ADDENDUM::First Nations chemo case ruling amended to include child's well-being - Latest Hamilton news - CBC Hamilton

Here is what I struggle with in regards to this incident and its aftermath:  Makayla is dead and she shouldn't be!  And please explain to me what is so indigenous about Brian Clement and his Hippocrates Health Institute?

Bala called it a "significant clarification" that recognized the earlier decision had not referred to the child's rights as being paramount.

He said this decision makes it more of a balancing act between the child's best interests and aboriginal rights, and that courts "very rarely" clarify decisions.

"The aboriginal rights are one factor to be considered, but not the only factor," Bala said. "This is a significant qualification of the prior decision."

Paul Williams, the lawyer for the First Nations family, said the clarification prevented the previous ruling from being interpreted as an "absolute" that only aboriginal rights would be considered.

"The right to use traditional medicine is part of the child's best interests. That was clarified, it wasn't changed," Williams said. "I think it was a fear of absolutism. I think it was clear that nothing was absolute."

That aside for the moment, the importance of all this concerns JJ, the "other" First Nations child sucked into this debacle by her caregiver's choice of HHI and the raw foods diet they espouse:

The McMaster Childrens Hospital went to court in order to get authorities to compel J.J.'s mother to resume chemotherapy but the judge threw the case because of their First Nations status -- although the Florida treatment centre doesn't appear to have anything to do with Native medicine!

A judge dismissed the hospital's application in November, saying traditional aboriginal treatments were in existence before First Nations communities were in contact with Europeans, and were consequently entitled to special protection in Canada.

In spite of - because of or as a result of - we now have this in regards to JJ's care:

A cancer-stricken Ontario First Nations girl whose court case drew national attention last fall is now receiving a mix of aboriginal and conventional health care – including chemotherapy – after her leukemia returned in March and her mother agreed to a blended treatment plan.

The update on the health of the pre-teen, known as J.J., came during an unusual court proceeding in Brantford on Friday that brought together lawyers for the Ontario Attorney-General’s Office and all the parties to the original case, including the Hamilton hospital that first turned to the courts to try to force the girl back into chemotherapy.

In order to avoid putting J.J. and her family through a legal appeal, all sides co-operated in asking Justice Gethin Edward to “clarify” his original controversial ruling guarding the family’s constitutional right to choose indigenous healing over modern medicine, despite doctors’ warnings that the girl would almost certainly die without chemotherapy.

Justice Edward agreed to amend his original decision to make it clear that the interests of the child must be “paramount” in a case like that of 11-year-old J.J., whose identity is protected by a court order.

“Implicit in this decision is that recognition and implementation of the right to use traditional medicines must remain consistent with the principle that the best interests of the children remain paramount,” the revised decision reads.

 It is my hope that this changed in treatment has not come too late for JJ.  HHI is not an indigenous protocol, it is crank of the worst sort but that is fodder for another story.
 
First Nations chemo case ruling amended to include child's well-being - Latest Hamilton news - CBC Hamilton