Attempted Murder: Mother Who Denied Autistic Son Cancer Meds Found Guilty
- Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:05pm by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman who withheld at-home chemotherapy medications from her autistic, cancer-stricken son was convicted of attempted murder Tuesday by jurors who dismissed her claim that she thought the side effects of the treatment could kill him.
Kristen LaBrie also was found guilty of child endangerment and assault and battery for failing to give her son, Jeremy Fraser, at least five months of cancer medications after the boy was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006. He died in 2009 at age 9.
LaBrie, 38, told the jury she stopped giving him the medications because she couldn’t bear to see how sick the side effects made him.
Prosecutors portrayed her as a single mother seething with resentment because she had to care for Jeremy alone.
LaBrie, who appeared teary-eyed but resigned as the verdict was read, consoled her sobbing sister in the front row.
“Tell everybody I’m OK. It’s going to be OK. I love you, too,” LaBrie said.
As she was led away in handcuffs, she mouthed “I love you” to her family.
Jeremy’s oncologist, Dr. Alison Friedmann of Massachusetts General Hospital, had testified that she told LaBrie her son’s cancer had a cure rate of 85 percent to 90 percent under a two-year, five-phase treatment plan that included some hospital stays, regular visits to the hospital clinic to receive chemotherapy treatments and at-home administration of several cancer medications.
Friedmann said the boy’s cancer went into remission after months of treatment. But in early 2008, Friedmann said she discovered that the cancer had returned in the form of leukemia and that LaBrie had not filled at least five months of prescriptions she was supposed to give him.
LaBrie, testifying in her own defense, told the jury that she followed the instructions from her son’s doctors for the first four phases of treatment but stopped giving her son the medications during the final phase because she “didn’t want to make him any sicker.”
LaBrie said she told her son’s doctor two or three times that she was afraid that “he just had had it.”
“He was just not capable of getting through any more chemotherapy,” LaBrie said. “I really felt that it could out-villainize the disease – the medicine could – because he was very, very fragile.”
LaBrie’s lawyer, Kevin James, told the jury LaBrie was depressed and overwhelmed by caring for her son, who was severely autistic, nonverbal and developmentally delayed. James said she made a “tragic mistake” in stopping her son’s at-home medication, but said her actions were not criminal.
LaBrie and the boy’s father, Eric Fraser, had a contentious relationship. LaBrie said she received very little help from him, even after their son was diagnosed with cancer.
After doctors discovered LaBrie had withheld the medications, Jeremy went to live with his father for the last year of his life. Eric Fraser was killed in a motorcycle accident seven months after his son died.
Fraser’s family members wept in the back row of the courtroom as the verdict was read.
Eric Fraser’s brother, Andrew Fraser, later acknowledged the toll the heart-wrenching case has taken on both families.
“It’s been a struggle for everybody, including the defendant,” he said. “It’s never a good day to have to go through something like this, but we did.”
LaBrie’s sister, Elizabeth O’Keefe, cried as she defended her sister to reporters after the verdict. She said she expected guilty verdicts on the child endangerment and assault charges, but was surprised jurors convicted her of attempted murder.
“It’s too hard for them to know what my sister was going through at that time,” O’Keefe said. “Nobody was there, just me and my close family. We loved Jeremy more than any other little boy in this whole world.”
“I don’t think that my sister had any intentions of hurting Jeremy – ever – and never will believe that in my life,” she said.
LaBrie will be sentenced Friday morning. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on the attempted murder charge, 10 years on a charge of assault and battery on a disabled person, five years on assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury and 2 1/2 years on reckless endangerment of a child.
Her attorney, Kevin James, asked to delay sentencing until next week so he could write a sentencing memo and gather letters on LaBrie’s behalf from her friends and family. Judge Richard Welch said he would review the letters and sentencing memo, but would not agree to schedule the hearing next week.
“Those are very serious crimes,” Welch said.




















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Comments (123)
the_ancient
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:53pmAnother chip was taken from the mountain of freedom today……
Parents should have the final say in the treatment or non-treatment of their children, What is next arresting Jehovah’s Witnesses for refusing blood transfusions , the Amish for not having 911?
