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Australia - Cassie Batten and Rhett Wallace have been ordered to face child protection workers on Tuesday to explain why they have been adding the oil to Cooper's milk. A barrister will accompany the Mernda couple, who say they have medical advice supporting their use of the oil, to the interrogation. But they fear a protective custody order may be made limiting their access or removing him altogether. "Our biggest fear is not knowing what their intentions are," Ms Batten said. "Worst-case scenario would be them taking him off us - that and forcing us to stop the treatment. He would go back to living in hospital, in intensive care. He would have no life."
The couple also fear Cooper's six siblings, including a three-week-old boy, could also become subject to action by the state. The couple turned to medicinal marijuana 10 months ago in what they said was a desperate bid to keep their son alive. When he was just a month old, Cooper, now three, contracted bacterial meningitis. His potentially life-threatening problems in-clude severe brain damage, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. His seizures would last more than an hour - but the couple say their severity lessened when the "miracle" drug treatment began. Now Cooper is even starting to crawl, they said.
"The doctors are fully aware and supportive of what we are doing," she said. "In the eight months prior ... he was only home for 16 days. He's been on cannabis now for 10 months; he's only been in hospital for 19 days." Police searched the family's property and seized some belongings before questioning the parents. Acting Assistant Commissioner Rick Nugent expressed sympathy and admitted there was debate over medical use of cannabis. "We're not doing anything to hurt our children," Ms Batten said. They had co-operated with the probe. DHS said in a letter to the family's lawyer it had no plans for a protective order for Cooper. But one letter referred to a "protective intervention" investigation.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Heraldsun.com.au
Author: Andrea Hamblin
Contact: Contact Us
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The couple also fear Cooper's six siblings, including a three-week-old boy, could also become subject to action by the state. The couple turned to medicinal marijuana 10 months ago in what they said was a desperate bid to keep their son alive. When he was just a month old, Cooper, now three, contracted bacterial meningitis. His potentially life-threatening problems in-clude severe brain damage, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. His seizures would last more than an hour - but the couple say their severity lessened when the "miracle" drug treatment began. Now Cooper is even starting to crawl, they said.
"The doctors are fully aware and supportive of what we are doing," she said. "In the eight months prior ... he was only home for 16 days. He's been on cannabis now for 10 months; he's only been in hospital for 19 days." Police searched the family's property and seized some belongings before questioning the parents. Acting Assistant Commissioner Rick Nugent expressed sympathy and admitted there was debate over medical use of cannabis. "We're not doing anything to hurt our children," Ms Batten said. They had co-operated with the probe. DHS said in a letter to the family's lawyer it had no plans for a protective order for Cooper. But one letter referred to a "protective intervention" investigation.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Heraldsun.com.au
Author: Andrea Hamblin
Contact: Contact Us
Website: No Cookies | Herald Sun
