In Virginia, age 16 is old enough to drive a car, work a 40-hour week

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Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:08:51 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

Re: [...] In Virginia, age 16 is old enough to drive a car,

work a 40-hour week,

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Virginia, age 16 is old enough to drive a car, work a 40-hour week,

 

 

Court TV) -- In Virginia, age 16 is old enough to drive a car, work a

40-hour week, stand trial in adult court, and marry.

 

Whether 16 is old enough to reject traditional cancer treatment is at

the heart of a trial slated to begin next week on the Eastern Shore

town of Accomac.

 

Starchild Abraham Cherrix, a 16-year-old suffering from Hodgkin's

disease, has refused chemotherapy and radiation treatments ordered by

his oncologist in favor of an herbal remedy prescribed by a Mexican

clinic.

 

If Abraham, as he is known, were two years older, the decision would

be his alone and no court could challenge his choice, no matter how

medically unorthodox. But because he is a minor, social services

authorities have intervened.

 

In the proceeding that begins in Accomack County Circuit Court on

August 16, government lawyers will accuse his parents, who support

Abraham's herbal treatment, of medical neglect for not ensuring their

son receives chemotherapy and radiation. If they are successful, the

judge is likely to give partial custody to the state and order Abraham

into a hospital for treatment.

 

Although the right of states to compel medical treatment for gravely

ill children over their parents' wishes is well established, Abraham's

case is noteworthy because he has articulated strongly his own reasons

for refusing conventional treatment.

 

" I should have the right to tell someone what I want to do with this

body, " he told USA Today last month. " I studied. I did research. I

came to this conclusion that the chemotherapy was not the route I

wanted to take. "

 

Other cases often turn on a parent's religious beliefs, but the

Cherrixes say that while they are devout Christians, their decision is

based on Abraham's own negative experience with a first round of

chemotherapy and his evaluation, seconded by his parents, of

alternative treatments based on that experience.

 

" When Abraham mentioned that he didn't want to take radiation and that

he wanted to try alternative treatments, I tested him and questioned

him to make sure that was what he really wanted to do, " Jay Cherrix

said. " I researched it myself and saw that there were other options. "

State authorities acknowledge the case is not an easy one and said

they are concerned only with the teenager's health.

 

" One of the most difficult decisions of the Child Protective Services

program requires balancing the rights of the parents with the health

of the child, " Anthony Conyers Jr., State Social Service commissioner,

said in a statement about Abraham's case.

 

The trial comes as Abraham's health continues to deteriorate.

Although his lawyer says the lanky teen has gained weight and energy

with the daily doses of herbs, including licorice, he acknowledged

that tumors in Abraham's neck and chest are growing, albeit

" infinitesimally. "

 

Abraham was diagnosed with cancer a year ago after a doctor evaluating

his complaints of exhaustion discovered growths in his neck. He began

chemotherapy at a hospital in Norfolk, a two-hour drive from the

Cherrixes' home on the island of Chincoteague.

The treatments left Abraham, who stands 6-foot-1, nauseous and so weak

that his father had to carry him from the car to his bed.

" I watched Abraham go from 156 pounds to 122 pounds. I watched all of

his hair fall out. I saw him cringing from pain in his jaw so bad that

he couldn't eat. The heels of his feet hurt so much he couldn't walk.

He had blisters in his mouth, " said Jay Cherrix, who refers to his

eldest son as " my little boy. "

 

The chemotherapy initially seemed to work. His tumors shrank, and

according to the Cherrixes, Abraham was cancer-free by the end of

2005. By February, however, the cancer was back.

Abraham's oncologist ordered a second, more intense round of

chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Abraham balked.

" I think it would kill me the second time, " he told the Associated Press.

 

Instead, he began searching for alternative treatments and decided on

a sugar-free diet and a regiment of herbal supplements known as the

Hoxsey Method. The treatment is controversial.

