A 17-year-old girl named Cassandra is being forced to undergo chemotherapy treatments by a Connecticut court decision. Cassandra and her mother have been fighting the decision.

Cassandra C. was found to have Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in September. Without the chemotherapy treatment, doctors say that she is likely to die within two years. If she undergoes the treatments as the Connecticut court has ordered, doctors have given her an 85 percent chance of living.

A battle has been taking place almost since it was discovered that she had the disease. The courts are saying that they believe that Cassandra is largely following her mother’s decision in the matter, but her mother denies it.

After the initial court decision, Cassandra did undergo three weeks of chemo, but then actually ran away from home. The Court is saying that this single factor proves her immaturity to make the decision about her own care. Even after she returned home, she conveniently found ways to avoid further treatments. Not long after, when it was time for another treatment, the police and the Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) came to force her to go.

The teen girl was forcibly put into a hospital, strapped onto a bed by her wrists and ankles, and sedated. When she woke up, she found that she had a surgically-implanted port put into her chest. At this point, she says she felt “completely violated.”

Cassandra knows very well that not getting the chemotherapy will most likely mean that she will die. After the Connecticut Supreme Court forces Cassandra to resume taking the chemotherapy treatment, she wrote an opinion piece for the paper, the Hartford Courant. In it, she states that she wants the right to make her own decisions about the medical care she is going to receive.

One of the primary reasons the teen gives for refusing the treatment is that she does not want “such toxic harmful drugs” put into her body. She claims to be more interested in the “quality of my life, not the quantity.”

Court documents show that the doctor’s arguments in court included the fact that the chemotherapy usually does work. Although there are some side effects that often occur with the treatment, they are not usually serious.

According to the decision of the Connecticut Court, the hospital where Cassandra is being forced to stay, forces her to continue to take the chemotherapy treatments. She remains under a 24-hour armed guard.