Connecticut Supreme Court Sides with DCF, Girl to Remain in Custody for Forced Chemotherapy

January 8, 2015

Connecticut Supreme Court Sides with DCF, Girl to Remain in Custody for Forced Chemotherapy

Connecticut Supreme Court decided Cassandra must continue to receive forced chemotherapy. Photo courtesy Fox News Connecticut.

Health Impact News Editor Comments

Unsurprisingly, the Connecticut State Supreme court upheld the medical kidnapping case of Cassandra and left her in State custody where doctors are free to force chemotherapy on her against her desire, and the desire of her mother.

It should be noted that in the report below by Beau Berman of Fox News Connecticut, the same reporter who broke the Justina Pelletier medical kidnap story last year, he is reporting that attorney Michael Taylor who represented the family at this hearing is a public defender assigned to the case.

Since we have started publishing these medical kidnapping stories, we have received many emails and comments from people who have been involved in the legal process. One of them was the wife of a CPS employee who wanted us to share what she tells as many people as she can who have experienced losing their children to CPS:

I would highly recommend that you include the following information on your pages that talk about the abuse that CPS does to families by taking children away needlessly. It will help the parents tremendously if they will hire a private lawyer. Not the court-appointed lawyer, but a private lawyer, one who knows CPS.

My husband, who works for CPS, and also recently got his master’s in Social Work, said that there are virtually no children from middle and upper class families in CPS, and that the workers tremble and make sure they are careful what they do when they see a family has a private lawyer. Also, the judge is more likely to view the family favorably if he sees a private lawyer.

Many families would say or do (or neglect to say or do) things that would hurt (or help) them in their case, because they don’t know the law. They will believe what they are told, even if the information is not correct, because they don’t know better.

It is absolutely crucial that parents get a lawyer to help them with their case, and that they sue the agencies involved (including policemen and hospitals, if necessary) if any unlawful actions were taken against them. If the parents don’t have the money, they should start a fund for friends and family and community to help them out.

We sincerely hope that a private attorney who is a true family advocate will step forward to take up this case.

It would seem that in the legal proceedings it is assumed that chemotherapy is the only viable option for Cassandra, and that without it she will die. Most mainstream media reports are stating this as fact.

It is not fact.

Last year Health Impact News reported on a case in Ohio where medical authorities wanted to take custody of an Amish girl who was refusing chemotherapy for cancer treatment. The parents took her outside the U.S. to prevent losing custody of their young daughter, and to receive alternative cancer therapy. The mainstream media was in an uproar and freely reported what doctors were claiming, that the girl would almost immediately die without treatment. And yet instead, the girl became cancer-free through alternative treatments, and is still doing well today. (See: Ohio Amish Girl Who Refused Forced Chemo Now Reported Cancer-free.)

Billy Best ran away from chemotherapy when he was 16 and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Today he is cancer-free and has a family. Photo by Gary Higgins of The Patriot Ledger

There are thousands of stories of people beating cancer without chemotherapy. In 1994 Billy Best, for example, became a media sensation when, as a teenager, he ran away to avoid chemotherapy and eventually healed himself of his cancer through alternative methods. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, the same diagnosis Cassandra has been given. He refused chemotherapy and he is still alive and doing well today, teaching people about alternative cancer treatments.

The chemical-based cancer treatment business is a lucrative industry in the hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars each year, with a very poor success rate. To learn more, see: The Cancer Industry is Too Prosperous to Allow a Cure.

Court sides with DCF, teen will remain in custody for forced chemotherapy

by ANGELICA SPANOS, BEAU BERMAN AND KATIE HARRIS
FOXCT.com

Excerpts:

A Windsor Locks teen faced a judge in Connecticut State Supreme court Thursday after she’s been forced to undergo chemotherapy against her will. She is identified as Cassandra C. in court papers, and she believes she should be allowed to make her own health care decisions even though she’s a minor.

After roughly one hour of arguments, the court sided with Department of Children and Families and determined she must remain in state custody to continue forced chemotherapy.

The teen’s mother addressed the media after the hearing.

“We’re not saying we wouldn’t do treatment. We weren’t allowed to go get and seek a second opinion and get other options and to look at other options besides chemo,” said Jackie Fortin, Cassandra’s mother.

John Tucker, the attorney representing the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, argued that after running away to avoid chemo treatments, Cassandra’s actions did not demonstrate maturity. “The choices that this child was making were irrational and not in her best interest,” said Tucker.

Cassandra did not attend the hearing. She remains in the hospital and will continue receiving forced chemotherapy as a result of Thursday’s ruling.

