Drugs/Therapy
Judge Blocked The Hospital From Forcing a 10 year-old Amish girl to Resume Chemo
A Medina County judge has ruled out an Ohio hospital wish to force a 10-year-old Amish girl to resume chemotherapy. The girl is diagnosed with potentially fatal cancer.
The girl’s family agreed to begin the two year treatment starting last spring but stopped in a second round of chemotherapy because it was causing adverse effect on Sarah and made her extremely sick. Now they are willing to go for herbal and viatmin remedies.
The judge sided with the parents saying that there was no guarantee that chemotherapy would be successful and not allowing the parents to make medical decisions for their own daughter would be snatching their rights away in some way.
“They are good parents. They understand completely the grave situation their daughter is in and the consequences of their choice to refuse chemotherapy for Sarah at this time," said the judge according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
"Even if the treatments are successful, there is a very good chance Sarah will become infertile and have other serious health risks for the rest of her life," Judge Lohn said.
"We believe this case is about children's rights and giving a 10-year-old girl an 85 percent chance of survival with treatment," the hospital said in a statement.
The state laws offer parents a maximum degree of freedom when it comes to choosing the medical treatment for their own child but courts still reserve the rights to draw the line when the concerned authorities think it as a serious issue and involved life and death.
As far as the the girl’s personal opinions are considered, she was the one who begged her parents to stop the treatments. She has also told the court that she herself didn’t want the chemotherapy as it made her ill.
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