Chemo is a race, what will be poisoned faster, the body or the cancer…
I disagree with the vast majority of Doctors, because to a Doctor “being alive” is all the matter, however quality of life must be a factor, I would rather be dead than alive in constant pain and suffering on Chemo,
the 80% they refer normally only sends the cancer in to remission for a few months, maybe a few years, but it will return and the process will have to be started again and again. that is no way to live
Report Post »parlayer
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:49pmI guess not having a mom was better!! lucky me!!
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:34pmConsidering what a lot of mothers are like, you just may be better off.
Report Post »DallyWama
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:44pm@Encinom
/agreed
Report Post »Class2000Generation
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:40pmWow – are you serious? I’m a proud mom of 2 little ones – yes, they’re still alive and no, I’m not shacking up with a boyfriend. I know – crazy. A single mother who has a great paying full time job, devoting her time to her kids and involved in their extracurricular activities … Mr Drunk, please keep your negativity to yourself.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:32pmthat s messed up ,, it s her child and her choice , the liberal ran government needs to keep out of people s family and their bedrooms
Report Post »sweetgin
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:28pmI just don’t know about this..its heart wrenching …working for 20-plus years in healthcare..i have seen lots of cancer patients die faster from the chemo than the cancer. pts immune sytem is completely destroyed during chemo and infections, and blood loss are high as well as the massive nausea.
Report Post »kids do respond to treatment faster..but I just don’t know about mother being charged with murder..why didn’t state step in faster if they knew what was happening.?
J.Canuck
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:07pmMy priest told me just the other day that a Christian must live out their natural life, but is under no obligation to prolong it.
The kid was retarded, riddled with disease, and unsupported by a sound family. Morphine would have been much kinder than chemo. Leave the Mum alone.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:21pmSo, what’s the difference between a woman who aborts a child because the child is sick and she might not have her “dream” life taking care of a sick child, and what this woman did. In both cases they played God, taking a life rather than doing everything in their power hoping and praying for that miracle that might come. Where does the slippery slope end. My wife and I have taken care of my grandmother and her elderly parents for almost everyone of our 40 years of marriage. Maybe we should of kept grandma from getting all her meds near the end, or now my 90+ year mother in law. How much easier to confuse her and not give her the meds she needs. Both were in some pain, both had no, what do the libs call it, quality of life. No one can play God, no one should.
Report Post »the_ancient
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:42pmwhy does every thread have to be turned in to an abortion topic?
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:12pmBecause it’s the holocaust of our time, in our country. It’s killing this country.
Report Post »survivorseed
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:47amTeddrunk, answer me this. Isn’t it God who so graciously gave this child cancer in the first place? If its Gods will to have this child’s life end now, wouldn’t it against his will to use scientific medicine to prolong the agony?
Report Post »Hypocrisy and christianity go hand in hand with you don’t they.
TxGold
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:18pmI don’t believe I would have voted guilty on this one.
Report Post »searching for the Truth
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:32pmSame here!
Report Post »Luminous
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:40pmI wouldn’t have.
Report Post »the_ancient
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:00pmThis is a classic case of Judge/Prosecution Jury Tampering aka “Jury Instructions”
I am sure most of the jury did not want to convict but she probably did violate the statue as written then the Jury felt compelled per the Judges “Instructions” to convict, instead of Nullify like they morally should have.
This is why I feel Either all jury instructions should be abolished, or jury nullification be added as part of the instructions.
Report Post »momprayn
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:18pmYes, I certainly would reserve “judgement”. I tend to agree with those that said these cancer treatments are deadly for some people & how weird doctors are. I‘m sure we don’t have all the facts but I can easily see where she honestly didn’t want him to die but thought these treatments were too much for him & couldn’t stand watching him get worse. These treatments are controversial & people die anyway afterwards, even after the doctors say they probably wouldn’t. Also, it worries me about our freedoms – she had the perfect right to decide to refuse treatment but there’s a push now to get that changed…..it’s whatever the doctors or some beaurecrat decides. lt looks to me that it wasn’t criminal. Shame on all those who have rushed to condemnation.