Her mother remained steadfast in her support of what she called “her daughter’s decision.”

“I wouldn’t let my daughter die. She doesn’t want to die. But she should have a choice and an option of what treatment she wants for this cancer, how she wants to treat it, where she wants to get treated,” said Fortin.

Read the Full Story at FOXCT.com.

See Also:

The Cancer Industry is Too Prosperous to Allow a Cure

Published on January 8, 2015

Tags: Connecticut, forced chemo, medical kidnap|

11 Comments

Frances January 19, 2015 at 12:05 pm - Reply

The govt. wants to complain about the torture in GITMO, and yet they force torture on this young lady.   I cannot began to image the horror that she is living through.

Ramona Herrera January 24, 2015 at 2:00 pm - Reply

Exactly. The more of us use the right word – torture -to describe this, the more it will get the attention this kind of atrocity deserves.

Thomas McLeod January 10, 2015 at 5:21 pm - Reply

Here is Cassandra’s op-ed, in full, published in the Hartford Courant on 1/8:

Over the past 17 years, I have lived a good life. It has always just been me and my mom and all of our pets. My mom raised me well, to be a strong, competent and independent woman. She taught me right from wrong and always led me in the right direction, standing by my side through every decision I made. I wouldn’t have my strength, determination and motivation if it weren’t for my mom. She played the role of a mom and a dad, and she did a damn good job!.

Words cannot describe what my life has become over the last few months. “Horrifying” seems like an understatement. What I have been going through is traumatizing. Never did it cross my mind that one day I would be diagnosed with cancer. In September, after a stressful summer of blood work, examinations and biopsies, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

My mom and I wanted to make sure my diagnosis was correct, so we agreed to seek a second opinion. We wanted to be 100 percent sure I had cancer. Apparently, going for the second opinion and questioning doctors was considered “wasting time” and “not necessary.” My mom was reported to the Department of Children and Families for medical neglect because we weren’t meeting the doctors’ time standard.

In no way is my mom neglectful. She has always put me before herself. I am offended by anyone who believes otherwise. My mom has been identified as “hostile,” “neglectful” and “unsupportive,” three untrue words that break my heart.

In October, DCF and nearly the entire Windsor Locks police department arrived when I was home alone and surrounded my house, banging on doors and windows. I hid in my closet crying on the phone with Mom and my friends until Mom came home. I sat in my closet for at least an hour while Mom, DCF and the police argued downstairs. I was scared.

I had to leave with DCF. They had me medically evaluated and placed in a foster home until a court date. I was devastated. I needed to be with my mom. Taking me away from my mom in no way is in my best interest. There are children who need DCF, but I am not one of them.

In November, I was allowed to return home to my mom with the promise to start chemotherapy immediately. Although I didn’t have any intention of proceeding with the chemotherapy once I returned home, I endured two days of it. Two days was enough; mentally and emotionally, I could not go through with chemotherapy. I felt backed up against the wall. I had no right to choose what I wanted. I was told I had a voice and was being heard, but it didn’t feel like it. I took things into my own hands — I was fed up with DCF — and ran away. I was willing to leave everything I loved — my mom, my friends, my job, my cat, Simba, and most important, my life that I absolutely loved — to get away from being forced into something that I didn’t want.

I packed all my stuff after Mom fell asleep, left my house and met up with people who were willing to take me in and help me. I had no intention of returning or staying in Connecticut. The people I stayed with were loving and understanding and took such good care of me.

I began to see myself on the news and people from all over were trying to contact me. Some people thought I was dead, and I heard my mom was going to be put in jail, because it was assumed she knew where I was or that she was hiding me somewhere. She didn’t — I never even told her that I was leaving — and I couldn’t, because I knew she would try to stop me. After about a week, I returned home, because I didn’t want people to think I was dead, and I would never forgive myself if my mom went to jail for something I did.

DCF immediately brought me to the hospital to be evaluated. I was OK, and they let me go home. I thought it was over. I was wrong.

In December, a decision was made to hospitalize me. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I did know I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I was admitted to the same room I’m in now, with someone sitting by my door 24/7. I could walk down the hallway as long as security was with me, but otherwise I couldn’t leave my room. I felt trapped.

After a week, they decided to force chemotherapy on me. I should have had the right to say no, but I didn’t. I was strapped to a bed by my wrists and ankles and sedated. I woke up in the recovery room with a port surgically placed in my chest. I was outraged and felt completely violated. My phone was taken away, the hospital phone was removed from my room and even the scissors I used for art were taken.
 
