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In The News: Mom Withheld Meds, sentenced to 8-10 years

I just got home from taking the Psychiatry NBME Subject Exam and logged onto MSNBC.com and saw this story. It’s a story of a mother, Kristen LaBrie who withheld chemotherapy medications from her autistic son for at least 5 months. He died at the age of 9 in 2009. A judge has sentenced her to 8-10 years.

I don’t know what she was thinking. A quote from the news story:

“If I could do it differently, I would, because I certainly miss my son, and I think about him every day and I wish he could be with me and my family,” she said.

Labrie, handcuffed in the courtroom, after receiving he sentence. Photo Credit: Cheryl Senter/AP

Her son was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006. The tragedy is that her son’s oncologist believed that he had a cure rate of about 85-90% under an intensive two-year treatment plan.

But for whatever reason, she stopped giving his medication.

Source: MSNBC.com – Mom who withheld son’s cancer meds gets 8-10 years