Report Post »kindling
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 11:39pmI have an autistic son that sounds very much like her son. He is also medically fragile and would probably not be able to live through chemo. I would have to say I would not agree to have my son go through something that could kill him faster than the cancer would anyway. Quality is more important than quantity especially if we are talking cancer.
Report Post »UpstateNYConservative
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:14pmI’m sure glad I neither had to sit on that jury nor be the judge passing down the sentence; this is one of those horrible situations where everyone involved got hurt. If justice should ever be tempered with mercy, I’d have to say this is one of those times.
Report Post »TxGold
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:14pmYou don‘t know what you’re talking about!
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:12pmgood.. its about time the system worked
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:11pmIt’s none of my business
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:10pmThe poor kids are the innocent victim in all these stories.
Report Post »reb2fin3
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:07pmI am not usually compelled to respond on blogs… However, this one is very personal for me. I was a young single mother to 3 beautiful rambunctious boys. I was very much alone with no support from their dad or my family. My twins were 2 years old when the youngest was diagnosed with leukemia. The first month was excruciating watching my beautiful baby being put thru the effects of double-faced posion. The next five years were equally excruciating! He lost his hair 3x’s, he was 3 x’s the size of a normal 2yo because of all the steroids. He cried for hours from pain. I had to attend to 2 other children as well. I was so afraid of the cancer, of the drugs, of the effects both were having on his body. the effects the whole nightmare was having on my 2 other very small children. It was a devastating time. Having gone through a similiar experience I am not willing to condemn another mother. What she did was reprehensible she should be punished. But might she be telling the truth? I would have like to have seen some mercy shown as well. I pray this mom will have some peace. God Bless
Report Post »TheSoundOf Truth
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:01pmWhat if the kid died from the treatment?
Then who goes to jail?
Report Post »TxGold
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:17pmExactly! I had a loved one that stopped chemo and a good quality of life til the end, instead of the sickness and misery the treatment was causing!!!
Report Post »Luminous
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:34pmI agree. If chemo was the savior for cancer I would understand the courts ruling. Chemo’s success rate is horrible and feeling absolutely horrible is guaranteed. I cannot judge.
Report Post »TheSoundOf Truth
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:54pmBut….if she had an abortion….she’s exercising her rights?
Helllllllo Caligula. Welcome to the fall of the empire.
Report Post »TheSoundOf Truth
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:53pmYeah, but what about the very clear fact that chemotherapy kills just as many people WITH cancer?
How can you say she has a “filthy soul”? Have YOU ever seen what chemo does to someone? Chemo causes cancer! DUH!
20 years? Regardless of whether or not “they say” the treatment would have worked, there was still a huge chance that the drugs would have killed him. 85-90% success rate? BS!
Yet, doctors that kill their patients….hmph…what do they get? A slap on the wrist and their insurance pays some money, if anyone believes it was the doctor’s fault! The medical industry lies to YOUR FACE about cancer and no one can do anything about it because of fear of being accused of MURDER! She didn’t kill the kid; she just did NOT believe the draconian treatments were working!
I seriously am consumed with utter hatred for MrSmileyface. May you rot in the fiery pits of hell for your utter contempt for the truth. I seriously hate you and hope you some day have to make that choice.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:52pmWalk a mile in my shoes before you judge. This is a tragic story, PERIOD!
Report Post »davuf
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:45pmCheers.
Report Post »survivorseed
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:50pmListen to you lot of judgmental fools. You have no idea what this woman has gone through and neither have I. You pass judgement then call yourself christian. You will all burn in hell. I’ll be there too, tormenting your worthless souls for eternity.
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:45pmGod decides who goes and when; not Mom, Dad, Doctor, or Lawyer. Nuff said.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:31pmSo God guides the hand of the murderer?
Report Post »davuf
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:43pmNot sure what your point is in this post. So was it God‘s will she denied treatment or did she deny God’s judgement?
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:45pmI bet she painted his toenails pink too.
