Court sends teen to chemo in handcuffs

A judge in the northern city of Tiberias ordered police to handcuff a 15-year-old cancer patient who ran away from the hospital Wednesday and bring him back to the medical center to undergo chemotherapy treatment.

Last year at his doctors’ request, a family court in Tiberias ordered the boy, who suffers from lymphatic leukemia, to submit to chemotherapy and radiation treatments against his will and that of his parents.

The court said the boy had not received accurate information regarding his chances for recovery if he ceased the invasive treatment.

The boy was diagnosed six years ago with blood cancer, which went into remission after he underwent a standard course of chemotherapy treatment. Several months later, the cancer returned and doctors at Haifa’s Bnei Zion Medical Center concluded that a new course of chemotherapy and radiation would give him a good prognosis.

They warned that delaying or forgoing treatment would likely cause the cancer to spread to his bone marrow, complicating treatment options and drastically reducing his chances of recovery.

However, his parents rejected the doctors’ proposed treatment plan, saying their son’s post-surgery test results showed the cancer was successfully eliminated and their son was healthy. They argued that another course of treatment would negatively impact his physical and emotional health.

The parents also said their family rabbi had instructed to them to discontinue treatment, and that their son would make a full recovery if he was brought home.

The boy also rejected the renewed treatment, likening his hospital stay to a “prison term” to a social worker with whom he spoke at the time. He said that he would rather go home, play with his friends and die rather than be readmitted to the hospital, undergo chemotherapy and then die.

During the hearing, the court-appointed social worker dismissed the boy’s objections and told the judge that he did not fully understand his diagnosis, treatment or recovery options.

The Tiberias Family Court then appointed a medical expert who strongly agreed with the assessment of the doctors at Bnei Zion, and urged both the court and the boys’ parents to readmit him immediately.

In June 2014, Family Court Judge Vered Ricanati-Roshar ordered the boy to undergo treatment despite objections from him and his parents. In her ruling, she wrote that “postponing the treatment would put the boy’s life in significant danger.”