One nation under God

Liberty and Justice for All

2006-07-31

The Apparent State of the Parent State

After three months of chemotherapy last year made him nauseated and weak, Starchild Abraham Cherrix couldn't take it anymore. He rejected doctors' recommendations to go through a second round when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease was active again.

Abraham and his parents, Jay and Rose Cherrix of Chincoteague, Virginia, chose to pursue alternative treatment rather than the massive dose of chemotherapy and radiation his doctors prescribed. 

The doctor contacted the County Department of Social Services who investigated and a social worker asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment. The judge issued a temporary order finding the parents neglectful and awarded shared custody of their son with the county, requiring the parents to take him to the hospital and to give the oncologist their written legal consent to treat their son for the disease.

Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen Tyler has since overturned the order and returned Abraham to the full custody of his parents. This doesn't mean, however, that the problem is solved. They will be returning to court next month to battle with the government for the right to choose what they feel is the best kind of treatment for their son.

Since when do parents not have the right to make decisions on behalf of their children for what they deem to be in the best interest of their children?

Since when does the government has the right to ORDER anyone to submit to any medical procedure or treatment?

Having lost loved ones to cancer even after chemotherapy, and some who still suffer, I have seen the devastation of the disease and the brutality of the treatment. Once started, you begin to wonder if it’s not the disease will that will kill them, but the treatment. I'm not sure they would or could do it all over again; and may have opted for less conventional treatment had alternatives been known and available to them.

I've seen others who refused further chemotherapy treatment and were sent home - supposedly to die within weeks - yet who live a cancer-free life more than 30 years later.

If someone makes a decision that will result ultimately in his death, isn't that his decision and his family's? I would think that in order to take away that right requires proof that they are incompetent. I don't want a court forcing me to undergo treatment of any kind because they claim it will work and the treatment I've chosen will not.

Will Social Services be pounding on your door when they disagree with the decision you've made about the health care of your child?

Gina Weiss

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FED Up with the government? Now you can do something and get paid too!