Amish Kid forced on Chemo: What’s the Matter Here? and Why the cannabis community should care!
Court Sides With Ohio Hospital on Amish Girl Care
An appeals court has sided with a hospital that wants to force a 10-year-old Amish girl to resume chemotherapy after her parents decided to stop the treatments.
The court ruled that a county judge must reconsider his decision that blocked Akron Children’s Hospital‘s attempt to give an attorney who’s also a registered nurse limited guardianship over Sarah Hershberger and the power to make medical decisions for her.
The hospital believes Sarah’s leukemia is very treatable but says she will die without chemotherapy.
The judge in Medina County in northeast Ohio had ruled in July that Sarah’s parents had the right to make medical decisions for her.
The appeals court ruling issued Tuesday said the judge failed to consider whether appointing a guardian would be in the girl’s best interest. It also disagreed with the judge’s decision that said he could only transfer guardianship if the parents were found unfit.
The family’s attorney, John Oberholtzer, said Wednesday that the ruling essentially ordered the judge to disregard the rights of the parents.
Andy Hershberger, the girl’s father, said the family agreed to begin two years of treatments for Sarah last spring but stopped a second round of chemotherapy in June because it was making her extremely sick.
“It put her down for two days. She was not like her normal self,” he said. “We just thought we cannot do this to her.”
Sarah begged her parents to stop the chemotherapy and they agreed after a great deal of prayer, Hershberger said. The family, members of an insular Amish community, shuns many facets of modern life and is deeply religious. They live on a farm and operate a produce stand near the village of Spencer in Medina County, about 35 miles southwest of Cleveland.
“Our belief is, to a certain extent, we can use modern medicine, but at some times we have to stop it and do something else,” Hershberger said in a telephone interview.
They opted to consult with a wellness center and treat Sarah with natural medicines, such as herbs and vitamins, and see another doctor who is monitoring their daughter, Hershberger said.
“We see her every day. We watch her really close,” her father said. “She runs, plays. She crawls up ladders. She’s got a lot of energy, more than she had when she was doing chemo.”
Hershberger said they have not ruled out returning to Akron Children’s Hospital if Sarah’s health worsens. “We told them if it gets to the point that we cannot do anything for her, we would come back,” he said.
After the appeals court decision, the hospital said in a statement Wednesday that its goal is to ensure that the girl receives the most appropriate care based on scientific evidence and added that the allegation has never been about “parental unfitness.”
It said neither the hospital nor anyone else is requesting legal or physical custody of the child; instead, the hospital said, this case “involves a disagreement between providers and parents over what course of treatment is best for their child.”
Robert McGregor, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said last week that it is morally and legally obligated to make sure the girl receives proper care.
He said the girl’s illness — lymphoblastic lymphoma — is an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but there is a five-year survival rate of 85 percent if she continues treatment.
Some of the girl’s tumors had gone away after the first round of chemotherapy, but she isn’t yet in remission, the hospital said.
“We really have to advocate for what we believe is in the best interest of the child,” McGregor said last week.
Now, Why should the cannabis world care?
We as cannabis activists and as religious rights activists need to care about this case…. If this Amish family cannot follow the laws of their own religion regarding medical treatment, then we as cannabis activists need to side with the parents… this is no different than a parent making ia choice to treat the child with cannabis. their choice happens to be prayer. THEY HAVE THAT RIGHT IN MY OPINION.
Forget my opinion! These parents 1st amendment right is being trampled….
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I wonder if the state of Ohio remembers this little bit of freedom we are all taught to love.
if we sit by and let it be trampled, our cannabis kids are next… and we are already seeing examples of it… In our own backyards with horrifying results.Did the parents choose out of fear to begin chemo? yes they broke their own traditions and took her to start chemo of their own free will… when it was making her so sick and the parents and child wanted to return to their beliefs is when the fight started. now, like some cannabis kids… she is in foster care… no fair!
I was a kid with cancer in the foster care system… had to go before the judge about chemo…. the facility i was in said i was having a suicide attempt by refusing chemotherapy. i am so glad Judge Regina Walters sided with my choice to decline chemotherapy.
If doctors were perfect, they wouldn’t practice medicine on people they expect to have patience to the point of calling them that as if it was a magic term that made us willing to wait an eternity to be graced by their practicing.
Now, back to this child…. imagine this poor Amish kid not yet old enough to choose if she wishes to join the religion or not (the rite of Rumspringa )
and who knows little outside of the people her parents have allowed around previously…. All of the sudden she is plunged into the evils of foster care? i feel so sorry for her… and all she wants to do is make the same choice i did… to eat the best foods she can, be nurtured by those around her and pray.
When it is a situation that is life and death. Why should the government have so much of a say. The individual with the cancer or illness should be the one to decide how to go about fighting for their life. It is family, friends and the creator ‘s place to guide that individual through the fight.
Toddler Killed By Foster Mom, After Being Taken From Peaceful Birth Parents For Their Cannabis Use
In Round Rock, Texas, the daughter of two peaceful young parents, was kidnapped by the state, after they admitted to someone that they smoke a small amount of cannabis at night. Sadly, the parents never got their daughter back, as her foster mother inflicted blunt force trauma to the toddler’s brain, putting her into a coma. Two days later the toddler, Alexandria Hill, died.
