Got a News Tip for NaturalNews? Send us your news tip, and we'll investigate!

Hospital can force Amish girl to receive chemo, court rules

Posted: October 8, 2013 |   Comments



(http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/2936193) An Ohio appeals court has overturned a judge's previous decision to uphold the rights of Amish parents who wish to seek alternative treatment for their daughter with leukemia. The court has ruled that 10-year-old Sarah Hershberger can be forced to receive chemotherapy against her parent's wishes. The court also ruled that an attorney who is also a nurse at the hospital she represents should be granted limited guardianship over the girl and allowed to make medical decisions for her.

Sarah was originally receiving conventional treatment at Akron Children's Hospital. Her condition improved, but the chemotherapy was too painful and she begged her parents to cease the treatment. After that, they decided to treat her leukemia with natural medicine.

The previous court ruling noted that Sarah's parents are completely fit and competent enough to make medical decisions for their daughter and that it would be unconstitutional to strip them of that right. The judge from that ruling also noted that chemotherapy is not guaranteed to cure her, but it is guaranteed to put the young girl through more agony.

A county probate court investigator found that Sarah is not in remission, and hospital staff believe that she will die without conventional treatment. The court said that the rights of the state to protect the child outweigh the beliefs and convictions of the parents. Hospital officials say that, although the girl's illness, lymphoblatic lymphoma, is an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, there is a high survival rate with treatment.

Have a Comment? Share it...

comments powered by Disqus