The decision if a 17-year-old cancer patient should stop or continue with her chemotherapy is not for the patient or her family to make, but belongs to the state.

That was the unanimous ruling of the Connecticut Supreme Court in resolving the question of Cassandra Fortin has sufficient maturity to decide on her medical issues.

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Cassandra, who is under the temporary custody of the state Department of Children and Families, has rejected undergoing chemotherapy out of the belief that is will poison her body rather than help her.

Jackie Fortin, Cassandra's mother, backed up her daughter's wishes and filed the lawsuit against the state. She insisted, quoted by NPR.org, "This is not about death. My daughter is not going to die. This is about, 'This is my body, my choice, and let me decide.'"

However, Cassandra's physicians warned that her Hodgkin lymphoma is fatal if she does not undergo chemotherapy; but if she goes through treatment, Cassandra would have an 85 percent chance of survival.

Among the side effects of chemotherapy, according to the National Cancer Institute, are hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and pain.

After Cassandra received two court orders mandating treatment in November, she ran away from home to avoid the therapy, reports Huffington Post.

Joshua Michto, one of the patient's lawyers, will push for the state to adopt the mature minor doctrine in Cassandra's case since she is just 8 months short of turning 18 when she could say "no" to treatments. He cited similar cases in Illinois and Maine where teens under 18 were allowed to discontinue or reject treatment or be kept alive.

With the lawyer's argument, the court will return her case to a lower court for it to seek expert mental health specialists who will assess and decide if Cassandra could make her own medical decisions.

Until the lower court has decided, the Supreme Court's ruling remains and she will continue to be under the department's custody until she turns 18 in September.

TagsCancer, Chemotherapy