decision, Thomas said.
The bill now moves to the House for consideration. It requires the division to prove in juvenile court that a parent is not a "reasonable, prudent and fit caregiver" before being able to force medical treatment on a child in non-life-threatening situations.
The level of proof -- "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- and the practical application has some lawmakers and DCFS officials concerned.
"This bill eliminates medical neglect as a cause of action in juvenile court," said Sen. Patrice Arent, D-Murray
