by Allie Parker
Health Impact News
When any human over the age of 18 decides they no longer want to continue with chemotherapy, due to the side effects the poison inflicts on the body, physicians and the government don’t bat an eye.
The patient is referred to hospice care where they will live out their remaining time on earth in a state of comfort until the morphine and lack of essential nutrients needed to sustain life takes its toll, and death ensues.
Unfortunately, if you are under the age of 18, this right is not up to you, and it is not up to your parent.
The government has taken it upon themselves to choose and enforce cancer treatments on children disregarding the child’s choice and the parents’ right choice to seek alternative treatments.
Physicians are mandated reporters when it comes to child abuse and neglect; a legal liability that has led to more and more false reports of child abuse to the already overwhelmed child protection services around the country.
The jump to abuse allegations is an epidemic in this country. This epidemic is not just due to mandated reporting. It is becoming clear and evident that more and more physicians are seeking and using CPS involvement when anyone, even a parent, questions their methods or treatments.
Even when a child, albeit the age of 13, verbally voices their right, concern, and makes the decision not to continue traditionally cancer treatments, which mainly consists of chemotherapy, a poison that causes extreme side effects and sickness, the state can and will step in.
Christina Dixon of Oregon is the mother of a now 13-year-old daughter with liver cancer.
When Christina’s daughter was 11, she was rushed to Oregon Health and Science University due to excruciating pain, which was diagnosed as Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma, a rare kind of liver cancer that happens mainly in children. [1]
Many of us know and have seen the effects chemotherapy has on a body, let alone an 11-year-old body.
Many, if not all, people with cancer get to a point where they have had enough. They no longer want to endure the side effects of chemotherapy, especially when it doesn’t seem to be helping or stopping the progression of the cancer, but is only adding to the symptoms and causing more pain and agony to the patient.
When this fight against cancer has ceased and the patient is no longer able or willing to continue with treatment, hospice care is considered. As humans we have the right to die in peace and without pain.
Should not this right should be afforded to all humans and not just those considered “of age” to make this decision? After all, we are not the ones agonizing daily with the effects of cancer and the poisoning treatment and side effects that come with chemotherapy.
According to oncologists at Oregon Health and Science University, this right is not up to the patient, or even the parent, when it comes to questioning or even considering other methods of treatment.
It’s apparent this mother was expected to sit idly by as she watched her daughter agonize for 2 years with no results.
As reported by KGW8, Christina Dixon said,
“The best way I can describe it is like my kid was on death row. Every single time–you literally feel your kid’s life getting taken away.”
According to Christina, her daughter had enough and wanted to go home stating,
“I couldn’t do it anymore and my daughter wanted to go home. She had enough too. She begged me to take her home before they did more chemo”.
Christina started using alternative treatments which include vitamins, herbs and pure CBD oil to treat her daughter’s cancer once she was release from OHSU in June of 2018.
KGW8 did not have access to the daughter’s medical records to confirm what the mother said but reported the mother as stating,
“It started reversing her tumor for the first time and the tumor reduced in size by 90% during the past year.”
“My daughter’s cancer has not spread. And no, she hasn’t had chemotherapy or any other treatments for the last 11 months,” explained Christina. “She is thriving, surviving and doing better than ever.”
In an email to KGW8, spokesperson for DHS in Colorado, Christine Stone wrote:
“DHS is obligated to comply with court orders and any actions DHS may take in regard to this child will be focused on the child’s safety and well-being”.
Records from Clackamas County juvenile court indicate a dependency petition was filed on March 26, 2019 claiming:
“The mother has neglected child’s medical needs, which creates a risk of harm to the child.”
Clackamas County senior deputy District Attorney Christine Landers wrote:
“The child has been previously diagnosed with cancer, specifically an embryonal sarcoma, after initially seeking treatment, mother withdrew the child from treatment against medical advice, and mother has failed to follow through with recommendations of child’s medical team, which creates a risk of harm to the child.
