13-year-old girl with cancer mandated to have surgery over mom's objections
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An Oregon court is ordering that a 13-year-old girl with a rare liver cancer have surgery and receive other medical treatment despite the objections of her mother.
The battle over Kylee Dixon's treatment began after her mother, Christina Dixon, halted a doctor-prescribed regimen to instead pursue alternative medicine such as CBD oil and vitamins, NBC affiliate KGW8 in Portland reported.
“The best way I can describe it is like my kid was on death row,” Dixon said, according to KGW8. “Every single time — you literally feel your kid’s life getting taken away.”
But the state stepped in, with the Clackamas County juvenile court's filing a dependency petition in March that said Dixon's decision amounts to neglect and "creates a risk of harm to the child.”
In June, Kylee was ordered to be placed in state custody.
On June 10, a sheriff’s office in Oregon put out a missing-endangered poster for Kylee, saying the mother was ignoring Kylee’s need for medical treatment, KGW8 reported. Three days later, police found the two in Nevada and placed Kylee in child-protective custody.
Some Oregon residents side with the mother, holding rallies in Portland and Salem and calling the state's decision to remove Kylee "medical kidnapping."
Kylee herself recorded an emotional YouTube video, "I'm On Death Row For Surviving Cancer," asking for help in her pursuit of alternative medicine instead of chemotherapy.
Ultimately, in July, a judge ruled that the state, not Dixon, would make medical decisions for Kylee.
“I’m going to let the surgeons do what they need to do,” Judge Heather Karabeika of the Clackamas County Circuit Court said at the time. And last week, Dixon turned herself into police . She faces charges of criminal mistreatment and custodial interference
The state this week moved forward with its plan to get Kylee back in cancer treatment, saying that she must attend a doctor’s appointment and that she is on the path to get surgery to remove a tumor.
The court also requested that Kylee be placed in the care of a family member, as contact between her and her mother has been largely cut off and she remains in foster care.
Dixon is still fighting the state for control over her daughter's care.
Definitely agree with the courts in this case, the mother is unfit to make the correct medical decision for her daughter
Soo....if the daughter then refuses treatment....strap her down and force it on her?!
I suspect a 13 yo cannot legally do so however will defer to those more knowledgeable about the law than myself
I would think counselling, medication, time away from her mothers influence and anesthesia will make the straps unnecessary. But were it to come down to death or straps I'd be fine with them.
What's wrong with mother's influence? According to the story, they have gone through conventional medical treatments.
It's not like mom is anti-medicine or has been ignoring the illness.
Maybe they could just sneak up on her with a rag soaked in chloroform.
She has not completed treatment.
Normally nothing, in this case her childs death
I agree she isn't up to a point, but she is now ignoring the best treatment in favour of a unknown/unproven treatment
Don't be silly hospitals don't use chloroform anymore
That sounds like it's the case, but many times doctors want to keep going and going and the patient has the right to decide whether or not the treatment is doing any good and whether or not she should keep going with it. Sometimes, patients make a decision that may not result in the best physical outcome for them, but it remains their right.
I don't know what the right medical choice would be in this situation, but I do wonder about whether or not the girl and her mom are having their rights trampled upon.
Patients' rights are more complicated when the patient is a minor, as in this case. Then, the parent or guardian makes medical decisions, but is expected to make them in the patient's best interests, not based on some crap being pushed by the Gwyneth Paltrow crowd. Patients who use alternative "medicine" are more likely to die than patients who are treated conventionally.
You'll be fine with it??!!.....wow! As long as you're fine, thats all that matters i guess!.....jeez!
Yes, sometimes if patients are violently resisting treatment then they have to be strapped down. While I'm sure no one likes doing so, it is occasionally required.
Agreed I hope strapping her down isn't necessary either
No, they're not. Neither is dying from cancer.
I understand, but this is often a survivable cancer. From another article, she has undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma.
This girl can probably survive this cancer, but not if her mom is allowed to keep screwing around with vitamins and crap.
Not sure about Oregon, but in Washington, that's illegal. Only in very rare cases is it allowed. Chemical restraints are also illegal, (it's called "snowing" a patient...get them so high that they can't move).
Just ask Linda McCartney. Oh yeah, you can't. She's dead from alternative medicine, which she gave up on, but by then it was too late.
Then you have the wrong doctors.
