Case of Teen Refusing Chemo Going to Court Today

The state Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing at noon on Thursday to determine whether a 17-year-old girl known as Cassandra C. has legal grounds to refuse chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Typically the court can take months or longer to hear a case, but time is of the essence. The court will have to determine whether a trial court went about the right process when it granted the Department of Children and Families temporary custody of Cassandra.

It isn’t clear at this point whether a ruling will be released today.

Cassandra was diagnosed with the disease in September. Doctors believe she will have about an 85 percent chance of surviving if she undergoes chemotherapy,according to Fox CT.

However, she doesn’t want to go through the process and her mother supported the decision, according to court documents.

A trial court granted the Department of Children and Families temporary custody so she could go through the treatment, according to court documents.

DCF concluded that it had an obligation to take her into temporary custody because experts, doctors in this case, concluded that her mother’s decision not to have her daughter go through chemo would prove deadly, according to the Hartford Courant.

She ran away from home in November to avoid further treatment after two sessions.

If Cassandra were 18-years-old there would likely be no legal battle over her treatment. Her lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Joshua Michtom told the Hartford Courant that the question essentially boils down to whether a 17-year-old with knowledge of a situation can make the same decision as an 18-year-old.

He is asking the court to go by the same logic that allows minors to be tried as adults, seek abortions or give blood without parental consent.

Cassandra’s mother Jackie Fortin said she backed her daughter’s decision not to undergo chemo and that she didn’t attempt to sway her decision. Fortin’s lawyer told the Courant that he is asking the state Supreme Court to send the matter back to trial court so psychologists and other experts could testify.

Read the full Courant report here.

Read the full Fox CT story here.

Image via Windsor Locks PD

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