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
By Cassius Methyl
Intellihub.com
August 5, 2013
Because the state demands that people don’t smoke cannabis, the authorities will go as far as to kidnap your child to enforce this, and put him or her in a new, very likely more dangerous home. The bottom line is, there is almost no chance of a child ever possibly getting hurt because of his/her parents smoking cannabis.
Alcohol is legal, and parents can drink, therefore this kidnapping because of cannabis is absolutely dysfunctional, ridiculous, tyrannical, and in this case, fatal. This is a story of the state, at one of its most disgustingly dysfunctional and forceful points. It is abundantly clear that Alexandria Hill’s parents were average young people, in no way dangerous whatsoever. Joshua Hill, the father of Alexandria Hill, the 2 yr old girl who was killed, said “We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state ‘care’.”
Once she was forcibly placed in foster care last November, she began displaying bruises and injuries often, and appeared to live in unsanitary conditions. Alexandria’s father says “She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag. It got to a point where I actually told CPS that they would have to have me arrested, because I wouldn’t let her go back.”
The parents of Alexandria had her sent to a new home after the experience with the bruises and unsanitary living conditions, and this new home was the place where she received the fatal injuries. In January, for the second time, CPS made a mistake transferring her to this home, and that mistake was fatal.
They placed Alexandria in a home with 54 yr old Sherill Small, and she later either hit Alexandria in the head and killed her, or somehow inflicted a blow to her head, maybe dropped her , or threw her. Now this girl is dead, because the state can kidnap with impunity. Why should we ever allow the government to forcibly kidnap people’s children, for victimless crimes?
Why should we, the citizens, let them keep arresting people, hurting people, and letting people die for the controls they wish to impose on us? We have had enough of the dysfunctional, fake services they pretend to provide for us while they incessantly molest our lives from birth to death. Things seemed to be going alright according to Alexandria’s parents, when she was placed in the care of Sherill Small in Rockdale, Texas, at first.
The parents were about a month away from being reunited with their child, but then, Sherill beat the toddler’s head with a blunt object, or somehow inflicted severe force which resulted in blunt force trauma to the brain. The child sadly ended up in a coma, and she died 2 days later at the hospital. Sherill claims the child hit her head on a carpet when she was playing, but an investigation showed that the blunt force trauma means she was struck hard with something, and falling on carpet could never do that damage.
Sherill Small was arrested at her home for murder, yet revenge is not ‘justice’, as the ‘justice’ system would lead you to believe. This time, the dysfunctional and out of control, parasitic state has ended the life of a toddler. Punishing this psychotic old woman will not bring back the life of this girl. The only true justice that can be done, is to ensure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else, and the only way to achieve that, is to severely cut and limit the power of the state and federal governments. Our dogs will not be shot by police, our children will not be kidnapped by their parents and left to die in worse conditions, all of this would be okay, if only the citizens would demand that the government not arrest people for victimless crimes.
This is all a result of the citizens sitting back and watching TV, doing nothing, while these people continue to expand their own powers. The politicians and the people who control them like puppets, the corporations, and the police state they use to their advantage, are destroying us. It is time for the citizens to stand up, and have a peaceful revolution, clearing out the tyranny, taking people out of office, revoking laws.
We need to invoke the restoration of our true law, the Constitution, which doesnot allow the police to arrest people for victimless crimes, and kidnap children. Some very charismatic and corrupt politicians have manipulated our people over the years, convinced them that somehow the Constitution doesn’t guarantee basic rights, or that our safety is incompatible with freedom. They molested the loopholes in Constitutional Law until this was the result. It is now simply time to restore the true law- no more arresting people for victimless crimes.
We do need to solidify our rights that aren’t clearly outlined enough in the Constitution too, but it is a reasonable goal for freedom for today, to want to restore this true law. This is a reasonable philosophical solution to the problems we face today as a society. If you cannot see how much better off we would be without the government doing what they do, you need to learn about the crimes this government has committed. It is time to demand these people step down, and NO ONE restrict our rights to grow cannabis or smoke it.
This miracle plant that can be used to build homes, make paper and textiles, treat cancer and several other illnesses. Of course, it can even be smoked recreationally, being less harmful than almost any other recreational drug. You should know all of this, but knowing is only one step- now it is time to sway public opinion to a critical mass, and truly make the change happen. Go tell people about this, build up the support for freedom, the abolishment of all these government agencies, the revocation of laws, and the restoration of true constitutional law.
Please share this with as many people as possible, so we can simply gain our rights back, just so we can live in peace. This tyranny is getting bad- the scariest thing is how complacent and unaware many people are, of the crimes, dysfunctionality, and true nature of this government.
Writer Bio:
Cassius Methyl is a journalist writing for Intellihub.com and a liberty activist who plays every instrument and vocals for an experimental metal-truth movement project called “Core of a Virus”. Find his music on Facebook.