I have been locked in this hospital for a month, missing time from work, not being able to pay my bills. I couldn’t celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with my friends and family. I miss my cat and I miss fresh air. Having visitors is complicated, seeing my mom is limited, and I’ve not been able to see all of the people I’d like to. My friends are a major support; I need them. Finally, I was given an iPad. I can message my friends on Facebook, but it is nowhere near like calling a friend at night when I can’t sleep or hearing someone’s voice to cheer me up.

This experience has been a continuous nightmare. I want the right to make my medical decisions. It’s disgusting that I’m fighting for a right that I and anyone in my situation should already have. This is my life and my body, not DCF’s and not the state’s. I am a human — I should be able to decide if I do or don’t want chemotherapy. Whether I live 17 years or 100 years should not be anyone’s choice but mine.

How long is a person actually supposed to live, and why? Who determines that? I care about the quality of my life, not just the quantity.

MomOfIV January 10, 2015 at 5:49 pm - Reply

I’d like to see these ego-tripping, holier than thou doctors and judges get diagnosed with cancer and FORCED to undergo chemotherapy regardless of how they feel or what options they might want.  I don’t think they would care too much about appeasing DCF or big pharma.

cheryl January 9, 2015 at 9:19 pm - Reply

So how do we start a fund to save this poor girl.

Steve January 9, 2015 at 6:32 pm - Reply

Perhaps a good strategy for 17 year old Cassandra who was strapped down in the hospital and forcibly poisoned with chemo would be for her to scream at the top of her lungs, beg and plead for them to stop, AND have a friend get this on video, and let it go viral on the internet.  That would be great negative publicity for the doctors, hospital, and officals involved.

The tyranny of the medical mafia is all about profit and control, with no regard for life.  By engaging them in this manner, their profits will suffer as the graphic video will expose their heavy-handed methods, leading adults who have a choice to think twice about using conventional treatments.

Since Cassandra has also been kidnapped from her family, she has an opportunity to further inflict financial loss on her captors by having “accidents”.  She can “accidentally” trip, grab, pull down and thus damage very expensive medical equipment.  She can perhaps have an unexpected muscle spasm as the nurse carries the tray with the chemo drugs such that they are dropped and the vials broken, forcing an expensive Hazmat cleanup operation.  If she is in a foster home, she could “accidentally” forget to turn off the water, overflowing a bathtub causing flood damage, “accidentally” trip and destroy an expensive TV, etc.  If enough of this behavior is adopted by the medical kidnap victims, the financial incentive will not exist and the situation will in fact become a financial liability, which hopefully will be enough to keep the perpetrators at bay.

This is not merely an isolated dispute between perhaps an ill-informed family and knowledgeable, well-intentioned doctors and public officials, but it is in fact rather a single battle among many in an outright war between families and the medical mafia for absolute control over citizen’s lives — a direct assault of liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

T.Yang January 9, 2015 at 6:28 pm - Reply

I’ve done some reading about the Gerson Therapy and also watched Burzynski: Cancer is Serious Business. They both have one thing in common – the industry has tried to suppress them. The Gerson clinic is based in Mexico and to my knowledge Burzynski is not allowed any new patients. 

The curtain of deception is all around us, the conventional cancer treatment industry is a disease spreading its greed like a plaque. The cure lies within people’s awareness of such corruption and work together towards a humanistic approach, because right now we’re all just for profit.

Steve January 9, 2015 at 8:09 pm - Reply

I read where the FDA has stopped pursuing Burzynski and allowed his treatment methodology to go to the next phase of trials.  But you never know, could be a trick.  They did try to steal his patents.

KathrynMancarella January 9, 2015 at 4:39 pm - Reply

I wish I knew how to get in touch with them. I want to tell them to watch the documentary film called Thrive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEV5AFFcZ-s  There has been cures for cancer for years. In the beginning its kinda boring but then it gets really really good! I recommend EVERYBODY watch this film!

Steve January 9, 2015 at 8:13 pm - Reply

Yes, very interesting movie.  But in Cassandra’s case, she even ran away from home and officals tracked her down like an animal so they could force the poisonous chemo treatment on her.  I guess we live in the twilight-zone version of Amerika:  not the home of the brave nor the land of the free.

Daphne January 9, 2015 at 9:27 am - Reply

This is so sad….sad, sad, sad.  When our own government puts our lives at risk for the sake of the almighty dollar?? And these doctors?  They all took an oath to do no harm? Really?  If someone starts a legal fund for this…please let me know!!!  I should think that with all the evidence, reports, and doctors coming forward with the truth on all this…why hasn’t a legal fund been set up to help people?  Nation wide?