Abraham Cherrix DOES NOT have to report to a Norfolk hospital for forced chemotherapy.
That's the ruling Tuesday afternoon by an Accomack County Circuit Court judge, after lawyers for 16-year-old Starchild Abraham Cherrix appealed a ruling by a juvenile court judge.
Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief to the Circuit Court Tuesday supporting a stay, arguing that Abraham deserves the right to appeal the order to the Circuit Court before undergoing medical treatment.
Judge Glen Tyler said Abraham and his parents will get a new trial in Circuit Court as soon as possible. (NEW: Trial is set for August 16 & 17.)
The judge also returned full custody of Abraham to his parents. That ruling suspends an order by the juvenile court judge that required Abraham's parents to share custody with the Accomack County Department of Social Services.
This is a new territory for the American Association for Health Freedom (AAHF) and Health Freedom Foundation (HFF). We were contacted last week by Sharon Smith (the Cherrix family representative) and since then we have been hearing about other cases where the parents and authorities clashed over a minor’s treatment. This is not about choosing an "alternative" treatment but about what is the legal (and constitutional) rights of parents and the state system in regards to children's health. We are gathering information and will be developing a national solution to this critical and heartbreaking issue. We are assisting the family as best as we can with legislative, legal, and PR efforts. Please share your stories and ideas (send to healthfreedom2000@yahoo.com).
You might also be interested in reading a recent article by our Vice-President, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, titled “WHO OWNS YOUR CHILD?”
Your financial support is greatly needed and here are two ways you can help.
1) If you would like to support the Health Freedom Foundation efforts in addressing this issue, please make a tax-deductible donation today, click here.
2) If you would like to support the family directly with a financial contribution, please send your check to:
Abraham Cherrix Fund
c/o RBC Centura Bank
2422 Princess Anne Rd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
If you have any questions about the Cherrix fund you can email: abrahamsfund@abrahamsjourney.com
Brenna Hill
Executive Director
Health Freedom Foundation and American Association for Health Freedom
4620 Lee Highway, Suite 210
Arlington, VA 22207
1.800.230.2762
Fax: 703.294.6380
www.healthfreedom.net
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Update on Abraham Cherrix
Abraham's lawyers filed a motion today at 10:30 a-m in Accomack County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to try to stop enforcement of a judge's order requiring Abraham Cherrix, 16-year-old Eastern Shore cancer patient to report to a hospital by Tuesday, July 25th and have his parents authorize treatment (i.e., chemo).
The family will be supporting Abraham in his decision to not accept chemo and understands that this could be a long and hard struggle.
If Abraham is forced to comply with the order, "there's no way to undo the chemotherapy and radiation" and essentially that would end their path to further appeals.
As of 5:15pm (EST), they have not heard from the courts. The lawyers will be on Court TV tonight and Abraham and his father Jay will be on Hannity & Colmes tonight.
The family will be supporting Abraham in his decision to not accept chemo and understands that this could be a long and hard struggle.
If Abraham is forced to comply with the order, "there's no way to undo the chemotherapy and radiation" and essentially that would end their path to further appeals.
As of 5:15pm (EST), they have not heard from the courts. The lawyers will be on Court TV tonight and Abraham and his father Jay will be on Hannity & Colmes tonight.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
State of VA forcing a 16-year to receive chemo
Whether you believe in integrative medicine or not, this is a terrible situation.
16-year old Abraham Cherrix has cancer - Hodgkin’s. He responded poorly to chemo last summer and in fact believed that it was killing him. By the time he got home after the treatments, he couldn’t walk – his father would have to carry him into the house.
So he started to do research and decided to try a treatment (organic foods and herbal supplements – Hoxsey) in Mexico. His father, Jay, a bit skeptical, traveled with the then 15-year to Tijuana. When they returned, the parents talked to their son’s oncologist and told her that the family wanted to try an alternative therapy because the chemo was not working but wanted her to stay on and monitor the progress. She was very dismissive of their choice and told them she wanted no part of it. As soon as they left, she called family services.
Not long after, the family received a summons to family court where they erroneously thought they just needed to explain their course of treatment. They walked in with no legal representation and ultimately lost partial custody of Abraham (who was also under court orders to not leave the state of Virginia).
With the help of Sharon Smith, a local woman who read about them, the family attained lawyers and started to receive national media attention. )
They parents self-employed (run a kayaking business on an island on the Eastern Shore of VA) and do not have financial resources to undertake this type of battle so they are relying on donations and pro bono work.
The judge (who is a visiting judge, who’s expertise is real estate) was supposed to email his final ruling on Tuesday, July 18. It did not come and there was no explanation as to why or when it would be delivered. Would you be surprised to learn that the judge gave his ruling on Friday, July 21st at 5:20pm? That is a common trick that is used when people DO NOT want the media to pick up an item. It is very hard to generate action and attention over the weekend.
The judge ruled that the parents were neglectful and that they needed to go to the hospital by Tuesday, July 25th and sign the papers authorizing that the doctors could provide the treatment that they – as medical professionals – deem necessary.
We cannot allow this to happen. There are legal, PR, and legislative/political maneuvering that must start immediately.
We are working with the family and our general counsel, Mike Ruggio has been in discussion with the Cherrix’s lawyers. Additionally we are contacting members of Congress and the family has been visiting local representatives.
We will shortly have a plan of action for you and will need your support. Your voice, your outrage, your ideas, and your financial support are all greatly needed.
We will be updating the blog over the next few days with ways you can help and with any late breaking news.
