Judges get to do this. Although they have to use precedence, if there is no previous desicion like it - they must determine the law's interpretation. I find it imbalenced that one person's personal prejudice, no matter what rank, can determine someone's future. Finally taking my business law class that I've been waiting on - finally understanding how crooked the legal system has become.

I feel for this family as well as yours Mommysparkles - we all do the best with what we've got. It is ridiculous that the courts and social services intervene in situations such as this, where the parents are simply trying to parent their children. Unfortunatly the courts are wasting time on a family trying to support their 16 year old son instead of one who just doesn't care. I don't see how taking a kid away from his family (especialy in this situation where he may not live) will benefit him at all.

Yet we have these child molesters who get 2 years and out on good behavior. We have people killing their children, or careproviders killing people and taking their money. Vunerable citizen's get taken advantage of everyday, yet we need to focus on a 16 year old who can speak for himself and make a sound desicion about his treatment. Disgusting.

Well at least the AG has a some common sense, at least in this matter.

Any updates Kel?

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bump

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Judge orders stay of teen cancer patient's treatment order
06:18 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Associated Press & 13News

ACCOMAC, Va. (AP) -- An Accomack County Circuit Court judge granted a temporary stay for a 16-year-old Eastern Shore cancer patient who doesn't want to be forced by the state to undergo chemotherapy.

A juvenile court judge had ordered Starchild Abraham Cherrix and his parents to report to CHKD by 1:00 p.m. and denied a stay of that order.
But the Circuit Court judge Tuesday said Cherrix won't have to submit to treatment and also granted his parents full custody instead of having that custody shared with Social Services.

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief to the Circuit Court today supporting a stay, arguing that Abraham deserves the right to appeal the order to the Circuit Court before undergoing medical treatment.

After Tuesday's ruling, McDonnell said, "I applaud the Circuit Court's action in ordering a stay of the lower court order that Abraham Cherrix must receive chemotherapy beginning today. As our amicus brief noted, all citizens are entitled to the right to appeal a district court case, and to have their cases heard anew in the circuit court. That is why we filed our amicus brief. It would have been a violation of Abraham Cherrix's due process rights if the lower court order had been implemented prior to an appeal. The interests of justice required that a stay be granted. Our thoughts and concerns are with Abraham and his family as they continue their battle against cancer."

Abraham said three months of chemotherapy last year left him weak, and he refused a second round when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease was active again.

He chose instead to go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico. A social worker then asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) -- from wvec.com.

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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H. L. Mencken

I agree that terminal patients should be given the right to die with dignity. We certainly ended all treatment on my mom & my mil to allow them to pass away. I just wonder about the wisdom of refusing traditional treatment in favor of a sugar-free diet on a child with a curable illness. Seems to me the boy & his family are exerting their personal rights all the way to his grave. But that's JMHO.

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Personally, I am a modern medicine type of girl...but I don't believe that it is the only alternative out there. *Just because they want to go a different route with treatment than the general population doesn't make it wrong. *

If this boy is lucid and has, along with his family, made an informed decision then so be it. *I don't like the government sticking their nose in to business like this...it makes me very nervous. *It's not the governments or the citizens place to make these calls.

I don't think that his form of cancer is curable. I think the doctor's have basically told him that the chemo will keep him alive longer, but he isn't going to lick this. Therefore, he wants some control over his course of treatment, which I can understand.

And a big BRAVO for the VA AG. I'm glad that they filed the brief and that the CC stayed the order AND gave the parents back full custody of their child.

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That's why I voted for him. He's a stand-up sort of guy.

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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H. L. Mencken

Well if this is true it would change my opinion, but I looked on the internet and haven't found anything that says his cancer is incurable. *If you have a link for that info I'd appreciate it. *One of my best friends niece had hodgkins 2 years ago that sounds very similar to this. *It was a huge mass on her sternum. *She did go through very aggressive treatment for a long time. *It did make her ill and lose her hair, but she continued with college while doing it, so it wasn't totally debilitating. *She is now in total remission. *So if it's incurable, I'm all for dying with dignity, but if it is a potentially curable cancer, then I think they're idiots for going a sugar-free, organic diet route. *May be their right, but they're idiots anyway in my opinion. But like I said, I'd be interested in seeing the info on the terminal staus of his condition if you have that.

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I just want to point out that what may not be "totally debilitating" to one person's body...might be to a different person. I also want to add that any one particular treatment is not always going to be the best treatment for every individual.

I think this kind of thing is a VERY personal decision and should be left up to the individual and family members if that individual is a minor. The only exception might be...and I still use MIGHT...if it is some treatment with absolutely no medical basis at all. Like if some guy on the street told this kid that if he drank only soda and ate green M&Ms while standing on his head on Tuesdays, he would be cured.