Pubdate: Sat, 22 Aug 2015
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Laura Kane
Page: A6

PARENTS SEEK ORDER TO TREAT ILL BABY WITH CANNABIS OIL

B.C. couple suffering from epilepsy appeal to court for control over
child's treatment

VANCOUVER- Michelle Arnold says she's seen cannabis oil save two lives
- - hers and her husband's.

Now, she's fighting for the chance to see if it can save her
4-month-old daughter, who is clinging to life in a Vancouver hospital.

"I can't just give up when I've seen hope," Arnold said tearfully
outside B.C. Supreme Court on Friday.

"If there is a medicine out there . . . that can help her, that can
make her my child, then I will do it. I will do whatever I can to give
it to her."

Arnold and her husband, Justin Pierce, are both 21 and suffer from
epilepsy, for which they take cannabis oil. They are seeking a court
order to gain more control over medical decisions in the care of their
baby.

The couple wants doctors to resume treating her with cannabis oil -
even though a lawyer for B.C. Women's Hospital said it might have
worsened her symptoms.

Mary Jane Pierce was born premature at 25 weeks and has been in
hospital ever since with serious health problems, including brain
bleeding, cerebral palsy and severe seizures.

The Chilliwack couple alleges the Ministry of Children and Family
Development pressured them into giving it temporary custody about two
weeks ago and moved to remove the baby's ventilator soon after.

A judge granted a temporary injunction last week to keep the child on
life support, and at a hearing on Friday the ministry agreed not to
take her off the machine without the couple's consent or another court
order.

The parents are set to return to court next month to seek greater
control of their daughter's care.

Pierce said doctors recently stopped administering the oil to Mary
Jane, even though he claims an ingredient in marijuana - cannabidiol
or CBD - was helping to control her seizures.

"She definitely was a lot happier," he said. "Now since being off of
it, she's definitely going back . . . into the condition where she
looks almost as she did right before we gave her the oil."

Arnold said she's had other premature babies who have died in hospital
and she believes this time her daughter could be saved by cannabis
oil.

However, Penny Washington, a lawyer for B.C. Women's Hospital, told
court that the oil had either no effect or increased the girl's
seizures. Although it wouldn't "actively harm" her, it had no benefit,
she said.

The extensive medical treatment is taking a toll on Mary Jane, she
added.

"Although the team does say it's impossible to state definitively that
the child is in pain, because the child is on multiple medications
that are suppressing her pain, it is certainly clear from the records
that there's discomfort," Washington said.

"In my view, it's becoming inconsistent with human
dignity."

But Arnold and Pierce's lawyer, Jack Hittrich, said his clients
deserve to make that choice. He said the ministry threatened to seize
any kids they had in the future if they didn't agree to a temporary
custody order.

"What the ministry was looking at was terminating this child's life.
That is ultimately the biggest decision that any guardian or caregiver
can make," he said outside court.

"For them to have proceeded in the very expedited and rushed fashion
is quite reprehensible."

The ministry said it could not comment for privacy reasons, but social
workers must provide detailed reasons and medical records when
deciding to remove a child from a parent's care.
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