N.Y. Boy, Released to Parents, to Get Texas Cancer Treatment

A cancer-stricken boy who had been ordered into a hospital over the objections of his parents was released back into their custody Friday in an agreement under which he will be taken to a cancer clinic in Texas.

“I pray God the youngster will be able to obtain such treatment that is good for him,” said Family Court Judge Leon Deutsch, who announced the settlement. “I pray God he will make a complete recovery.”

Darian Pagan, his mother, Migdalia, and a lawyer for the city are to make the trip Sunday to the M. D. Anderson Institute at the University of Texas in Houston.

The agreement was reached with the city, the parents and the judge, who on Thursday returned the 4-year-old boy to Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, from which his father took him in violation of a court order.

Steven Pagan, 36, surrendered with his son Thursday after hearing that his wife had been jailed because of his action. The dispute began when the parents objected to a planned chemotherapy treatment, which could be painful.

Treatment at the Texas facility is said to be a less vigorous form of chemotherapy.

The judge imposed a 10-day suspended sentence against Pagan for contempt of court and freed his wife, 35, who had spent the last two nights in jail.

“Their feelings are confusion, relief and apprehension,” said the parents’ lawyer, Steven Mandel. “They still have a child with leukemia and this is something no parent should have to go through.”

Darian was hospitalized May 26 under an order from Deutsch that was requested by the Child Welfare Administration because hospital officials said the boy was not getting the treatment he needed.