State Court: Teen Must Undergo Chemotherapy

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a 17 year old teen diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma must undergo chemotherapy, contrary to her wishes and to the wishes of her mother.

The ruling of the court was unanimous.

The girl, called Cassandra C. in court papers and who is from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, wants to seek alternative therapies for her highly treatable cancer, and her mother says she does not want the toxic chemotherapy.

"She does not want the toxins," her mother told CBS. "She does not want people telling her what to do with her body."

The state Supreme Court heard testimony from doctors that the chances of the girl being cured of her disease through conventional therapy is between 80 and 85 percent, suggesting that she has been diagnosed as being stage II or stage III.

Previously, she had been removed from her mother's custody and put into the custody of the state in order to receive the curative therapy.

Her mother says she will continue to seek our alternative therapies for her daughter.

Source: WKBW
Photo by José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez