The teen was being forced to undergo chemotherapy that doctors estimate would give her an 85% chance of surviving her Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the insistence of the Department of Children and Families. The agency got involved and was granted temporary custody of the teen by a trial court after the hospital that diagnosed her notified the agency that she had missed several appointments.
Attorneys representing the girl and her mother then filed suit, asking a Connecticut court to apply the “mature minor doctrine,” which six other states, including Illinois and Massachusetts have applied to allow mature 16- and 17-year-old minors to make medical decisions for themselves.
In rejecting the girl’s plea, Connecticut became the second state—Texas is the first—to refuse to apply the doctrine.