Tag Archives: medical

Civil Liberties, Health, US

A teen is told she has to receive chemotherapy by the state

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A Connecticut teen who was recently diagnosed with cancer is being forced by the state to undergo chemotherapy treatment.

The 17-year-old girl, who has been identified in court papers as “Cassandra C.”, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, in September 2014. Doctors recommended she undergo a series of chemotherapy treatments, but Cassandra refused with the support of her mother, Jackie Fortin.

“She has always—even years ago—said that if she was diagnosed with cancer, she would not put poison into her body,” said Jackie, according to NBC Connecticut. 

Once she refused treatment, Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families became involved by petitioning for, and receiving, temporary custody of the teen and by saying, according to FOX CT, the teen needed the treatment and she would receive it.

“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 papers according to CBS Connecticut. “The court also authorized DCF to make all necessary medical decisions on Cassandra’s behalf.”

Cassandra ran away from the hospital she was placed in shortly after she had received the first two chemo-treatments.

Since receiving the treatments, Cassandra and Jackie argued forcing chemotherapy on Cassandra was a violation of their rights to choose treatment or not.  “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,’” said Jackie.

Michael Taylor, Jackie and Cassandra’s attorney, said the decision should not be a decision the state’s government gets involved in. “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,'” said Taylor. 

The Connecticut Supreme Court will hear this case Thursday, but until then, Cassandra must stay in the hospital and continue the state mandated treatment program.

Health, US

Epileptic child has been seizure free thanks to cannabis oil

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A child in Oregon who has suffered from seizures brought on by epilepsy has been seizure free for close to nine-weeks now thanks to cannabis oil.

A week after Forrest Smelser turned eight, he was diagnosed with epilepsy, which would cause him to go into seizures, sometimes lasting upwards of 15 minutes.  According to the Epilepsy Foundation, any seizure lasting longer then five minutes requires immediate medical attention and may result in permanent brain damage.

His mother Tanesha took Forrest to the emergency room many times until finally the doctors prescribed Forrest with an anti-seizure drug called Trileptal.  However, the medication only seemed to make things worse for Forrest.  “He would scream, he would fight, he would punch himself,” said Tanesha according to KATU.  

The FDA  has said these side effects are not common, but they do occur in about one in every 500 people.  

At this point, Tanesha said Forrest became suicidal, which she and her family blame on the medications.  Then, Tanesha and her family began to look into other medical options for Forrest.

Forrest’s family began to read into the uses of medical marijuana and its benefits, and made the conscious choice to begin Forrest on a medical marijuana treatment.

After nine weeks of giving Forrest cannabidiol (CBD), the second most active component of medical marijuana, the family reports Forrest has been seizure free.

The strain of medical marijuana Forrest is taking contains mostly CBDs, according to Medical Daily.  Normally, THC, the component which provides the high behind smoking marijuana, is the main component in medical marijuana, but because this strain is mostly CBD, there is virtually no high.  Instead, the CBDs provide anti-seizure, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects on the patient.

This link provides further studies by Project CBD on the effects of CBD in a medical setting.

However, Forrest is not smoking the medical marijuana, rather he is taking it through pill form like any other medication.

“Now that I’m on this medication, I feel like a normal boy,” Forrest said.

“I feel like it’s saved his life,” said Tanesha.  “I know it sounds scary, and I know it sounds unconventional, but it’s working. It’s working!”