Abraham Cherrix’s family attorneys and social services reached an agreement today to forgo chemotherapy treatment, ending a legal battle which began when Abraham chose to treat his cancer with an alternative therapy.

Abraham was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease last August and underwent chemotherapy in the fall which failed to improve the condition. In February, upon learning the tumor had grown, he determined to go against his doctor’s orders for chemotherapy, instead seeking an alternative therapy known as the “Hoxsey Method” which is delivered from an institute in Mexico.

Finding the family guilty of medical neglect, Judge Jesse E. Demps ruled in May that custody was to be shared between the Department of Social Sevices and Abraham’s parents. In July, he ordered that Abraham be forced to undergo chemotherapy, a decision which was stayed by a higher court until an appeal could be made. Today, the department and the family have reached an agreement.

Under the decree, the Chincoteague 16-year-old will be treated by an oncologist of his choice who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatments. The family must provide the court updates on Abraham’s treatment and condition every three months until he’s cured or turns 18. — WAVY

According to the decree, the parents also are not found to be medically neglectful.

The recent press coverage this and similar cases has sparked a national debate about the effectiveness of alternative treatments and who has the right to decide an individual’s course of treatment. Many call the Hoxsey Therapy “quack” science. It is nothing more than a concoction of herbs combined with a special diet and contains nothing that can cure cancer. Yet it claims to have saved thousands.

Ironically, Hoxsey himself died of prostate cancer. However, there has been some research published in a peer-review journal that deals with the Hoxsey therapy and other “alternative” treatments. Due to a variety of factors, the main conclusion seems to be that “more research is needed.”

This however, is not the central problem with this case. The main issue is whether or not the individual has the right to determine his own medical treatment and in what instances the state has the power to usurp those rights. As Abraham himself said in an interview with Sean Hannity onHannity & Colmes:

And I believe strongly that I have the right to take and do with my body as I please to do with it, because if you don’t — are not able to do with your body what you want to, then you have no rights whatsoever. — Hannity & Colmes