Judge Overrules Parents, Gives Doctors OK to Perform Surgery on Injured Wrestler, 16
Injured during a wrestling practice last month, a 16-year-old boy in Pennsylvania needs surgery on his spine that his parents have nixed, a state-court jurist has decided.
So Delaware County judge Mary Alice Brennan faxed an order today to doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital giving them permission to stabilize Mazzerati Mitchell’s spine with plates, according to Fox News and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mitchell’s parents say the surgery is unnecessary and could paralyze their child, who is currently able to move his arms and legs, and they plan to appeal the ruling. “They believe that the right of the child and the rights of the parents is more compelling than that of the state,” says their lawyer, Michael Nix.
The judge has authority to order treatment over the parents’ objection because Mitchell became a ward of the court after his doctors complained to child welfare officials about his situation.
Delaware County Solicitor Don McBain tells the Inquirer that decision-making about Mitchell’s medical treatment, including surgery, “will be up to the doctors at Jefferson” under the court order.
