In Connecticut, Government Knows Better Than Parents.

State removes 17-year-old from home, forces her into chemotherapy

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Ben Bullard

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A 17-year-old Connecticut girl was so adamant about declining treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma that she reportedly ran away from home in order to avoid a state-mandated round of chemotherapy. Now, she’s in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), thanks to a judge’s order.

According to CBS Connecticut, the unnamed minor — referred to as “Cassandra C.” in court documents — initially refused treatment after her diagnosis in September, and her mother supported that decision.

Then the DCF intervened, petitioning for a court order granting the department temporary custody and forcing her mother “to cooperate with medical care administered to her daughter under DCF supervision.”

From CBS Connecticut:

“Following a hearing at which Cassandra’s doctors testified, the trial court ordered that she be removed from her home and that she remain in DCF’s care and custody,” read court documents. “The court also authorized DCF to make all necessary medical decisions on Cassandra’s behalf.”

… Cassandra and her mother claim that Connecticut’s common law and public policy dictate that DCF cannot force Cassandra to receive medical treatment over her knowing and informed objection and over the knowing and informed objection of her mother, according to the court documents.

The girl’s family is appealing the court order. Their attorney, Michael S. Taylor, told local media that the state’s forcible treatment was a violation of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

“It’s a question of fundamental constitutional rights — the right to have a say over what happens to your body — and the right to say to the government ‘you can’t control what happens to my body,'” Taylor told WTIC-TV.

“That really ought to be up to Cassandra. It ought not to be for the state to jump in and say ‘well, regardless of your decision, we think we know better.'”

The family is set for a Jan. 8 hearing before the Connecticut Supreme Court. Until then, Cassandra C. remains in the custody of the DCF and continues to receive the treatment to which she and her family object.