[Avian2005] Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment

[Guest guest]

Wasn't it just last week, that someone was talking about being

declared with an ailment does not mean you have to take the

allopathic route? Unfortunately, this is a growing trend. A social

worker and then a judge tell the parents that the child must receive

allopathic medicine and the parents are charged with neglect. What

does this mean for the health of an individual all the way up to the

health of a society?

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

www..com

 

Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/21/D8J0MGOO1.html

By SONJA BARISIC

Associated Press Writer

 

NORFOLK, Va.

 

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.