With medicine improving daily and cures looming in the not-so-distant future it might be difficult to understand why someone would choose to forego treatment for an otherwise deadly disease but at some point you have to conclude that the patient has researched the options and chosen what is best for them.
This is unless the patient is underage. In that case, a refusal to do 'typical' treatment turns into a court case that blames the parents for neglect.
When a story comes out about a child who is rejecting western medicine for a natural alternative, instictively I assume it has to do with the family's religion. But in the case of Starchild Abraham Cherrix it was due to quality of life. He was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease at the age of 16 and began chemotherapy.
After his first round of treatment he declined to continue with the treatment. It was at that time that the state intervened. He and his family went to court to fight for his right to choose what course of action to take. And a compromise was agreed upon today which will allow Starchild to try out alternate forms of treatment so long as he visits his oncologist every three months and continues to progress.
This was a relief to me because I found myself cheering for his right to try The Hoxley Method (which includes an organic diet as well as taking herbs instead of the traditional chemo). At 16, I would hope he is mature enough to understand his choices. And, in my opinion, quality of life is so much more important than being deathly ill with chemo.
*in this particular case
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