Cancer med-withholding mom gets 8 to 10 years

Kristen LaBrie looks at family and friends after is was found guilty on all four counts, including attempted murder, in the death of her son, at Lawrence Superior Court in Lawrence, Ma., Tuesday, April 12, 2011. / AP Photo/Cheryl Senter

LAWRENCE, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman convicted of attempted murder for withholding cancer medications from her autistic son was sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison.

Kristen LaBrie wept and expressed remorse before a judge announced her punishment Friday in Lawrence Superior Court. She said she misses her son every day.

Authorities say LaBrie stopped filling Jeremy Fraser's cancer medication prescriptions. The boy died in 2009 at age 9. Prosecutors argued that he had an 85 to 90 percent chance of surviving had he received the proper treatment.

Mom kept meds from cancer-ridden autistic son

But LaBrie testified that the medicine made her son suffer even more.

"He was very, very sick, and I was afraid, and I did not want to have to make him get any more sick."

Judge Richard Welch said he had sympathy for the "tremendous pressures" LaBrie faced as a single parent raising a severely disabled child. But he said withholding the boy's treatment was "an extended, secretive and calculated act that chills the soul."

LaBrie could have gotten 20 years. Prosecutors asked for at least 16. Her lawyer sought one year in jail.

Her lawyer argued she was simply overwhelmed by caring for her son and asked for one year in jail plus probation.

[mimijoy]

I went to high school w/kristen and she is not a bad person. All you "god" people passing judgement should save it. Jeremy was 9 yrs old and severely autistic,couldn't speak, hardly walk and still wore a diaper. She lost her house, car, job. Her two other kids had to go live w/other family members(not their hero father who took off yrs ago only to show up at the very end)while she and jeremy lived in a spare rm at her sisters because she was unable to care for the other 2 w/jeremy being so severely handicapped. Even if he beat the cancer he was never going to grow up out of diapers or go to a group home, he would always be like a newborn child. She loved him just as much as the other 2 kids but I'm sure she was completely overwhelmed, missed her other 2 kids terribly and was hopeless w/no end in sight. I don't condone what she did but I see how it happened

[mimijoy]

Why don't you do your homework and actually read everything there is to know about this case...then form an opinion your highness

[carolhill814]

That is all she gets that isn't near enough to me that is First Degree Murder nothing more nothing less.

[formrusmcsgt]

If it were up to me, she'd have faced murder one charges and gotten life.

If she didn't want to care for her own son, she should have given him to someone who would rather than slowly executing him through denial of care.

[nursewretched]

I was unaware that a parent's responsibility to care for their own children as they feel is best is actually contingent upon a doctor's diagnosis, prescribed treatment protocol and legally binding adherence to those things at all times when CANCER is the illness (first time I've ever seen a trial like this one) in question for any choice they make to be less than a loving or ill-advised choice when she should have been counseled and/or periodically checked on by at least one of these people who are accusing her of murder and neglect.

[Noval53]

Most of the negative comments towards the mother in this case, come from internet blowhards that no absolutely nothing about cancer. Cancer treatment is a huge mega money making industry in America; who needs a cure;$$$$$$ there's treatment dollars to be made. Chemo & Radiation is often a slow and painful death sentence; but you will pay, pay, pay all the way to the grave and beyond. The best thing anyone with cancer to do is get the heck away from the American medical mafia. Seek alternative treatment from Mexico, Cuba, China, Ecuador; just about anywhere but here. The number one and first thing to do is; do your homework, educate yourself, and don't accept the first box of BS that you will be handed by the American "money making comes first" medical establishment.

[longtree-2009]

don't get this justice system. out in california a man was just sentenced to 4 years for killing a man while driving drunk. the jury acquitted him of second degree murder and manslaughter so the judge could only level a 4 year sentence. this woman didn't kill anyone and gets 8-10 years? what the heck?

[MaxK341]

Most cancer treatment drugs damage the body's immune system, Cause awful suffering and shorten life. I guess that this ill informed judge thinks that it's ok for the doctors to torture and kill children.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
l'inculpation de tentative d'assassinat est injuste, la condamnation ? 8 ans de prison est ?galement injuste, cette maman vient de perdre son enfant, elle a besoin d'aide et de soutien,
l'enfermer avec des criminels, la d?truira ? jamais
il faut ?sp?rer qu'elle aura droit ? un recours

............
on charges of attempted murder was unjust, the sentence of 8 years in prison is also unfair, this mother has lost her child, she needs help and support
enclose it with criminals, destroy it forever
hopefully she will be entitled to a recourse
"au revoir"

[mimijoy]

kristen lost her house, car,job and was living w/jeremy in a spare rm at her sisters house while her other 2 kids lived w/relatives. He was also severely autistic w out language and in diapers....20 more years? Who would want that??? Tell me please since you seem to know so much

[oh_henry_oh]

I live in Massachusetts. It's a very bad place to expect any personal freedom. Having said that I don't think this Mom had the right to withhold meds which might have given the kid twenty more years of life.

[Cunnintl]

I think there's more than enough guilt and blame to go around here. Pediatric cancers are difficult for parents to handle. There are some parents who can handle giving their child medication that will make them more ill than many of you can even imagine. There are some parents who just can't. Whether that reason be emotional or a lack of understanding/illiteracy, these issues should be addressed before a parent is sent home with their sick child and then expected to continue medical care in the home on their own. Where the health providers failed this child, this parent, was when they did not evaluate the ability of the parent to provide at home chemo. Home caregivers, nurses coming to the home to administer the medication, would have provided the kind of back up this mother apparently needed. Too bad it's too late for this child and this parent. Perhaps an evaluation of this healthcare provider's practices may prevent similar occurrences in the future.