Report Post »ADNIL
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:40pmHaving had several loved ones die of cancer, some with cancer treatments and one with no treatment at all, what I observed was that the suffering from surgery, chemo, and radiation, was worse than the disease, and, they all died anyway. The main difference was in the quality of life after diagnosis with or without the treatments. The doctors always seemed to give false hope, even to the point where they told me that my mother would survive another year when it was obvious to ME (not a doctor) that whe was dying, and passed within three days. I would reserve my judgement of this woman.
Report Post »joseph Fawcett
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:44pmYour words are so true! I understand completely. I had cancer once 11 years ago. Will not go through an treatment again, I would rather die with Hospice Care than go thought any of the Chemo and Radation again. Doctors however take offense at such thoughts and wishes. They have little care about how much pain and suffering they cause. More thay can do more they can charge for. I am sorry for your loss, and glad to see and hear your perception on this situation.
http://www.josephfawcettart.com western artist
Report Post »the_ancient
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:44pmI have already made the choice to refuse chemo if I ever develop cancer… but now they will probally throw me a jail and force me to have it
Report Post »Bonnieblue2A
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:10pmEasy to judge this one from the keyboard. Not so easy to watch cancer eat away at a child to whom you cannot even comfort or explain to what is happening to him. There but for the grace of God go any of us. I hope her boy found peace and that one day she foes as well. Such a sad, sad situation.
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:59pmMy mom had colon cancer many years ago. She survived, but the chemotherapy almost killed her. It destroyed her kidneys and left her with serious hypertension as a result. After all, it’s not like the drugs can discriminate; they attack all the cells in your body, not just the cancer!
Report Post »RED-DAWN
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:23pmHaving children and never having had to walk in her shoes, I will defer judgment to one who knows her heart. The price she will pay here will be nothing like the price she will pay in the hereafter if her heart was not pure!
Report Post »Schmoopie
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:36pmWell said!
Report Post »riverwomansdaughter
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 4:43pmThe price paid already is far above what any earthly tribunal could possibly exact. I believe, from what little info is available, that this mother has done the best job at mothering that she could have possibly done with the information available to her at her time of decision. For some totally unconnected people to sit in judgement of her in this manner is just adding insult to an injury that only a mother could feel.
My heart and prayers to out to her.
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:11pmBest news I heard all week. May God have mercy on her filthy soul.
survivorseed
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:52pmThen your life must be pitiful. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. See you in hell mrs mileyface
Report Post »joseph Fawcett
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:04pmMRSMILEYFACE, How could you say something like that!! First off the mother had the legal right to refuse treatment. We all suppose to have that right. The mother held that right for the kid. I had cancer and I stopped treatment twice because I was so burned from the Radation that all my skin was burned off. It was horrible. Was I committing sucide? No, the treatment almost killed me. Infact I was told that by my doctor a year after I had finished.
For you to respond to this story like this shows that you don’t have a clue about how doctors only practice medicine and when they screw up they claim that it is not their fault. This woman was doing what she believe was right for her boy and loved him so much. Are we giveing up our rights now to refuse treatment. I refuse to go to the doctor for too reasons, one they always find ways to do more tests and have you take more medications, and secondly what they charge is robbery in the first degree. It is a shame you cannot see that this is the the Goverment over stepping and the medical profession becoming god over your life.
http://www.josephfawcettart.com western artist
Report Post »TxGold
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:13pmWould you make your child suffer when you knew that the meds were only prolonging his misery? Think about it!
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:35pmHave you no heart or soul, let alone shame?
First off this verdict needs to be appealled and overturned. This verdict places the government above the parents as the final decision maker when in comes to how a parent will care for a child. Second, unless nelgect can be proven, a parent has the right, without government interference to weigh the risks of any medical procedure.
Report Post »davuf
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:42pmAll I can say is that I find it ironic that people who would have aborted this child in the womb view his mother as evil for what she did. I can see her reason for letting nature take its course and I don’t believe it was malicous. I pray to never be in her situation.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:49pmI agree with survivorseed, totally.
Report Post »theonefromabove
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:00pmGlad to hear this. Poor kid.
http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:44pmHaving a sick child of my own you do feel awful giving your child something that you know is going to make them miserable, but if a professional tells you that this will work over the long term…what do you do? We always tend to look for the easy way out unfortunately. We only hope to make the right decision. I hope she can find peace and forgiveness.
