Chemotherapy Case Studies

In January 2015, the death of a young First Nations girl sparked much controversy after her family withdrew chemotherapy in favour of traditional medicine. Eleven-year-old, Makayla Sault passed away after her battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She had been given a 72% survival rate by doctors with a treatment planning involving intense chemotherapy, however, this aggressive approach landed her in the intensive care unit in the matter of 11 weeks. After the chemotherapy taking a major toll on the young girl’s body, both physically and mentally, and it came to the point that her parents were questioning if it was doing any good. Sonya Sault, Makayla’s mother, recalls her daughter telling her “I don't care if I'm going to die, I don't want

It is because of this that traditional medicine focuses on treating the person holistically, or in other words treating the physical body as well as the soul (Sorajjakool, Carr, and Bursey 39). Also, it is believed that one can achieve wellness and balance by connecting with nature which is a reason that natural remedies such as herbs and spiritual rituals are used (Sorajjakool, Carr, and Bursey 36-37). While she was given a better chance of survival with chemotherapy, it made her very sick and very distraught with the treatment and thus was not only was her physical body out of balance, her mind was also unbalanced which could have been a reason in which she wanted to switch to natural medicine (Casey). While her treatment plan may not have cured her that was not necessarily her goal. Often the main goal is to not overcome their illness but rather to understand and be in harmony with it (Sorajjakool, Carr, and Bursey

Respect for autonomy, which refers to honoring a patient’s wishes, is very important since she and her parents wanted to stop the treatment that was making her sick, despite the medical staff saying otherwise. However, to force the child to receive treatment would be breaking the principle of non-maleficence, or protecting the patient from harm, because even though it may cure her, the chemotherapy was too harsh for her body to handle and landed her in the intensive care unit and thus would be causing her more harm than good. Healthcare professionals are expected to provide care that will benefit the patient, otherwise known as the principle of beneficence. The medical staff as the hospital were doing what they thought was best for Makayla to give her the best chance as beating her cancer, however, they would have caused her harm by going against her wishes which were rooted in her religious beliefs as well as giving her treatment that she no longer wanted to receive. There is also the issue the family was discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. The healthcare professionals did not take the family’s request to switch to treatment that is a part of their culture seriously, in fact they went so far as to call the authorities to remove the children from the home because they felt that by doing so would be neglecting to provide the proper care for the