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Even if her parents have too much income and too many assets? I'm guessing it depends on the state since I have heard horror stories about parents being expected to spend down over $100,000 of retirement savings before they could get any help for a disabled child.
So far we have heard about only one parent. Her father has never been mentioned, so he is either dead or out of the picture.
I do not have any first hand knowledge about CT Medicaid, but Cassandra is a ward of the court. Perhaps Mark can tell us if that makes the state responsible for her medical care.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncole1
Depends. Someone who runs away from a very bad home environment involving alcoholism or abuse may indeed be making a rational decision. Such things must be looked at on a case by case basis, not with excessively sweeping generalizations.
Erm, it has been looked at on a "case-by-case basis". In this case, the court determined that running away was a factor demonstrating Cassandra's lack of maturity.
This teen has the mind of, well, a 17 year old. Chemo makes her feel crappy. She'll lose her hair. (From one picture it looks like she already has lost some of it.) This is a tough one. She's almost 18, almost at the age of consent. But almost doesn't count. I think she needs some unbiased information.
Losing hair is a non issue, honestly. Yes, it's very tough psychologically for the one who loses it, but a nice wigs can honestly do a great job in helping cope with the new physical appearance. I have met lots of kids and teens, especially girls, who wore wigs so nicely done you thought it was still their real hair. And with love and support, it can be a little easier on the patient too. They definitely can get moral support from the hospital staff that treats them, too.
Hair loss is honestly the mildest side effect cancer patients have.
Losing hair is a non issue, honestly. Yes, it's tough on the one who loses it, but a nice wigs can honestly do a great job. I have met lots of kids and teens, especially girls, who wore wigs so nicely done you thought it was still their real hair. And with love and support, it can be a little easier on the patient.too.
Hair loss is honestly the mildest side effect cancer patients have.
I certainly agree! However, I might not have felt that way at 17. My daughters probably wouldn't have felt that way at 17 either. You get a little older and you value life a little more.
But she isn't 18 and 18 is the age required to make these decisions.
"Almost" only counts in games horseshoes and checkers.
I do have one question: If the patient doesn't want to cooperate receiving this treatment does giving the treatment present insurmountable difficulties for the practitioners giving it?
Perhaps the system is wrong? You said in a previous post that it is based of the assumption that minors are incompetent in making their own decisions.
I feel that we base to much off the age of 18. People reach maturity at their own rate. Some earlier than others, I've met young men and women who were younger than 17 who act more responsible and mature than those over 18.
Furthermore, it is her body and I believe she has the right to decide. This girl is not incompetent. Furthermore, I think it is incredibly inhumane to force something like this on anybody.
We cripple our children by allowing them to think that they need to be a certain age to make a decision.
No one is going to hold your hand and tell you what to do when you turn that "magical" age of 18.
There is no difference from being 17 with 364 days as oppose to 18 and 1 day.
It is completely irrelevant. We're not talking about a 7 year old, we're talking about someone who is a young adult and who knows what she wants for herself.
I certainly agree! However, I might not have felt that way at 17. My daughters probably wouldn't have felt that way at 17 either. You get a little older and you value life a little more.
As I said, I met lots of teens with cancer while my little girl was getting treatments. Easy? No. But the medical team should / will help with this. A lot.
Perhaps the system is wrong? You said in a previous post that it is based of the assumption that minors are incompetent in making their own decisions.
I feel that we base to much off the age of 18. People reach maturity at their own rate. Some earlier than others, I've met young men and women who were younger than 17 who act more responsible and mature than those over 18.
Furthermore, it is her body and I believe she has the right to decide. This girl is not incompetent. Furthermore, I think it is incredibly inhumane to force something like this on anybody.
We cripple our children by allowing them to think that they need to be a certain age to make a decision.
No one is going to hold your hand and tell you what to do when you turn that "magical" age of 18.
There is no difference from being 17 with 364 days as oppose to 18 and 1 day.
It is completely irrelevant. We're not talking about a 7 year old, we're talking about someone who is a young adult and who knows what she wants for herself.
My son at 13 was more responsible and mature than this 17 year old.
The court decided that not wanting to lose your hair is not a mature reason to refuse a life saving medical treatment.
Perhaps the system is wrong? You said in a previous post that it is based of the assumption that minors are incompetent in making their own decisions.
I feel that we base to much off the age of 18. People reach maturity at their own rate. Some earlier than others, I've met young men and women who were younger than 17 who act more responsible and mature than those over 18.
Furthermore, it is her body and I believe she has the right to decide. This girl is not incompetent. Furthermore, I think it is incredibly inhumane to force something like this on anybody.
We cripple our children by allowing them to think that they need to be a certain age to make a decision.
No one is going to hold your hand and tell you what to do when you turn that "magical" age of 18.
There is no difference from being 17 with 364 days as oppose to 18 and 1 day.
It is completely irrelevant. We're not talking about a 7 year old, we're talking about someone who is a young adult and who knows what she wants for herself.
Exactly. I noticed that no one who claims that this girl is incompetent to decide for herself at age 17 responded to my observation about how the public usually demands that juveniles get tried as adults when they commit serious crimes. The reasoning behind this is that they are fully capable of understanding their actions, thus they need to be tried as adults. So how is it right for juvenile criminals to be held fully responsible for hurting other people, yet this teenage girl is not considered competent enough to determine what she can do to her own body? I'd love to hear from the attorney about this, if he/she is still reading this thread.
I'm going to veer off in another direction with this and suggest that the girl's negative attitude about treatment will likely render the treatment less effective or even make it more likely to harm her. I have no doubt that everyone here has heard of the placebo effect, but how many have heard of the nocebo effect? That's when you suffer the side effects of a drug, even if it's just a sugar pill. Also, the mind/body connection can be so strong that when you think the treatment will harm you, it's very likely that you'll turn out to be right. I hope that won't be the case with this young lady and despite my holistic medicine leanings, I would take the treatment if I were her (I think) but I am sick that they're forcing it on her. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt this will turn out well. I'm hoping that they'll allow her the use of complementary therapies to help with SE and make it less likely that she will succumb to the nocebo effect. A good link to this: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/op...bo-effect.html
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