I don't know what the right medical decision is, so I won't try to weigh in on that. I am curious about some things, though:
Who will be expected to pay for this court ordered treatment?
It sounds like the state and the doctors have quite the legal team! Who is the lawyer for the mom? The child? This court fight looks pretty one-sided.
Can they get a second or third opinion on treatment? Maybe call in some doctors from out of state? Why are these particular doctors the last word on the prognosis and treatment for this girl?
This kid is 13. Isn't that old enough to have some say in her course of treatment, if any? If not, shouldn't it be? If she wanted birth control or an abortion, she'd be able to get that without anyone's permission. Why isn't she competent to make other decisions for herself?
Watch the video. She isn't saying she wants to ignore the cancer. She's saying she wants to take a different approach. Why does anyone have the right to overrule that?
I had responses to many of your comments written .. and I deleted them all.
Vitamins do NOT cure cancer. I assumed you knew that.
You'd have done better to keep deleting.
Why?
"Treating" cancer with woo is medical neglect.
Your a better person than I, with so many questions in one post I never even considered answering
And yet here you are. Is it really that important for you guys to let everyone know just how deeply offended you are by a few questions?
with woo?
Quackery. Pseudoscience.
Do you have the full list of her plan for treatment in front of you or are you just assuming there is no justification for the course of action they want to take?
CBD oil doesn't cure liver cancer.
Vitamins don't cure cancer.
She's also using some herbs, according to one source. There are no herbs that cure cancer.
There is no justification for bullshit "cures".
It's my seed I have to be here (really it's in the rules)
Not offended, just not interested in answering.
Seriously I know nothing more about this case than you do so most of my answers would have been "I don't know". If you're truly interested in getting answers I wish you the best of luck with your research.
As far as I know, nothing "cures" cancer. You can try to get it rid of it with surgery, chemo, or radiation, but those things don't always work. No one can tell this girl that anything that happens in the hospital is 100% guaranteed to cure her cancer. So "bullshit cures" may be a matter of perspective.
I don't care if you (or anyone else) disagree with me, but the comments above are passive aggressive personal attacks and unnecessary. I am not the topic.
Chemo, surgery, radiation, do often cure cancer. They get rid of it,and it doesn't come back. No, they aren't 100% effective. Cures rarely are - even antibiotics don't knock out strep every time, although they almost always do.
Patients who use alternative "medicine" are more likely to die than patients who are treated with actual medicine.
'It's my seed I have to be here (really it's in the rules)'
He does that all the time. Ridiculous.
Tells me on my own seeds that I shouldn't comment if I don't want to answer his demands.
Again, ridiculous.
[Removed]
I am not the topic. Is that so hard to understand?
Yet here you are
Is it really that important for you to let everyone know just how deeply offended you are
Actually personally speaking I gotta disagree with you here, though limited in number generally our exchanges have been respectful and at times I agree with his points.
Is it really that important for you to let everyone know just how deeply offended you are
You have a problem with me pointing out your attacks? I didn't force you to do that. You're the one who chose to talk about me instead of the topic. It will be up to you to continue that course.
So what do you want to do? Do you want to keep insisting on your right to talk about me? Do you want to continue to berate me for standing up for myself? Or would you like to get back to the seed?
Actually personally speaking I gotta disagree with you here, on my seeds it is a different story.
Again not offended, your assumptions of how I feel about anything have thus far been inaccurate at best and pretty much meaningless
No problem at all
No worries Tacos I'm pretty adaptable so I'll get along fine no matter how things go
Cool
Can you cite a study demonstrating that? Because it just might.
Study On Cannabis Chemical As A Treatment For Pancreatic Cancer May Have 'Major Impact,' Harvard Researcher Says
In a small study using mice and cell cultures.
Not really ready for FDA approval yet.
FDA approval is a long road, and studies of almost anything derived from marijuana are understandably in their earliest phases. However, I think it's fair to say that the genuine scientific interest in the possibilities moves it beyond the realm of "bullshit cures, woo, quackery, etc."
The scientists who are investigating CBD have not touted it as a cure. But significant number of uneducated people hear "it might kill cancer cells", and have decided that CBD oil is now better than chemo, surgery, radiation, or immunotherapy. And woohoo! It's "natural", to boot.
The chemical being investigated for pancreatic cancer (not liver cancer, nor yet undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma, and in mice, not humans) is only present in small amounts in marijuana.
