This:

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.

[...]

“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.

[...]

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.

It’s always tough to separate a child’s welfare from parental rights — for example, should Christian Science parents be permitted to let their kid die of an ear infection?

But this one seems pretty clear-cut. This kid, his parents, and several doctors think another round of chemo could well kill him. But because the state’s doctors think otherwise, they’ve made him a ward of the state. Really, really troubling.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 at 9:10 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.