TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A court-appointed guardian isdropping her attempt to force an 11-year-old
Amish girl with leukemia toresume chemotherapy after she and her parents fled their home to
avoidtreatment.The move filed in court Friday will likely bring an endto a months-long fight between Sarah
Hershberger’s family and ahospital that began when her parents decided to halt the treatmentsbecause they
were making the girl sick.The guardian, an attorneywho’s also a registered nurse, was given the power to
make medicaldecisions for Sarah after an appeals court ruling in October said thebeliefs and convictions of
the girl’s parents can’t outweigh the rightsof the state to protect the child.But the guardian,
MariaSchimer, decided to drop the effort because she doesn’t know where Sarahis now and it has become
impossible to monitor her health or make anymedical decisions, said Clair Dickinson, an attorney for
Schimer."It didn’t make sense to drag this on any longer," he said.Doctorsat Akron Children’s
Hospital believe Sarah’s leukemia is treatable, butsay she will die within a year if she halts chemotherapy.
The hospitalwent to court after the family decided to stop chemotherapy and treatSarah with natural
medicines, such as herbs and vitamins.Dickinsonsaid an attorney for the hospital told him that if the court
allowsSchimer to withdraw from the case, the hospital won’t continue its legalpush to get chemotherapy for
the girl.Sarah’s father said thefamily doesn’t oppose modern medicine and that they didn’t make
theirdecision based on religious reasons.They ended chemotherapybecause it was making her too sick and they
feared it could end upkilling her, the family’s attorney, Maurice Thompson, said.Sarahand her parents left
their home in rural northeast Ohio just days beforethe state appeals court allowed the guardian to take over
medicaldecisions. The family left the country in late September beforereturning to an undisclosed location
outside Ohio.Schimer’s attempts to meet with the family were rebuffed, Dickinson said.The guardian’s
decision to withdraw from the case still needs final approval from a county court."Thejudge’s approval
of this resignation will pave the way for the family’sreturn home, which will allow Sarah to receive the
family’s preferredtreatment under the best possible conditions," Thompson said.Sarah’slast known
chemotherapy session was in June, but she has undergonealternative-therapy treatments and is doing well, her
family has said.Thompson,who leads the libertarian 1851 Center for Constitutional Law in Ohio,said the case
came down to fundamental principles and constitutionalrights. "We made it clear to our opponents that
they were in for aprotracted battle," he said.Andy Hershberger, the Ohio girl’sfather, said this past
summer that the family agreed to begin two yearsof treatments for Sarah last spring but stopped a second
round ofchemotherapy in June because it was making her extremely sick and shefeared the treatments would
make her infertile.The family’s attorney said the girl’s parents made their decision after researching the
effects of chemotherapy.Sarahbegged her parents to stop the chemo and they agreed after a great dealof
prayer, Hershberger said. The family, members of an insular Amishcommunity, shuns many facets of modern life
and is deeply religious.They live on a farm and operate a produce stand near the village ofSpencer in Medina
County, about 35 miles southwest of Cleveland.Hospitalofficials have said they are morally and legally
obligated to make surethe girl receives proper care. They said the girl’s illness,lymphoblastic lymphoma, is
an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma,but there is a high survival rate with treatment.Copyright 2013
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