For media inquires, interviews, questions or suggestions for this author, email: cassius@intellihub.com or telephone: (347) 759-6075.
retrieved from: http://intellihub.com/2013/08/05/toddler-killed-by-foster-mom-after-being-taken-from-peaceful-birth-parents-for-their-cannabis-use/ on 09/03/2013 at 17:14 MDT
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UPDATE: Medical Marijuana Advocate Goes Public After Children Are Taken, Placed Into Foster Care
POSTED BY ANDREW CRISP ON MON, APR 29, 2013 AT 4:06 PM
UPDATE: April 30, 2013
The Boise Police Department released information regarding the April 24 incident involving Josh and Lindsey Rinehart, which resulted in the placement of the Rinehart’s children into the custody of the State of Idaho.
According to law enforcement, they were contacted by a local school official who said that an 11-year-old child had become ill, requiring medical treatment from a school nurse. Police said the child had eaten a substance which was identified as marijuana. Police said the marijuana had come from a home on the 2900 block of W. Malad Street. The child who became ill did not live at the residence but is acquainted with the Rinheart’s children.
Police said they went to the residence and found children, being cared for a babysitter while the parents were away. Police said they discovered drug paraphernalia and “a quantity of a substance that appeared to be marijuana in locations inside the house accessible to the children.” Patrol officers contacted narcotics investigators who secured a search warrant signed by a judge. Police added that their investigation has not yet resulted in criminal charges.
Detectives made the decision to contact Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials who deemed that the children were in “imminent danger,” thereby putting the children into protective custody.
Police said typically they did not release information on cases that remain under investigation, but the suspects “in this case have chosen to identify themselves and the department believes it is in the public interest to clarify that evidence in a criminal investigation led officers to the Malad Street home.”
ORIGINAL POST:
- ANDREW CRISP
- Marijuana advocate Russ Belville, center left, is flanked by Lindsey Rinehart, center, and her husband Josh, center right.
Josh and Lindsey Rinehart believe the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the Boise Police Department erred in their decision to place their the Rinehart’s two sons in foster care, citing “imminent danger” because of the presence of marijuana found in the house.
“We’re taking issue with the ‘imminent danger’ charge,” Lindsey Rinehart said on the steps of the Idaho State Capitol. “I am a multiple sclerosis patient. The reason I had cannabis in my household is I’m a multiple sclerosis patient.”
Lindsey uses marijuana, she said, for medicinal purposes to treat her illness, which can cause violent muscle spasms. Boise Weekly readers may remember Rinehart from her testimony at the Idaho State Capitol regarding medical marijuana. As director of Compassionate Idaho,Rinehart has helped spearhead a petition drive to legalize marijuana in Idaho.
While the couple were on vacation April 23, she told Boise Weekly, Health and Welfare and Boise Police entered their home, confiscated marijuana found there, and ultimately placed her 5-year-old and 10-year-old boys in protective custody.
“We had just gotten cell service, and right when we entered Donnelly my cell phone kicked on and somebody had said the cops are at your house. And I knew,” she said.
The Rinhearts told media that on April 30 they will have supervised visitation with their children, and have begun the process of working with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to have their children returned to them. She said criminal charges have not yet been filed against her, but she anticipates they may be.
“Right now all I’ve heard is that they could be pending. There’s no warrant. I don’t know—it’s kind of this constant anxiety attack of when they’re going to come,” she said.
Tags: Compassionate Idaho, Medical Marijuana, Lindsey Rinehart, Josh Rhinehart, Boise Police Department,Image
retrieved from: http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2013/04/29/medical-marijuana-advocate-goes-public-after-children-are-taken-placed-into-foster-care on 09/03/2013 at 17:24 MDT
I could go on and on… what is wrong that these children are being ripped from their families? We have such bigger problems.
Related articles
- Court Rules That Sarah Hershberger, Amish Girl Battling Cancer, Should Be Appointed Legal Guardian After Parents Stop Her Chemotherapy (medicaldaily.com)
Posted on 2013/09/03, in American Dream, Americans, Breezy Kiefair, Cancer, cancer increase, Cannabis, cannabis, cannabis issue, cannabis plant, child murder, Child Murder, Clinics and Practices, Conditions and Diseases, Controlled Substances Act, Crime, Crime and Justice, Crime and Punishment, current-events, Drug War, Drugs, editorial, facebook, Family, Fascism, Foster care, friends of the family, Funeral, government, Green Living, Grief Loss and Bereavement, Healing, healing, healing process, Health, healthcare debate, healthy-living, Illegal, infanticide, Injustice, judicial officers, judiciary branch, jurisprudence, Medical cannabis, Mother, Murder, opinion, politics, United States and tagged Akron Children's Hospital, Amish, Associated Press, Boise Police Department, cannabis children, Chemotherapy, childrens rights, Foster care, Hershberger, Image, Josh Rhinehart, Lindsey Rinehart, medical marijuana, Medicine, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Ohio, Ohio Medina County, ompassionate Idaho, Sarah, toddler killed by foster mom. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Kiefair.com DIY cannabis and more 
There have been many more examples since this…. taking a child out of a truly abusive home is one thing… taking them out of a loving home is quite another… when it happens in groups as diverse as Amish communities and the medicinal cannabis community, it is a symptom of a far larger problem.
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