Does the Court Have the Right to Force Medical Treatment?

[10cvictoria]

www.cnn.com/2015/01/07/justice/connecticut-teen-chemo/index.html

    In this article we see a young women demonstrate her refusal of chemotherapy through various actions. On January 8, 2015 the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the state may force the seventeen year old, Cassandra C, to undergo chemotherapy. Cassandra is diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. This form of cancer is one of the most curable forms, doctors said that Cassandra had a 85% chance of survival if she underwent treatment. However, Cassandra does not want to poison her body, and I believe she should have the right to refuse anything that she feels contaminates her body and life. Cassandra has skipped chemotherapy sessions, run away, and taken the case to court; which demonstrates how desperate she feels with her lack of choice. However, the courts feel that because Cassandra is a minor she is not mature enough to make her own medical decisions, and as a result the Connecticut Department of Children and Families has taken custody of Cassandra and forces her to undergo chemotherapy treatment. 
    
    I can relate to not wanting to contaminate one's body, and as a teenager around the same age as Cassandra it worries me that she is being forced to put chemicals in her body without her consent. By this age Cassandra knows the consequences of not undergoing treatment, therefore she is capable of making this personal medical decision. This is Cassandra's health, body and life. She should be able to decide for her body and not be bullied into submission by a group of adults who think they know better.   

[3JulianG]

The article's continuous reference to the fact that she is a minor caught my attention. The court states that the reason they maintain the ability to force Cassandria to undergo the chemotherapy is because she is a minor. Later in the article it says that the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) took her out of her mother's custody in order to make sure that Cassandria undergoes the treatment after swearing under oath that she would. It was not mentioned in the article or the video on CNN's website, so why isn’t her mother making the decisions that a minor cannot. As Cassandria's guardian, her mother reserves the right and responsibility to do so.
In this situation I have to disagree and say that the court should maintain some ability to control medication and inoculation of minors in places that seem fit. If this power were to be suspended, it would have many adverse effects. The main one being required vaccinations for students attending public schools. Specifically in NYC public schools, vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, chickenpox, influenza type B, pneumococcal conjugate, and influenza are all required for the student to attend school. I understand that you do not want to "contaminate" your body with "chemicals" without your own consent, but your parents do have the right to give you these vaccinations. Not only that, they have exercised this right because you are attending LaGuardia, and rightfully so. The requirements for exemption from the immunization are either you can provide documentation showing that your long held religious beliefs go against immunizations or a doctor’s note that says a specific vaccination is detrimental to the student's health. Those are the only ways that one can be exempt from getting these vaccinations. This is not the city "bullying" people into getting vaccinations, but the city preventing major outbreaks of deadly infections and diseases among children. The reason that the exemption requirements are so strict is to prevent ridiculous ideas such as "vaccinations cause mental retardation" from literally hurting children.
If the state government's right to forcefully medicate and vaccinate minors was taken from them because of this case with Cassandra, their right to have required vaccinations for public school students could easily be taken from them as well which will not bode well for humanity.

List of required vaccines for NYC public schools:
schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/461805A3-25CC-4397-AE8E-F8A32BCF6335/0/MedReq2012_13.pdf

Letter regarding Request for Exemption from Immunization Requirements from the Department of Education Immunization Program:
schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E369FA10-ABC0-43AB-BDE6-062F4ACF7D0D/0/parentlettertorequestexemptionletterhead92014.pdf

The form for exemption:
schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DB066B84-18FB-49E3-8284-C3FD61C8DA7A/0/52OSHMedExemptReqForm42010UPDATEDAUGUST2014.pdf