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.
ping......
Nanny State Ping.
I am not a medical person, but to me the choice of treatment should be up to the family or patient.
This is close to home for me folks, I live in Accomack County, and spend a great deal of ime in Chincoteague.........
I think that the same thing holds true for those that are diagnosed with ALL leukemia...it was considered fatal...now, due to chemotherapy, I do believe that the cure rate is between 70-90 per cent...not a full cure, but certainly a whole lot better than zero chance of a cure...
Granted, that is a separate issue altogether from forcing families to accept a particular medical treatment...
There is a very warm place in hell reserved for this cruel judge who has decided to inflict unbearable pain and suffering on a young cancer victim.
This is a travesty. The Government can OK killing, see Terri, now they can tell you what kind of medical treatment you can seek!
Thanks for the heads up.......I've only caught bits and pieces of this in the past and had no clue, I mean that literally, this was practically in my backyard. I knew it was in Virginia, but was unaware the family is only 15 miles away from me.
OTOH, I do know that social services in this county are VERY heavy handed.
On that lovely note, I bid you a fond good night, as I have had a long day and am going to commune with my pillow. Post with you soon.
To me the case would turn on the boy's legal capacity to decide his own treatment. Does a 16-year-old have the right to decide his own treatment in that state? In some other state? In Mexico, where the alternative treatment was actually administered.
Alrighty.
See ya.
That should be "Republican-led government", not "Republic-led".
If this kid doesn't want it, I can't see any way short of knocking him out to force him to take this treatment.
I had a spouse die for Hodgkin’s after lengthy chemo and radiation, seeing the suffering I have decided that if I ever get cancer it will run its course.
Besides the obvious discomfort to the treatment, we had to wheel chair into the blood letting rooms, parking blocks away to maneuver around the doctors Mercedes parked in their reserved spots next to the door. Cancer treatment is big business!
Sure for cancer like Hopkins remission rate is high, but Statistics show that even those who are "cured" will never live as long as life as expected for a healthily person. I know a nurse who works with breast cancer patients; she claims the woman will only live 15 years longer ave after treatment even when "cured".
If cancer is caught early, the treatment is better, and maybe not as harsh, but putting trust in the government or doctors in advanced cases, and no trust in God to take you home is just a mistake, and a travesty in this case where this young adult has no right over his own body and determination on what is left of his own life, and the parents who have no right to parent, something out of a new age Orwellian novel!
Agree.
Not too sure about age laws in Virginia, but in Vermont, at 16, a child can legally decide which parent they wish to live with if their is a separation/divorce.
Most states allow 16 year olds to get drivers licenses.
Busybody Social Services are the bane of our existence.
Too bad they are not as efficient and resourceful when it comes protecting some of the most vulnerable from evil foster parents and natural parents who after children are found to have been abused, it is USUALLY the case that local Social Services had been informed of problem, yet did nothing.
Wish the Appropriated Press writer had taken the trouble to let us know who this dim wit judge was.
Would be willing to wager he/she is yet another do-gooder, lib?
Um, yea.
I know more then a few people who have had chemo and would disagree, though I used to know a few folks who didn't have chemo, but I'm not sure how they would feel now.
They have since died.
The moral hypocrisy of the left-leaning statists - they can defend a teenage girl's right to kill her baby in the womb, becaue IT'S HER BODY they will say, but a 16 year old boy and his parents must be forced to use a medical treatment that neither the boy nor his parents want him to use. Hypocrites.
5.56mm
Well...I did get Doctor's opinions.....they said Rheumatoid Arthritis.....I didn't believe it....so I kept "doctor shopping"...know what I have? MENOPAUSE! Bio-ID hormones and levothyroxine have cured me....So....when a woman in her early 50's comes to you saying she hurts all over (and in her 40's has shortness of breath and other mysterious symptoms)....look first to HORMONES and THYROID....I believe there are a lot of women on RA protocols including the RA Doc I went to who has his wife on them...(spendy, too) that really should just be on hormones and thyroid pills...../rant....thanks for listening.
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