Posted on 07/25/2006 12:21:45 PM PDT by freespirited
A judge ruled Tuesday a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital and ordered a trial to settle the dispute.
"I feel free today. I was let off the leash," Starchild Abraham Cherrix said after Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Taylor agreed to a stay. Abraham has undergone alternative treatment approaches for his cancer, such as herbal treatments, after an initial round of chemotherapy.
A juvenile court judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday for treatment of his cancer. The judge refused to lift his order Monday and Abraham's parents sought a stay.
In setting aside the lower court order Tuesday, Taylor also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials, which was also ordered by the juvenile court judge.
Taylor scheduled a trial for Aug. 16.
A lawyer for Abraham and his parents argued that if the lower court order was allowed to stand, any further legal appeals would be moot.
"Once those doctors take control of Abraham, then the game is over in terms of their appeal that they're entitled to by statute," said John Stepanovich, lawyer for Jay and Rose Cherrix.
Abraham's parents embraced as Taylor lifted the order.
Rose Cherrix said she and her husband were fearful that Abraham would be taken away from them and ordered to undergo chemotherapy.
"We feel like we are going to get to at least be heard this time," she said outside of court. "We don't feel like we were heard before."
Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief supporting the stay, arguing that Abraham deserves the right to appeal before undergoing medical treatment.
"It would have been a violation of Abraham Cherrix's due process rights if the lower court order had been implemented prior to an appeal," McDonnell said in a statement. "The interests of justice required that a stay be granted."
The hearing began one hour before Abraham was to report to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, about 80 miles from the courthouse.
Abraham was so weakened by three months of chemotherapy last year that at times he could barely walk.
He refused a second round of chemotherapy when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes, was active again. He chose instead to go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico. A social worker then asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.
In his order Friday, Judge Jesse E. Demps found the parents neglectful for allowing Abraham to pursue alternative treatment. He required them to continue sharing custody of Abraham with the Accomack County Department of Social Services, as he previously had ordered.
Carl Bundick, an attorney for the department, told the judge the department would not object to a suspension of that order, provided that a new trial would take place quickly.
"What the department is interested in is this young man being cured of cancer," Bundick said.
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On the Net:
Abraham Cherrix: http://www.abrahamsjourney.com
I guess I had been named Starchild, I'd go by Abraham, too.
Poor kid. Hope he gets better.
That's great news! The jackbooted thugs have been called off (for the moment).
Has it ever been printed what the percentage of cases of this stage of his Cancer has been cured with chemo?
Did he choose a casket as well? Better get moving Abe, you`ve all but guaranteed your death.
I'm sure the Mexican treatment will cure him, and he will no longer be a burden on the buyers of health insurance policies.
At least he's going to go out on his own terms and not some judge's.
Exactly. He has a right to die as he pleases.
I don't know enough about his condition to say. I once had a co-worker who had this form of cancer, and he's still in total remission 10 years later. But the chemo knocked him on his butt for months.
If it turns out this young man has only a short time left to him, it would not reflect well on our legal system if he had to spend most of that time arguing with lawyers and judges.
I'm with you.
We are all dying! He tried the chemo. It didn't work the first time (less likely the 2nd). It is his choice to place his life in God's hands. Who are we to question him?
Well, if a 16 year old girl has the right to an abortion, then a 16 year old boy ought to be able to refuse chemotherapy. Same arguements apply.
If the state is going to be this outrageous action against parents...what alternate do parents have? I have a few ideas...
My uncle, born in San Francisco in 1892, was named Audley Theodore. He hated his first name and went by "A. T." When he turned 21, he legally changed it to Arthur Theodore, and all his friends called him "Tex." He had no asociation with Texas.
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