RichardHarlos.com

Do you think the government has a right to use a court’s authority to order you to submit to medical treatment?

This is the plight of 16-year old Abraham Cherrix. A judge has ordered Abraham to submit to chemotherapy, a treatment that the boy had begun but then refused to continue. His parents support his decision.

But the state of Virginia, where Abraham lives, decided it knows better than Abraham and his parents what’s in the boy’s best interest so…

Cherrix, a native of Chincoteague, Va., was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease last summer and began chemotherapy soon after. Cherrix felt the treatment was poisoning him rather than saving him, and refused further treatments. He then made the choice, along with his parents Jay and Rose Cherrix, to pursue alternative therapies such as eliminating sugar from his diet and eating organic foods, all under the guidance of a doctor in Mexico.

Cherrix’s decision was reported to the Accomack County Department of Social Services, and a judge ordered Cherrix to undergo conventional treatments or be put in juvenile detention. Additionally, his parents Jay and Rose were found to be neglectful in their decision to allow Cherrix to make his own health decisions, and now have to share custody of their son with social services.”

-from http://www.newstarget.com/019746.html, 24 July 2006.

In an update to this story on 25 July 2006, Abraham Cherrix told reporters, “I think it’s my body. I can choose what’s best for my body. If I don’t have the right to do that, then I don’t have any rights at all anyway.” (-from http://www.newstarget.com/019759.html, 25 July 2006).

Cherrix makes a great point here: who’s body is it? While the 16-year old may be making a decision that others disagree with, isn’t it his right to make that decision?

What doctor could ethically treat a patient of sound-mind against his/her wishes?

Is the state legally empowered to override Abraham’s decision simply because it disagrees with his rationale? Are we now at the place where it’s ok that government orders medical treatment against a patient’s wishes?

Let’s hope not!