A woman who founded an organization in Florida after her daughter’s battle with cancer recently told the story of how that all began, and she even revealed that she was threatened with the loss of custody of her daughter if she did not go along with what the doctors said.
The girl, who is now five years old, was just two when scans showed that she had brain cancer. The woman said that her daughter was happy and full of life one day, and she was confined to a hospital bed the next, slowly dying from cancer.
Medical professionals wanted to act quickly. They said a certain surgery was necessary. If the mother did not sign off on it, they told her they would still carry it out, even without her permission. They also said that she had to allow them to do conventional treatment options. These included chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation.
If the woman didn’t agree, they told her the state would step it. The government would strip her of her custody rights, take her child, and let the hospital do the treatment regardless of what the woman said.
The woman, who did at first agree to the treatments and then added in some non-conventional methods later, did say that she didn’t blame the doctors. She said that, based on the laws, they really did not have a choice. They were just following what the law told them they must do.
This case does show just how fragile custody rights can be in some situations, so parents have to know all of the legal options at their disposal.
Source: Huffington Post, “Would You Break The Law To Save Your Child’s Life?,” Wendy Robbins, accessed July 29, 2016
