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Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment
Breitbart.com ^ | 7/21/06 | Sonja Barisic

Posted on 07/21/2006 5:00:44 PM PDT by Huntress

A judge ruled Friday that a 16-year-old boy fighting to use alternative treatment for his cancer must report to a hospital by Tuesday and accept treatment that doctors deem necessary, the family's attorney said.

The judge also found Starchild Abraham Cherrix's parents were neglectful for allowing him to pursue alternative treatment of a sugar-free, organic diet and herbal supplements supervised by a clinic in Mexico, lawyer John Stepanovich said.

Jay and Rose Cherrix of Chincoteague on Virginia's Eastern Shore must continue to share custody of their son with the Accomack County Department of Social Services, as the judge had previously ordered, Stepanovich said.

The parents were devastated by the new order and planned to appeal, the lawyer said.

Stepanovich said he will ask a higher court on Monday to stay enforcement of the order, which requires the parents to take Abraham to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk and to give the oncologist their written legal consent to treat their son for Hodgkin's disease.

"I want to caution all parents of Virginia: Look out, because Social Services may be pounding on your door next when they disagree with the decision you've made about the health care of your child," Stepanovich said.

Phone calls to the Cherrix home went unanswered.

The lawyer declined to release the ruling, saying juvenile court Judge Jesse E. Demps has sealed much of the case.

Social Services officials have declined to comment, citing privacy laws.

After three months of chemotherapy last year made him nauseated and weak, Abraham rejected doctors' recommendations to go through a second round when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes, was active again.

A social worker then asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment. In May, the judge issued a temporary order finding Abraham's parents neglectful and awarding partial custody to the county, with Abraham continuing to live at home with his four siblings.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: cancer; cancerboy; chincoteague; communism; cpswatch; govwatch; health; healthcare; imperialjudiciary; klintonkare; medicine; nannystate; privacy; ruling; socialism; tyrantsinblack; virginia
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To: GladesGuru
Exactly...and we know where that ended up leading last time around.

History is a harsh task master, and, in so many ways (from the ME war, to this type of thing), school is in session.

21 posted on 07/21/2006 5:30:07 PM PDT by Jeff Head (God, family, country)
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To: kingu
I suggest to the parents (and the youth) that they flip the bird at the court and leave the jurisdiction.

My sentiments exactly. I do believe though that a superior court will rule that this judge's ruling is entirely out of line and will overturn it.

22 posted on 07/21/2006 5:31:27 PM PDT by kaylar
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To: dandelion; All
"...it's about state control over health care."

I would agree. If they parents were truly negligent in this case, I don't believe they would have bother with any form of treatment whatsoever. Not that all parents who pursue treatment through alternative medicine are not delusional, but it would appear otherwise in this case.
23 posted on 07/21/2006 5:35:08 PM PDT by This Just In ("that protectionism, socialism, and communism are basically the same plant" The Law; F. Bastiat)
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To: Huntress

This make me more mad than democrats....


24 posted on 07/21/2006 5:36:44 PM PDT by dubie
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To: Zeroisanumber

" There is a sacred bond between newspapers and readers that promises "we will find out as much as we can and tell you as much as we can," Raines said."

The judge could always say obey my dictate or die. Oh, nevermind.


25 posted on 07/21/2006 5:37:46 PM PDT by billhilly
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To: Huntress
If I have a case of advanced cancer, my last thought is to spend my final days in a hospital be hooked up to a machine. Its my life, my body and my decision and not someone else's. The judge needs to butt out of this family's affairs.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)

26 posted on 07/21/2006 5:41:24 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
Normally informed consent involves letting PEOPLE CHOOSE TO DO WHAT THEY WANT
after being given the options of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, etc.

So there are two questions:
1 - Was the family and patient given full informed consent?
and 2 - How much stock in chemotherapy companies does the Judge own?

27 posted on 07/21/2006 5:45:18 PM PDT by Diogenesis (Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
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To: goldstategop
Normally informed consent involves letting PEOPLE CHOOSE TO DO WHAT THEY WANT
after being given the options of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, etc.

So there are two questions:
1 - Was the family and patient given full informed consent?
and 2 - How much stock in chemotherapy companies does the Judge own?

