[Reader-list] Teen Loses fight to use alternative medicine...
Jeebesh Bagchi
jeebesh at sarai.net
Wed Jul 26 17:36:33 IST 2006
More on modern medicine and it's continuing fight to keep itself
viable.....b, j
http://www.forbes.com/business/businesstech/feeds/ap/2006/07/22/
ap2897439.html
Associated Press
Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment
By SONJA BARISIC , 07.22.2006, 11:13 PM
A judge has ruled 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 on Friday 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.
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