The mother has elected to treat child’s cancer exclusively with CBD oil, which is not a medically recognized treatment for the disease with which child has been diagnosed, will have no efficacy in treating child’s cancer, and child’s medical team and specialists in pediatric oncology have stated that without further treatment child will die of the disease, which creates a risk of harm to the child.”
Landers declined to comment on the case.
It has not been made clear why, but on June 7, 2019 the Clackamas County Circuit Court issued a pick-up order for Kylee Dixon to be placed in the custody of DHS, the state child welfare agency.
Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office went so far as to release a bulletin and a MISSING/ENDANGERED JUVENILE poster asking for help in locating the daughter and mother.
Photo source: Clackamas Co. Sheriff’s Office
Christina and her daughter were located in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 13, 2019, after Nevada police received a tip from the FBI and sheriff’s office that the two were staying in a hotel in Las Vegas.
The daughter, now 13, was taken in “protective” custody by Nevada police and later transferred back to Oregon.
Christina, the mother, was not arrested at that time, but a case was made and sent to the Clackamas County prosecutor to consider filing charges.
By late June, rallies and public support were held in Portland and Salem. An online campaign to bring awareness to this situation was also mounted.
The publicity of this case was brought to the attention of State Senator Kim Thatcher who spoke with DHS after learning about the family’s situation.
DHS told the Senator they were simply obeying a court order to remove the child and place her in foster care.
KGW8 reported Senator Thatcher’s response to the situation:
“We need to rethink how we are doing this,” said Thatcher. “Instead of keeping families together and supporting decision making within a family we are defaulting to—let’s break up the family. That just doesn’t seem right.”
“The pendulum has swung to the point where doctors are given a higher authority over a parent’s decision,” said Thatcher.
Christina claims her daughter created the following video, while in state custody, on her own, without the encouragement of others.
According to Janet Steverson of Lewis & Clark Law School,
“If you are harming the children or neglecting them such that their health is seriously jeopardized or your failure to take care of them could lead to death, in that case, the state can interfere.”
This case, according to Steverson, is unique, in that the teenager’s mother did seek treatment for her daughter. Even if the treatment was alternative, she still sought and provided what Christina claims to be effective treatment.
Steverson continued with,
“The question that will probably be debated is the nature of the alternative care.”
“It’s going to be a battle,” predicted the law professor. “I suspect it is going to be a battle of the experts.”
Oregon DHS wouldn’t disclose the location of Christina’s daughter while she is in state protective custody.
A spokesperson for DHS stated,
“DHS has requirements to protect the safety and health of the children in our care, as well as their personal information. While we appreciate the community’s support for the child, we are not able to share information.”
In a hearing held on July 29, 2019, Christina’s daughter’s attorney told the court she does NOT want the surgery for the tumor on her liver.
The judge decided Christina’s daughter’s medical care remain in the hands of DHS.
Mother Arrested
Christina Dixon jail booking photo (Image: Clackamas County Jail)
Last week, Christina was arrested on two counts each of first-degree custodial interference and first-degree criminal mistreatment at the Clackamas County Jail.
Oregon FOX 12 reporter Amber Wilmarth spoke with Christina and asked if she ever thought she’d be in jail for trying to help her daughter.
“No, definitely not. Cause I wouldn’t think this is possible for any parent to go through, for getting charged for helping my daughter live makes no sense.”
Some of her supporters showed up when she was released from jail:
The next hearing is scheduled for August 19, 2019. Supporters are asking the public to show up at the Courthouse to show support.
Please come show support for Christine
Oregon city court house
807 Main st.
@2pm (posted on Facebook– Note: we previously stated 3 p.m. and were notified of the new time.)
References
About the Author
Allie Parker is a Family Advocate and mother. She is a surviving victim of a false Child Abuse Pediatrician’s accusation. Read her story here.
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