I’ve never been faced with a traumatic, life-changing event, but if something were to happen to me, I’d like to have a say in how I deal ?with it.
Cassandra, a 17-year-old Connecticut native, did not have this choice.
She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma four months ago, and after a few sessions of chemotherapy, she decided to stop treatment.
Her mother stood by her side in this decision even though her chance of surviving with chemotherapy was 85 percent.
Although many would think of chemotherapy as a viable option, Cassandra should have the inherent right to stop treatment.
Unlike with the right-to-die law in Oregon, Cassandra is not choosing to take her own life, but refusing treatment. Just as any other American has the right to refuse to mend a ?broken leg.
It is her decision to make.
Cancer isn’t usually a one-and-done thing.
Chemotherapy treatment isn’t a magic trick that makes cancer disappear forever.
Cancer follows you for your whole life until it swallows you up whole.
In Cassandra’s eyes, the chemo was killing her spirit.
She isn’t giving up.
She simply values the quality of her life more than the quantity.
If she chooses to live more in the next year than all of us in the next 50, there’s not much difference aside from the method of action.
This, I believe, is ?honorable.
The Connecticut Supreme Court undermined Cassandra’s honorable intentions by placing her under the custody of child services.
But the reality is, her body doesn’t belong to the court.
It is her property, and she has the right to do what she wants with it and with her life.
If the jurors were to put themselves in Cassandra’s shoes, I don’t think they would be very willing to accept toxins and poisons into their bodies.
Against her and her family’s wishes, Cassandra is being forced to live by the decision of a government entity.
She is currently under quarantine and is being forced to receive chemotherapy treatment.
There is still a 15 percent chance that the therapy won’t work.
If that’s the unfortunate case, Cassandra is essentially spending her last days on earth in a prison-like ?atmosphere.
Instead of making a wish, she’s being held in a room against her will, pumped full of chemicals and plagued by the sickness of chemotherapy.
Cassandra’s life isn’t some court case that can be solved.
She has a mind and a heart.
She should be able to do what she feels is right for her, not what somebody else wants.
It is far too delicate of a situation to slam a gavel down and come to a ?unanimous decision.
Some might say that it’s in Cassandra’s best interest to stay in treatment.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
The truth of the matter is Cassandra is allowed to have a say in her own life.
At 17 years of age, she’s probably driven a car, kissed a boy and aced a few math tests.
She should also have the right to refuse the injection of toxins from chemo into her body.
After all, the home of the brave is still the land of the free. Isn’t it?
jlkarl@indiana.edu
