Amish Family Wins Court Battle over Daughter’s Cancer Treatment
- Updated Oct 12, 2015
A court battle over cancer treatment for an Amish girl has officially ended in the Amish family’s favor.
Business Insider reports that an Ohio judge ended the court case on Friday.
The Hershberger family, an Amish family who belong to Homer Township, one of Ohio’s Amish church communities, refused to allow their daughter, Sarah Hershberger, to undergo chemotherapy treatment for her cancer.
In October 2013, an appeals court ruled that Akron Children’s Hospital could force Sarah Hershberger to undergo chemotherapy. The court also appointed a medical guardian for Hershberger who could make her medical decisions.
Hershberger and her parents fought the decision, saying the chemo treatment made her ill and she could suffer from side effects from it, such as infertility.
The family argued that their daughter could receive alternative treatment which wasn’t so harmful to her. In order to escape the court’s ruling, the family left the country for a time so that their daughter could be treated with alternative therapies.
Sarah Hershberger now appears completely healthy and seems to be cured of cancer.
Medina County Probate and Juvenile Judge Kevin Dunn said she “shows no outward symptoms of the lymphoma with which she was previously diagnosed.” Thus, he has terminated the medical guardianship and the mandate that Hershberger receive chemotherapy treatment, although he cautioned that, if her cancer returns, her parents must immediately seek treatment for her.
Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Publication date: October 12, 2015
