Was it Murder? Mom Withheld Cancer Treatment from Autistic Son
SALEM, Mass. (CBS/AP) The autistic boy should have survived, if only his mother would have helped him.
That's the charge against a Mass. mom, who, prosecutors say, withheld life-saving cancer treatments from her autistic son. Now, a grand jury has indicted her on charges of attemted murder.
Kristen LaBrie (luh-BREE') of Salem is scheduled to be arraigned in Salem Superior Court on Monday on charges of attempted murder, child endangerment and permitting bodily injury to a disabled person.
LaBrie's son, Jeremy, was nine when he died in March. He had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, but his doctors believed he had a 85 to 90 percent chance of surviving if he had followed the prescribed treatment, according to court documents.
But prosecutors say the 37-year-old LaBrie canceled at least a dozen appointments for chemotherapy treatment and did not fill at least half her son's prescriptions.
She had earlier been charged with child endangerment, and a grand jury returned the more serious indictment Friday. She was arrested Sunday night. She denied the earlier charge.
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