CBD oil is derived from hemp, and there is no group with oversight to determine whether any active ingredients even exist in the product as sold, or in what amounts.
Interest in the possibility that CBD may help treat cancer is not woo or bullshit. But claiming that it does and declining therapies that actually have been show to work most certainly is woo, bullshit, and quackery.
I'm of the opinion that 1) medical science doesn't know every damned thing, 2) medical science gets shit wrong every hour of every day, and 3) people should be allowed to make their own medical decisions.
That doesn't mean I'm anti-medicine or anti-science. And considering the fact that this mom went to doctors first and - only after trying what they suggested - finally got fed up, I would say she's not anti-medicine either.
According to this study at Johns Hopkins , "medical errors" is the third leading cause of death in this country after heart disease and cancer. They figure 250,000 people die every year in the United States of the BestMedicineOnEarth.
And believe it or not, that's a conservative figure.
This report published in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates that as many as 440,000 people die prematurely in the US every year as a result of "preventable harm to the patients" inflicted in hospitals.
Those numbers do not inspire confidence.
Unless you have some reason to pronounce this mom and her kid as incompetent or mentally ill, (beyond the simple fact that they made a decision you don't like) then they should be allowed to make their own choices.
The mom's decisions show her to be incompetent. And the child is a minor. Why do you want to let the mom kill her child?
That's funny. I know a 27 year old who had cancer when he was a 1.5 years old, and he is fine today.
My cousin had cancer when he was 24 and it never came back.
Of course people are cured of cancer. You want a 100% guarantee.. life doesn't come with one of those.
I believe that! My mother is one of those statistics. My ankle is proof that not all doctors are competent.
I had a dog with a massive tumor in his paw - right in the middle of the pad. My vet was positive we would be amputating the dog's foot. At the suggestion of a friend, we started giving the dog cat's claw supplements and no other treatment. In a matter of several weeks, the tumor shrank and disappeared completely. He lived for years afterward with all four feet.
I just want to say this, then someone can flag me for it...
Tacos asked some valid questions and while he and I will likely never ever agree on anything political, it bothers me that he was attacked from #2 on. Really not cool. If you don't agree, fine, present your case or move on. Constant badgering is non productive and petty.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
It's a shame some people are cowards and too stupid realize it.
It is not an ideal situation, but the girl should get the best treatment possible according to currently accepted medical procedures. That is all anyone can do and it is what they should do. The mother can try experimental treatments on herself if the time ever comes.
There are cases where the state, acting on behalf of society, needs to protect the best interests of a minor.
The state and doctors had better hope for the best. If anything goes wrong, and apply a very liberal definition of anything, they will be sued into non existence.
This case has national, if not world wide attention, now.
Maybe but doubtful as I'm sure all are insured out the hoopla
I don't know why, this case is hardly the first time courts have ruled for states rights overruling parental rights in medical matters. Other cases that I know of have usually involved religious parents refusing medical treatment and instead trying to pray their child better.
Figure of speech. Anything goes wrong and they will be held accountable, even more so since they took this through the courts and made it a national issue.
You underestimate Americans ability to sue over anything and everything. Also, the desire to be tied to a high profile case that has national exposure. If the mother didn't have good representation before, then she will if anything goes wrong.
Absolutely agree
All true as well. Just hope nothing goes bad and that whole mess can be avoided.
I am not going to pretend I know the medical prognosis for her liver cancer. The article doesn't state her chances for recovery.
I found this web site showing survival percentages.
Not really great odds according to this. Again, no idea as to the type of cancer she has (outside of liver); or how far it has progressed.
I did find a story that says the doctors are saying it's 70% that surgery will stop the spread of the cancer. On the other hand, mom claims that CBD oil has reduced the existing cancer already by 90%.
Could be truth to that, but I would ask how the mother knows that?
I'm curious as well.
Could be she took her to another doctor, but...have my doubts, they would just confirm what other doctors have said. 'Tis a mystery.
Maybe Mom has x-ray vision and can see inside her daughter's liver
I tried looking for an article I read a few days ago but I can’t seem to find it again.
It stated that she had Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver which occurs predominantly in children.
I found a little information on that at this link.
Multimodal therapy with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy has drastically improved the prognosis of patients with undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver. This successful management requires timely diagnosis for superior outcome.
Thank you for the link and information.
Hopefully things will work out for her and she can recover.
You’re welcome.
I hope everything goes her way too.