Severely disabled girl, 14, will be ‘shackled down’ and forced to undergo chemotherapy after landmark court ruling – despite her mother and doctor pleading with judge to let her ‘die peacefully’
A severely disabled 14-year-old girl with the developmental capacity of a toddler will be ‘chained up’ and forced to undergo painful cancer treatment after a landmark court ruling.
The teenager, who suffers from developmental problems and drug-resistant epilepsy, will begin treatment on Thursday despite desperate pleas from her family to let her “die peacefully”.
She was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at a base hospital in rural New South Wales on March 5.
The hospital, which cannot be identified for privacy reasons, applied to the NSW Supreme Court for permission for her cancer treatment after her mother requested her daughter receive palliative care instead.
The court heard the mother wanted to avoid the ‘pain and suffering’ her daughter would face during chemotherapy.
The teenager suffers up to ten seizures per week and has a developmental age of approximately 16 to 18 months.
A 14-year-old girl with serious developmental problems will be forced to undergo cancer treatment despite her doctor’s warning that she will likely be ‘chained up’
However, she “can experience up to six seizures per day, within one cluster.”
“(The) mother’s wishes are not based on any religious or cultural beliefs,” the court heard. news.com.au reported.
“They were born entirely out of her love for her daughter and her desire to prevent further suffering for a child who already has a medical disability.”
Her appeal for the 14-year-old not to receive cancer treatment is backed by the girl’s pediatrician, who told the court he treated her first attack when she was just 18 weeks old.
He said it was likely the teenager would have to be ‘chained’ into undergoing cancer treatment because she had been a difficult patient in the past.
She previously had two cannulas pulled out of her arm and a nasogastric tube removed.
The day before her cancer diagnosis, she had to be “forcefully held in place for two hours” to receive a blood transfusion.
The pediatrician expressed his belief that the girl “would not be able to handle the painful procedures associated with chemotherapy.”
She could also need “extremely intensive” procedures, such as a bone marrow transplant.
“I therefore support and agree with the mother’s decision that it is not in the patient’s best interest to attempt curative chemotherapy as I have no doubt that she will not tolerate that invasive intervention,” the pediatrician said .
The hospital, which cannot be identified for privacy reasons, applied to the NSW Supreme Court for permission for her cancer treatment after her mother requested her daughter receive palliative care instead.
Despite the doctor’s advice and the mother’s wishes, Judge Michael Elkaim SC ruled that the hospital could treat the girl’s cancer.
He admitted that the treatment would be difficult, but argued that “that does not mean it should not be undertaken.”
The judge added that ruling that the girl receive palliative care would be a “death sentence” as without treatment she would likely die within four weeks.
The hospital will begin treatment on Thursday, March 21, and the case will appear in court on June 14 to monitor the girl’s progress.