28 posted on 07/21/2006 5:45:19 PM PDT by Diogenesis (Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
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To: Huntress

As a physician I am skeptical of alternative cancer treatments. That said I am very skeptical of a government that feels like it has the right to make ones medical decisions. In my E.D. I cant treat a child without a parents consent. If it is a life threatening event and requires immediate intervention and the parents are not around I am covered by informed consent laws. But if a child comes in with anything else I can not touch him/her. Maybe now if I agree with a parents decision I can call social services. /sarcasm


29 posted on 07/21/2006 5:46:38 PM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
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To: kingu

LOL ... here's one better.
If the kid has to take Chemo, he should eat a huge breakfast before the treatment, then go take the treatment, THEN ask to be taken directly to see the Judge. By the time he gets to the Judge's chambers he should be nauseated sufficiently to BLOW CHUNK all over the judge, the judge's desk, and the carpet. If the judge gets mad, all the kid has to do is say "I'm sorry, but that's what your ordered-treatment caused me to do ... I'm not responsible for where or when I throw up. Oooh ... I feel another heave coming!!!!"


30 posted on 07/21/2006 5:47:10 PM PDT by TexasGreg ("Democrats Piss Me OfI)
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To: TheRedSoxWinThePennant
I too am skeptical of their effectiveness. But a patient has the right to disregard professional medical advice even if it goes against his best interests. Its a free country and people ought to be allowed to decide what's best for them even if that ends up being a mistake. Part of living in a free society comes with the realization being free means being allowed to fail as well as to succeed. And that is a matter to be left up to the individual's judgment.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)

31 posted on 07/21/2006 5:50:22 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

I agree 100% I think this ruling is an outrage. Unless the parents are proven to me incompetent or abusive the child has a right to any rx he wants.


32 posted on 07/21/2006 5:55:11 PM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
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To: CindyDawg
How can the government force someone to sign a consent ?

That's the worst of it; they should at least refuse to do that. If the judge is going to say that their consent doesn't matter, he can nullify the need for their consent. If he lacks the power to do that, he should lack the power to force them to give consent.

33 posted on 07/21/2006 5:55:17 PM PDT by Young Scholar
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To: Huntress

The clinic I think the boy is going to - has an excellent cure rate for many cancer types - with the chemo - he has a worse chance of survival than the natural treatment


34 posted on 07/21/2006 6:02:00 PM PDT by Zeteo (BLINK!)
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To: TheRedSoxWinThePennant

Unfortunately, as a non-physician who was faced with a debilitating condition a year or so ago (which I solved by not believing some doctors and researching and going after alternative type treatments).....I am skeptical of doctors.....but, please don't take it personally.


35 posted on 07/21/2006 6:02:18 PM PDT by goodnesswins ( "the left can only take power through deception." (and it seems Hillary & Company are the masters)
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To: goodnesswins

I dont take it personally. A good example is accupuncture. I am one of few M.D.'s who will say it works. I have seen numerous pt's benefit from it. I think there is nothing wrong with trying natural or holistic remedies. But it wouldnt hurt to get an opinion from a doctor if you fear your condition is serious.


36 posted on 07/21/2006 6:06:57 PM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
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To: Gabz

I'd say this is a nanny-state ping


37 posted on 07/21/2006 6:13:28 PM PDT by 383rr ((those who choose security over liberty deserve neither; GUN CONTROL=SLAVERY)
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To: CindyDawg

"16 year olds can make other health care decisions according to the government (abortion/bc)."

Yes, abortion uber alles. However, there may be parental consent laws in the state involved here.


38 posted on 07/21/2006 6:16:01 PM PDT by jocon307 (The Silent Majority - silent no longer)
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To: AmericaUnited
Chemo is an insane, evil form of medicine on the par with medieval blood letting. The bodies immune system is what cures cancer. You strengthen the immune system to get healed. You do not destroy it. Good God!

Previously, before the chemotherapy regimes for Hodgkin's disease were developed, the disease was a uniformly fatal disorder and it remains one today if untreated.

Today, in children, the survival rate for treated Hodgkin's disease is up to 94 percent.

The usefulness of blood-letting or the usefulness of curing Hodgkin's disease by doing nothing more than "strengthening the immune system" in an unspecified manner have never been documented by survival rate data.

Sometimes, a strong immune system is simply not enough. That is why, prior to antibiotics, bacterial infections killed strapping young adults by the millions every year.

The success of chemotherapy in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease by chemotherapy is more that proven by the 94 percent survival rate the are possible today.

Whether or not the therapy should have been forced on the boy is a totally separate issue but, in Hodgkin's disease, chemotherapy has definitely has changed an invariably fatal disease into a disease with a 94% survival rate.

39 posted on 07/21/2006 6:19:51 PM PDT by Polybius
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To: Huntress

We don't have the freedom to choose medical treatment? A judge can make that call? That seems very very wrong to me.


40 posted on 07/21/2006 6:22:58 PM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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