It is banned in the United States by the FDA, and a review by the

National Cancer Institute several years ago of 400 patients who

claimed they were cured by the method could not substantiate a single

account.

 

Abraham and his parents, however, maintain they know people who have

been helped by the treatment and were convinced by visits to a clinic

in Tijuana.

 

" They were so overwhelmed with the kindness and professionalism of the

staff and with the success stories of people they met there who had

been cancer-free for 20, 30, 40 years. They felt they had found their

place, their niche, " said Sharon Smith, the family spokeswoman.

The Cherrixes asked Abraham's oncologist in Virginia to continue

monitoring their son during the herb treatment, but the physician

refused and instead alerted the Accomack County Department of Social

Services.

 

After interviewing the Cherrixes and the doctor, authorities proceeded

with charges of medical neglect, which, according to the Virginia

statute, is " the failure by the caretaker to obtain and or follow

through with a complete regimen of medical, mental or dental care for

a condition which if untreated could result in illness or

developmental delays. "

 

In July, Abraham, his parents, the oncologist and seven other

witnesses testified in a closed hearing in family court. The issue

before the juvenile judge was whether the Cherrixes had neglected

their son.

 

The couple did not fit the standard picture of mistreatment or

disinterest. Rose Cherrix homeschools the five children, while her

husband operates a kayaking business. They were at Abraham's side

throughout his chemotherapy.

 

On July 21, however, the judge ruled that the Hoxsey Method alone

constituted neglect. He gave social services joint custody of Abraham

and ordered him to report to the hospital to begin chemotherapy within

four days.

 

His parents immediately exercised the right of parties in family court

to have their cases heard anew in a higher court. A county circuit

court judge, Glen Tyler, stayed the lower court's order of

chemotherapy until he could hear evidence.

 

In a trial expected to last two days, Tyler will hear from the

oncologist, social services workers, a woman who claims the Hoxsey

Method cured her ovarian cancer, and of course, Abraham.

 

In a previous hearing, the teenager recalled the debilitating effects

of chemotherapy and his decision to pursue the herbal treatment. The

judge can consider his opinion, but also disregard it because he is a

minor.

 

According to Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at

the University of Pennsylvania, judges asked to compel medical

treatment of a minor normally are guided by the standards accepted by

the medical establishment.

 

" Courts decide based on what mainstream medicine says are the

appropriate treatments. They are not interested in Mexican

licorice-stick treatments, " he said.

 

Courts also consider the rate of success of a treatment and do not

order experimental or risky treatments.

 

The Cherrixes' defense plans to contest the efficacy of chemotherapy

in Abraham's case, saying it is no guarantee of restoring his health.

Stepanovich said he will call an oncologist to testify that Abraham's

resistance to the first course of chemotherapy indicates additional

courses may not help him.

 

Survival rates of those diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease are in excess

of 80 percent, but the rates drop for those whose cancer returns after

a first round of chemotherapy.

 

According to studies compiled by the American Cancer Society, the

five-year survival rate for those who undergo a second round of

chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant is between one-third and

one-half, depending on the treatment facility.

 

" It would be different if he had a broken arm or a heart ailment that

could be rectified by surgery. There's medical treatment that could

fix that problem definitively. In this case, he's got cancer and

there's no definite cure. Chemotherapy is a treatment. It's not a

cure, " Stepanovich said.

 

Caplan, the University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, said it seems

likely the judge will order Abraham back to the hospital for

chemotherapy and radiation, but said " the reality-check question " is

whether a tall 16-year-old can be made to cooperate.

 

" Are they going to shackle him? There is a physical reality that has

to be grappled with here, " he said.

Jay Cherrix echoed that skepticism. He said that while his family

would comply with the order of the court, he has trouble imagining a

doctor violating his son's wishes.

 

" I personally don't think there is a Dr. Mengele in the United States

who would pump this stuff into a 16-year-old who didn't want that. I

personally don't think we've reached that point in our civilization, "

he said.