An Amish family who decided to stop their daughter's chemotherapy after they made her ill may be legally forced to have their child continue treatments.
An Ohio appeals court is reconsidering the judgment that blocked a hospital from having an attorney given limited guardianship over 10-year-old Sarah Hershberger, according to ABC news.
The girl is battling leukemia, but her parents decided to stop treatments after Sarah complained about side effects, such as nausea and pain. Her mother and father decided to give their daughter at home remedies to treat her cancer.
"We've seen how sick it makes her," Andy Hershberger, Sarah's father, told ABC News. "Our belief is the natural stuff will do just as much as that stuff if it's God's will."
Sarah reportedly has tumors on her neck, chest and kidneys. Medina County Gazette reports Sarah also feared the treatments would make her infertile, and she wanted to stop the chemotherapy.
"Sarah begged her parents to stop the treatments," the original case judge wrote in court documents. "Anna [Sarah's mother] said she and Andy could not stand to watch what was happening to their daughter."
However, the hospital made it clear to the Hershbergers that Sarah's chances of survival greatly decrease without treatment.
"The plan presented by Sarah's parents is almost certain to lead to Sarah's death," her attorneys wrote in the original case documents. "Every day that goes by without treatment, Sarah's chance of surviving her cancer is diminished."
Sarah reportedly has an 85 percent chance of survival with chemotherapy. Though the treatment was working, and Sarah's tumors shrunk significantly after a month of chemotherapy, her parents said their daughter couldn't handle the treatments.
Maria Schimer, the hospital attorney fighting for limited guardianship over Sarah's care, released the following statement to ABC News:
"I believe there can be no doubt that it is in her best interest to have chemotherapy and have a chance to live a full life."