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:56pmI never thought I would say this – but I agree with Encinom!
Report Post »MS70
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:59pmYou dont know her suffering or the childs! Look at all the malpractive goin on in the world. My own daughter was sick for a entire year because she was Lactose intollerent which was mis diagnosed. All the doctors said she was fine.
Report Post »mill
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:59pmshe must have loved him…♥ until you live her life, don’t judge why she did this. you have no idea how ill this boy could have been, being autistic, he also might not have understood why.
then again ….
Report Post »Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:13pmOne day we will look back on this episode of pouring toxic chemicals into the bodies of cancer patients and realize how utterly stupid we were. Remember, doctors used to recommend smoking and they used to bleed people to get diseases out of them.
Let food be thy medicine.
Report Post »jb6574
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:16pmMRSMILEYFACE,
Very interesting perspective! You are very quick to judge and condemn. Tell me, what experience do you have caring for gravely ill autistic children? Do you have children? As a physician (Emergency Medicine trained) and a single father of an autistic/ moderate MR 17 y/o daughter, you have no idea the turmoil this single mother went thru! For her to make this decision, was no doubt painful for her and not easily arrived at! It appears that she carried out four rounds of chemo and could not complete the fifth. Have you ever seen the effects chemo has on an adult, not to mention a child, let alone an autistic child? If her reservations to continue were mentioned, why did Dr. Freidmann not intervene on the childs behalf? MRSMILEYFACE, it appears that there is more to the story than what was reported and to make a decision on partial information, I find very troubling. May I suggest to you before passing judgment you have all the facts in the future. May god comfort her and bring peace to her family!
Report Post »kindling
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 11:18pmAutistic children and so easy to love, but in all truth, they are very hard to raise. It is a 24/7 job that drains you completely. You must work so hard to enter their world, you have to make deep connections in order to know how they are feeling and what they need. It is a one way trip that takes a lot of love and patience. I can understand how she could not take hurting him anymore. You are their everything. With autistic children you are programmed to love and protect them even more than a “normal” child. I think for her it was like the choice of letting him go gently or cruelly. She was placed in a no win situation. My heart goes out to her and her family.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 6:02amWow… this is a far cry from a mother that drives her car into a lake with her babies sitting in their car seats.
Report Post »This would be a difficult decision to make as a parent, but for her to stop giving her son chemo —that can be classified as attempted murder? That seems a bit much. Especially given the very well documented fact that MANY people get horribly ill from cancer treatments.
2012spartan
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 6:16amWhat! He had cancer – the cancer killed him not his mother. This is just crazy she had every right to make that decision. If something like this happened to someone in my family I would take up arms to free them. Wake up – it was the cancer.
Report Post »TheBattleAxe
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 8:58am2012spartan
You should probably read the story. The cancer had a 85-90% cure rate with meds; the state‘s case is that since the mother didn’t give her child the meds, she led to his death.
Report Post »Libby Tarian
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 10:46amsome people are just communists and against freedom of pouring poisons or not pouring poisons down your children’s throat- mrs smiley farce should read the statistics on how chemo helps heal cancer, LOL, you might be surprised
Report Post »777jenn
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 11:06amThis one tears out my heart. I have never had a very ill child, THANK GOD…but she HAD to know that NOT giving him the meds was a death sentence! YES….chemo can make you feel very very sick & miserable, been there done that in between my kids’ births. Awful. BUT if I didn’t DO it..I’d be DEAD. SOMEONE ..like the boy’s DOCTOR (hello?) should have KNOWN he was not receiving the chemo, through the bloodwork, etc. WHY did NO ONE know that the mother was doing this??? I agree with the parents’ rights to care for their child without the govt stepping in, but DID SHE NOT COMMIT MANSLAUGHTER? At least I do know where that sweet little boy is now. God, I pray for parents everywhere to use commom sense and ask for HELP when you need it.
Report Post »Libby Tarian
Posted on April 17, 2011 at 1:15pmI have Always wondered about the people who “accidently” leave their kids stapped in the car in 100 degree heat. Do they deserve jail, I think so.
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