State Forces 17-Year Old Cancer Patient to Undergo Chemo

[LIPTON BASH]

This is insane. So people are fine with the government over ruling parents and the 17 year old. We are going to force a treatment as painful as chemo on someone that parents and 17 year old doesn't want ?

[SportsGuy41017]

I am not sure how I feel about this. BUT, if there is an 85% survival rate, I do feel that the state "could" be right in this case. I can understand if there is a slim chance of survival and she didn't want to go through all the stuff just to prolong her life a few months, or a year.

[nkuclubbaseball19]

1) The family stated this wasn't a religious decision, correct?

 

2) The minor is 17 years old. As long as she is not mentally unstable I think she should be allowed to make this decision (even if I think just giving up is the wrong decision). We expect 17 year olds to make major life decisions already (e.g. to go to college or not, join the military, future professions) but Connecticut won't allow her to make a decision regarding her own body? Blasphemy.

[UKMustangFan]

The court ruled that she must get the treatments. So until September (when she turns 18) she's getting pumped full of drugs against the wishes of both her and her mother. Just dumbfounded by this decision.

[doomer]

If she wants to commit suicide by religion let her .

 

I don't think she gave herself the cancer....

 

How a person feels about treatment and the decision they make is a personal decision and should not be influenced in any way shape or form by anyone else if the person is of sound mind. If this door is opened, then do we open the door for government mandated sterilizations, abortions, etc.?

[mexitucky]

Case law says that at some point religious beliefs are secondary.

 

Only when it comes to those religious practices impacting public health (i.e. not getting your child vaccinated).

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Looked up some more details on this specific case. Hodgkins Lymphoma...as well as this girl's specific case...is estimated at 85% curable with chemotherapy. She hasn't had any treatment at all yet. This was not a case of forcing someone to *continue* treatment...this is a case of forcing a minor to BEGIN treatment that has an 85% chance of curing her.

[Beechwoodfan]

Very interesting debate. Someone on TV brought up the fact that mom brought up her daughter to think like she does (as we all do). So the ethical question is, are they both in agreement, or is the daughter repeating her mother's bias?

 

I heard both of them use the word "poison" when talking about Chemo.

 

Medically speaking, when treated, Hodgkins has a huge rate of success. This is not necessarily a terminal situation. The odds are in her favor. I fully understand why her physicians are pushing this. She is so young with a great chance at survival.

[doomer]

IMO these people are wrong for not seeking treatment for a curable disease. However, I don't like the government able to require it. Where are the limits then? If a person gets cancer and refuses treatment then the government can require it, or is it only when the patient is a minor? What is to prevent the government from declaring a person incompetent when they refuse treatment.

[mexitucky]

I think that this ruling is absolute garbage. A human has the right to decide what goes into their own body.

[Clyde]

Only when it comes to those religious practices impacting public health (i.e. not getting your child vaccinated).

 

Courts use the likelihood of success when determining if they will force a parent to accept the recommended treatment.

 

 

 

http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2006/10/hlaw1-0610.html

[mexitucky]

Courts use the likelihood of success when determining if they will force a parent to accept the recommended treatment.

 

 

 

VM -- Limiting Parents' Rights in Medical Decision Making, Oct 06 ... Virtual Mentor

 

This is different. This is not a 4 year old who, obviously has no say in anything. This is a teenager less than a year from 18. The court needed to give leeway. Chemo is awful. Personally, I would do whatever I had to to survive. 85% is a heck of a chance...however, I will not tell another that they have to do the same. This girl is going to reject treatment in a couple of months and there will be nothing that anyone can do. Why make her suffer until then? We may not like or understand the decision, but it must be respected

[Clyde]

This is different. This is not a 4 year old who' date=' obviously has no say in anything. This is a teenager less than a year from 18. The court needed to give leeway. Chemo is awful. Personally, I would do whatever I had to to survive. 85% is a heck of a chance...however, I will not tell another that they have to do the same. This girl is going to reject treatment in a couple of months and there will be nothing that anyone can do. Why make her suffer until then? We may not like or understand the decision, but it must be respected[/quote']

 

I was speaking to the broader debate. Courts do not give parents final say.

[lawildcat]

UPDATE:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/conn-teen-didn-chemotherapy-remission-article-1.2142532

 

A Connecticut teenager who was ordered by a state court to undergo chemotherapy against her wishes is in remission after several months of treatment, the state's Department of Children and Families said on Sunday.

 

The department gained temporary custody of the 17-year-old, identified as “Cassandra C” in court documents, after she and her mother, Jackie Fortin, fought for her right to discontinue treatment despite her risk of dying.

 

The state department indicated in a statement on Sunday that the treatment has worked even faster than anticipated.

 

"We are very pleased with Cassandra's progress toward a complete recovery," said Joette Katz, Commissioner of the state's Department of Children and Families (DCF).

 

"We have had full confidence throughout that the medical professionals involved in her treatment would be successful in saving her life."

 

The girl was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in September. After surgery failed to rid her of the cancer, she underwent two rounds of chemotherapy before asking that treatments be stopped, then ran away from home to avoid further treatment.

 

DCF took custody of the case and continued treatments which doctors said were essential for her survival. Treatments were ordered for at least six months, which doctors said gave her an 85 percent chance of survival, versus a "near certainty of death within two years" without chemotherapy.

 

Attorneys for the girl and her mother said she should be treated as a "mature minor," with the legal right to reject medical care she did not want, an approach recognized in some states but not in Connecticut.

 

The state's top court rejected her bid, with state Assistant Attorney General John Tucker saying that halting treatment "would almost certainly result in her death."

 

Neither Fortin's attorney Michael Taylor nor Cassandra's court-appointed public defender Joshua Michtom could be reached for comment on Sunday.

[doomer]

I hope that it is true for her sake.