Here are some of the recent news articles:
USA Today
Abraham's website (temporarily down due to exceeded bandwidth)
CNN
MSNBC
We believe our bill Access to Medical Treatment Act (HR 2792/S.2618) while addressing the issue in a peripheral manner, would not help Abraham directly because Mexico is not named as one of the countries. Though it would help other children and adults so please take a moment to support the bill.
Brenna Hill
Executive Director
Health Freedom Foundation and American Association for Health Freedom
4620 Lee Highway, Suite 210
Arlington, VA 22207
1.800.230.2762
Fax: 703.294.6380
www.healthfreedom.net
email: healthfreedomblog@yahoo.com
Friday, July 07, 2006
The Dietary Supplement AER Bill
American Association for Health Freedom would like to thank Senators Hatch and Harkin for their work on S.3546 the Dietary Supplement and Non-Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Act (the AER bill). We appreciate their long-time support and belief in the right of the consumer to access dietary supplements. Ultimately, after careful review of the bill, we DO NOT support S. 3546.
If S. 3546 becomes law, it will amend the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to require the reporting of “serious” adverse events for both over the counter (OTC) drugs and dietary supplements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As the bill has already been voted on by the HELP Committee, we need you to take action today and encourage your contacts to do the same. We must move fast to make our voices heard. Click here to contact Congress.
As the politically active voice of the healthcare practitioner and their patients, AAHF sees S. 3546 as part of a bigger picture that would like to treat dietary supplements more like pharmaceuticals and not as food as it currently stands. We believe that as soon as you accept differential treatment between dietary supplements (as concentrated nutrient forms) and conventional foods, you have given up very valuable ground.
S. 3546 would also discourage consumers from properly submitting their adverse events. Consumers should be discussing their adverse event reactions (especially “serious adverse events” as per the bill) with their healthcare practitioner rather than just sending a complaint to the manufacturer or retailer. There is a serious potential for abuse of the system and supplements could easily be blamed in place of things as divergent as pharmaceutical drugs, recreational drugs, genetic sensitivities, food intolerances, alcohol abuse, etc. A healthcare professional is crucial to determining the adverse event and ensuring that needless blame is not pointed towards the wrong substance.
Additionally, the FDA is already broken and this bill would just add to its misery. The FDA's own enforcement reports (for drug products) show it to be an agency under increasing pressure to do more with less. The number of warning letters issued to pharmaceutical companies has dropped over the past 10 years even as product recalls have increased. In other words, the agency is allowing more manufacturer product mistakes to reach the market. Adding supplements would reduce enforcement efficiency even more - for both drugs and supplements. This bill is a classic demonstration of the federal government wasting money to protect the public from a relatively small health threat on the part of dietary supplements. In fact, food is actually more dangerous than dietary supplements and cause 5,000 deaths and over 80 million hospitalizations a year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
We do not wish to discourage the dietary supplement industry in reporting their adverse events and we believe that over-the-counter medications should have a mandatory adverse event reporting process but S.3546 is not what is best for the American dietary supplement consumer.
Because we’re all about the consumers right to choose and be informed, we wanted to let you know that if you decide that this a bill that you want to support, please visit Citizens for Health or National Nutritional Food Association for more information.
Brenna Hill
Executive Director
Health Freedom Foundation and American Association for Health Freedom
4620 Lee Highway, Suite 210
Arlington, VA 22207
1.800.230.2762
Fax: 703.294.6380
www.healthfreedom.net
If S. 3546 becomes law, it will amend the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to require the reporting of “serious” adverse events for both over the counter (OTC) drugs and dietary supplements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As the bill has already been voted on by the HELP Committee, we need you to take action today and encourage your contacts to do the same. We must move fast to make our voices heard. Click here to contact Congress.
As the politically active voice of the healthcare practitioner and their patients, AAHF sees S. 3546 as part of a bigger picture that would like to treat dietary supplements more like pharmaceuticals and not as food as it currently stands. We believe that as soon as you accept differential treatment between dietary supplements (as concentrated nutrient forms) and conventional foods, you have given up very valuable ground.
S. 3546 would also discourage consumers from properly submitting their adverse events. Consumers should be discussing their adverse event reactions (especially “serious adverse events” as per the bill) with their healthcare practitioner rather than just sending a complaint to the manufacturer or retailer. There is a serious potential for abuse of the system and supplements could easily be blamed in place of things as divergent as pharmaceutical drugs, recreational drugs, genetic sensitivities, food intolerances, alcohol abuse, etc. A healthcare professional is crucial to determining the adverse event and ensuring that needless blame is not pointed towards the wrong substance.
Additionally, the FDA is already broken and this bill would just add to its misery. The FDA's own enforcement reports (for drug products) show it to be an agency under increasing pressure to do more with less. The number of warning letters issued to pharmaceutical companies has dropped over the past 10 years even as product recalls have increased. In other words, the agency is allowing more manufacturer product mistakes to reach the market. Adding supplements would reduce enforcement efficiency even more - for both drugs and supplements. This bill is a classic demonstration of the federal government wasting money to protect the public from a relatively small health threat on the part of dietary supplements. In fact, food is actually more dangerous than dietary supplements and cause 5,000 deaths and over 80 million hospitalizations a year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
We do not wish to discourage the dietary supplement industry in reporting their adverse events and we believe that over-the-counter medications should have a mandatory adverse event reporting process but S.3546 is not what is best for the American dietary supplement consumer.
Because we’re all about the consumers right to choose and be informed, we wanted to let you know that if you decide that this a bill that you want to support, please visit Citizens for Health or National Nutritional Food Association for more information.
Brenna Hill
Executive Director
Health Freedom Foundation and American Association for Health Freedom
4620 Lee Highway, Suite 210
Arlington, VA 22207
1.800.230.2762
Fax: 703.294.6380
www.healthfreedom.net
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