***Judge Richard Welch sentences Kristin Labrie***
Kristin LaBrie Sentenced to 8 – 10 years on April 15, 2011 by Judge Richard Welch. She will be separated from her remaining son for the duration of his youth and longer. This is not justice.
Kristen A. LaBrie was found guilty on all counts — attempted murder, permitting serious bodily injury to a disabled person, permitting substantial injury to a child and reckless endangerment of a child, said Steve O’Connell, spokesman for the Essex District Attorney’s Office. The Lawrence Massachusetts jury agreed with the Assistant DA’s argument that withholding chemotherapy medications from her autistic son who had non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma caused her son to die of leukemia in 2009. The defense attorney admitted that LaBrie knowingly withheld her son’s medications, but said she did so only because of their painful side effects.
On the stand in her own defense 38 year old Kristin LaBrie testified that her son Jeremy was diagnosed with autism at age two. ”We definitely had autism plus something they called pervasive developmental delay.” With one hand resting on the judge’s bench, the other gesturing she said, “The care was constant. Whatever went in for a feeding came out, projectile. It was formula after formula after formula for a while.”
LaBrie told the jury that she followed the instructions from her son’s doctors for the first four phases of treatment but stopped giving her son the medications during the final phase because she “didn’t want to make him any sicker.”
Lawyers batted the fact around that she had been treated for depression with Celexa and saw a social worker.
Dr. Frederic Krell, a psychologist called by defense lawyer Kevin James, testified that LaBrie, 38, was a “depressed person who was overwhelmed with having to cope with a significantly impaired child who now had a life-threatening illness.”
“She was largely alone, psychologically, and she had a history of difficulty asking for help and getting services, and as far as I know was struggling to keep her son in school,” Krell continued.
But prosecutor Kate MacDougall — who had only just been given Krell’s final report yesterday morning by the defense — questioned the basis for those conclusions, getting Krell to admit that LaBrie didn’t fit the legal definition of mentally ill.
Kevin James, the defense attorney, said his client made a mistake, but that it was not a criminal act, arguing she never had the malice or willful intent to cause harm to her child.
“Ms. LaBrie was unable to put chemotherapy medication into her son’s body. Her coping and ability to do what she had to do started to wane. The Commonwealth wants to take this tragic set of circumstances and turn it into a criminal prosecution.’’
What no one seems to accept is the government (the entire USA and each of the 50 states) has stepped over the line. They are turning decisions parents make about their children’s medical care into criminal acts and limiting their choices in the name of looking out for those who cannot care for themselves. It is time to change the law. As an adult we are allowed to decide for ourselves when enough is enough, or to refuse certain medications. But children, nor their parents are allowed this basic right.
This is horrible! She has had to deal with the death of her child and now this. It’s outrageous!
It is completely disgusting that a parent can no longer decide what is best for their own child. We can’t even decide what they have for lunch in some states. When will the micromanaging stop? When we stand up and tell the creeps, “NO!”
Decisions for children’s healthcare and education has been taken over by the State as if we are a communist state. Wake Up America! “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Anti-health care reform commercial on CNN made me giggle just now when the lady on the tag said the law will cause “unreparrable” harm.
Copied and Pasted from E-mail:
Thank you for the very informative information. We always have to be on guard, informed and cautious about taking any medication of those which are natural as well.
Julia G.
Yes, just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it is safe or appropriate
for your condition. It is always best to seek guidance from a health care
professional.
Thank you Julia,
Margaret
As a mother who lost her child due to the guinea pig treatment of doctors, I find it difficult to believe that this mother intentionally harmed her child. We were a military family when Brittany was diagnosed with Lupus and my husband was gone frequently. The sleepless nights when she was sick or when we had to rush her to the hospital again are permanently etched into my memory. By the time years had passed and the doctors had poked, prodded and doped her up, her body could accept the abuse no longer. I am writing a letter to Kristen’s attorney in hopes that he will pass it along to the judge to consider before sentencing. This woman is not a monster who should be punished, she is a woman who was tired of seeing the medical community use her child as a guinea pig. Keep your head up Kristen! I pray for your safety and exoneration in this awful matter.
Dear Karen:
As a nurse of over 34 years experience I’ve seen too many cases like your to remember them all. Some were children of my friends. This is another reason I wrote SAVE THE CHILD . It is important that parents be given a voice and they should have the right to choose what medical treatment they feel is appropriate for their child. I am so sorry about your daughter’s difficult journey in life. Being in a military family is difficult enough without having the extra burden of serious medical problems. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your comment. I too sent a letter to Kristen’s Defense attorney – I hope he received it. Kristin was sentenced to eight-to-10 years in prison today. This is absolutely ludicrous.
Margaret L. Turley RN
I’m giving out awards for the A-Z challenge participants and as I browsed your blog I decided to award you the Powerful Woman Writer Award.
Go to and pick up your award.
~Deirdra
PS. What a terrible story. I am glad that you are trying to make people aware of the situation. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Deirdra.
Your artwork is inspiring.
I feel like a voice speaking from the dust of the desert that no one hears. But I keep trying.
This is a medical and legal travesty!
The mother did the right thing. She did give it a chance even though she didn’t agree, with some treatments. Was she supposed to continue treatments when she believed he was being harmed by them? To criminalize her for protecting her child is a travesty! It is slippery slope when we give the medical profession the authority to make decisions regarding treatment of our children, especially when there may be a profit motive involved.
Why is she being singled out? What about people whose religions believe in treating illnesses naturally? Should they be taken to court and charged with child endangerment because they do not visit doctor regularly and give recommended medications to their children ?
How about when they get cancer? Why are they not charged as this woman was?
If Jeremy did have the treatment and died, there would have been no story here. Just like millions of other people who have died after chemo… no big story ..
I just can’t imagine how she feels, with no one to help her in an impossible situation.
Too many people are being guinea pigs for profit and I don’t understand why people aren’t aware of this.
Dear Jay:
It is my opinion that we need to have a grass roots amendment to the US constitution that gives parents the right to make decisions in behalf of their minor children. At this time, in all 50 states it is the right of the State to make decisions for all minors until the age of majority.
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your comment.
Margaret
Appreciating the persistence you put into your blog and in depth information you offer. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
I do enjoy the manner in which you have framed this particular matter and it does indeed present us a lot of fodder for consideration. On the other hand, because of just what I have personally seen, I only trust as other comments pile on that people stay on issue and in no way start upon a soap box associated with some other news du jour. All the same, thank you for this excellent point and though I can not really agree with the idea in totality, I respect your viewpoint.