The Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling that 17-year-old Cassandra could be forced to undergo cancer treatment sparked thousands of impassioned comments on NPR.org and Facebook.
Cassandra, who is being identified by her first name because she is a minor, had been removed from her home and put in the custody of child welfare authorities after she said she didn’t want chemotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma.
The state and her doctors said that without treatment, she would die. With treatment, she has an 85 percent chance of survival.
Perhaps she does not want to live.
Given the Teen suicide rates, that is not too far-fetched.