But the procedure is not without its own risks, including graft-versus-host disease, infertility, dysfunction of various organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain and \u201ca significant mortality risk, which is generally in the range of 10-20%\u201d.<\/p>\n
In court documents tell how the teen\u2019s mother explained why she does not want the treatment.<\/p>\n
In a text message she sent to a nurse consultant at the hospital on the morning of January 27 this year, she referred to a \u201clast final cure\u201d for the teen being through God and not the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The text message] stated that the \u2018precious blood of Jesus\u2019 had \u2018flushed out the evil\u2019 in [her daughter\u2019s] body,\u201d Justice Andrea Tsalamandris noted in her judgment.<\/p>\n
The teen herself says that it is her \u201cown body\u201d that she will be \u201cliving with for the rest of [her] life\u201d and that she is \u201csupposed to have a choice\u201d.<\/p>\n
The principle of parens patriae \u2013 translated from Latin to mean \u201cparent of the nation\u201d \u2013 allows the court to act as \u201csupreme parent of children \u2026 in the manner in which a wise, affectionate, and careful parent would act for the welfare of the child\u201d, according to the court documents.<\/p>\n
It means that despite the wishes of the child and her mother, the court has the final say.<\/p>\n
It is a position that has infuriated Mark Hobart, a former Melbourne GP who lost his medical licence during the pandemic for refusing to administer Covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
The 68-year-old said his main concern is that \u201cshe has been ordered to have forced medical treatment to which she does not consent, nor her mother\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what happened during Covid with the lockdowns and forced treatment by the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Online, Hobart wrote that \u201cthis was his fear\u201d during Covid-19 \u2013 \u201cforced medical treatment of a 15-year-old against her and her mother\u2019s wishes\u201d.<\/p>\n
The teen, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in November 2022, went into remission before relapsing in August 2024 when she developed a secondary leukaemia, called therapy-related myeloid neoplasm.<\/p>\n
She relapsed again in early 2025, after four to five months without treatment, at which time she required two rounds of salvage treatment, doctors said, noting also that without the transplant, she is at \u201cvery high risk of relapse\u201d and \u201cif she relapses, available therapies are likely to be both less efficacious and more toxic for [her]\u201d and that \u201cthis has a direct and adverse correlation with JJ\u2019s life expectancy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her treating team at the RCH recommend that for curative treatment she undergo a haematopoietic stem cell transplant, also referred to in the affidavit material as a bone-marrow transplant.<\/p>\n
A second opinion was obtained for the court from senior paediatric oncologist, Associate Professor Peter Downie, at the Monash Children\u2019s Hospital Children\u2019s Cancer Centre.<\/p>\n
In a letter dated December 11, 2024, Associate Professor Downie stated he had met with the teenager and her mother and reviewed her medical history.<\/p>\n
He was of the opinion that, based on current knowledge and data, her \u201conly real chance of being cured\u201d was to have a bone-marrow transplant and that without further treatment, the teen would \u201csuccumb to her disease\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the patient\u2019s mother told the hospital she \u201cwill not consent to the recommended treatment\u201d, the hospital brought an urgent application to the Supreme Court to lawfully administer it.<\/p>\n
The teen, represented by a solicitor from Victorian Legal Aid, and her mother both opposed the application.<\/p>\n
Her father, who the court heard is estranged from his daughter and has not seen her since 2018, supported the hospital\u2019s bid to carry out the transplant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn considering this application, I have taken a holistic view as to what is in [the teenager\u2019s] best interests,\u201d Justice Tsalamandris wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am satisfied that the recommended treatment should be provided to [her] as a matter of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Andrew Court examined the teen on March 30 this year.<\/p>\n
He observed an overarching theme in her communication with him that she was \u201cvery angry with her treating team, for a range of reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Court noted that [the teen] acknowledged that she \u2018knew she needed a BMT\u2019, and she wanted to live, however she was so angry with her treating team that she was not prepared to \u2018make it easy for them\u2019,\u201d Justice Tsalamandris wrote.<\/p>\n
The teen\u2019s mother told the court that she is a religious person but said her \u201creligious views have not stopped her taking [her daughter] to medical appointments\u201d.<\/p>\n
In her judgment, Justice Tsalamandris wrote that it is \u201cregrettable\u201d that the teen \u201chas such strong feelings of anger towards her treating team, when by virtue of this judgment, she is about to begin lifesaving treatment at the RCH\u201d.<\/p>\n
The treatment, she wrote, \u201cwill involve a prolonged period of admission, isolation from siblings and friends, and the risk of serious complications\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout intending any criticism of her treating team, I consider valuable insights can be gained from [her] perceptions of her treatment at the hospital to date,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs noted, there is a risk the recommended treatment may adversely impact [her] fertility, and there is a prospect that she could undergo fertility preservation procedures at the Royal Women\u2019s Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is not an isolated case.<\/p>\n
In 2018, the Supreme Court ordered that a 17-year-old first-time mother-to-be be forced to receive a blood transfusion \u201cas a last resort\u201d against her will when she gave birth at the Mercy Hospital in Heidelberg.<\/p>\n
The Jehovah\u2019s Witness did not want the procedure to go ahead because her religion forbids followers from receiving blood transfusions.<\/p>\n
The girl\u2019s mother, who said she would not consent to the hospital administering blood to her daughter, told the court receiving a transfusion would have a significant impact on the girl\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing forced to have that done against her will would be something like having violence done to her or being raped,\u201d she said in a statement read to the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants to do the right thing by Jehovah, by God.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was previously reported that the teen told a child psychiatrist that the Bible says \u201cit\u2019s wrong to eat or drink blood if you lose blood and have to let it go and pour it out on the floor\u201d and that \u201cif the baby has to die, she has to die\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But the procedure is not without its own risks, including graft-versus-host disease, infertility, dysfunction of various organs such…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23968,13236,677,1975,682,2534,63848,1853,5657,4749,6097,76867,6868,42,14236,2241,89195,123,43,3111,26525,14447,9855,1516,40,38,41,39,2766,227121],"class_list":["post-445070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-23968","tag-15yearold","tag-angry","tag-at","tag-being","tag-cancer","tag-catheter","tag-central","tag-chest","tag-childrens","tag-down","tag-forcibly","tag-girl","tag-headlines","tag-held","tag-hospital","tag-lifesaving","tag-melbourne","tag-news","tag-out","tag-pulled","tag-refuses","tag-royal","tag-staff","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-treatment","tag-venous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}