Question

1. Should Cassandra have been permitted to refuse chemotherapy?

Answer 1

In Connecticut, a 17-year-old girl is being kept in a hospital room under court order. She is restrained to her treatment bed when she is given chemotherapy that neither she nor her mother want. Cassandra C. is a young woman who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September 2014. She underwent surgery to remove a lymph node and then chose not to receive further treatment. She left the hospital with her mother, Jackie Fortin, to allegedly seek a second opinion, out-of-state.

In the attorney’s filing, there is a legal issue over whether a person of 17 years of age should be able to make her own medical choices , rather than the accepted age of 18. Brain development is not necessarily at issue (otherwise we’d move the age of majority into the mid-20s). Remember that Cassandra has parental support—she is not acting against her mother’s wishes.

I think there is also the issue of a mother losing her rights to choose for her child simply because she disagreed with her doctor

mature 17-year-old ought to be legally permitted to make her own decisions. The question that we ought to ask is whether this particular 17-year-old ought to have her decisions respected.

I do understand that Cassandra and her mother appealed based on the “mature minor” doctrine, which exists in many states including Connecticut, that allows minors deemed to be mature enough to make their own medical decisions, even if they conflict with their parents or, in this case, with the court. A good explanation of these issues can be found in this article, which explains that Cassandra and her mother’s case rested on three arguments:

• Their constitutional rights were violated when Connecticut overrode their demands to cease treatment.
• Cassandra and her mother also want Connecticut to acknowledge the mature minor doctrine, meaning that the court must decide if Cassandra is mature enough to make her own decisions before forcing her to receive medical care against her will.
• Common law in Connecticut says a patient can’t be forced to receive care over knowing and informed objection.