- A mom disregarded a treatment plan for her daughter, inspiring a push to reform Michigan’s definition of ‘child neglect’
- ‘Serenity’s Law’ would amend the Child Protection Law to let parents refuse recommended treatment plans
- The bill passed a GOP-led House committee last month as lawmakers embrace efforts to strengthen parental rights
Kimberly Towe watched her 5-year-old daughter’s spine deteriorate as doctors urged her to act. A bone marrow biopsy was needed for a proper diagnosis, they told her over the course of several months in 2022. Time was of the essence.
Instead, Towe came up with her own plan. The homeschooling mother preferred “holistic” and “natural” treatments over the procedure several physicians agreed was needed to figure out what was going on in the young girl’s body. “I didn’t want that for my daughter,” Towe said of the biopsy. “I was totally against it.”
Searching for other options near her Branch County home, she developed an alternative daily regimen for her daughter — a large dose of cannabis oil, vitamins and supplements including cayenne pepper and turmeric.
That choice triggered a Michigan Children’s Protective Services investigation Towe never anticipated. It also landed her in Lansing last month, testifying before state lawmakers to support reforms that would redefine what the state calls “child neglect.”
A state House bill — dubbed “Serenity’s Law” after Towe’s daughter — would create exceptions for parents and legal guardians to refuse a treatment plan recommended by a health professional.
Towe has found support at the state Capitol — the legislation passed out of a Republican-led committee last month. The bill, she says, is meant to keep parents in control of the decisions impacting their kids.
“My children belong to me — I birthed them. They do not belong to the state,” Towe told Bridge Michigan. “So I should be able to decide what treatments they get or what medicine they get.”
Related:
- Do Michigan parents have a right to see everything in kids’ medical records?
- Disorder sparks sudden OCD in kids. Should Michigan force insurers to cover?
- In bid for governor, John James proposes ‘bill of rights’ for Michigan parents
Serenity eventually got the procedure, but the legislation she inspired comes amid a growing movement to amplify parental rights in the state as an election-year issue.
Doctors say it’s uncommon to involve state agencies and courts in medical decision-making, but it’s sometimes warranted.
“Our primary responsibility is to act in the best interest of a child’s well-being in partnership with the parents and caregivers,” said Dr. Matthew Denenberg, a pediatric emergency physician and bioethicist at Corewell Health’s Beaumont Children’s Hospital in Royal Oak.
“Rarely, we go against the parents wishes, but we do so with the benefit of the child in mind and take that responsibility seriously. It’s not easy for us.”
Denenberg is not involved in the Towe case.
Lawmakers sponsoring Serenity’s Law say families have ceded too much ground to the government in raising their children. Republicans have increasingly backed similar efforts to define a parent’s authority over their children’s bodies. Last month, the GOP-controlled state House passed a bill to remove a child’s right to exclude their parents and guardians from certain medical records.
No Democrats supported moving Serenity’s Law to the House floor, signaling potential obstacles to it becoming law in a divided Legislature. Democrats have supported more disclosures to parents regarding school vaccination rates while maintaining the state’s authority to devise immunization standards.
Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, sits on the Michigan House Families and Veterans Committee, which reviewed Serenity’s Law before it moved to the full House.
She said CPS administrative rules may need “tightening up,” but a new law is not needed since the program has “decent guardrails” to stop it from causing unnecessary harm.
“We aren’t very well defining what it means for a parent to be actively seeking a second opinion, and we don’t put a maximum time limit on it,” Rheingans said of the bill. “If the parent is abusing their child, they could keep hiding the abuse by saying that they’re just getting a second opinion.”
Under state law, failure to provide adequate medical care if a parent is financially able to do so — or failure to seek the means to provide it — can constitute negligence. Michigan, like several other states, has religious exemptions from child abuse laws for medical treatment.
Bill sponsors say they analyzed other states that provide protections for parents who fail to follow medical directions.
Virginia enacted “Abraham’s Law” in 2007 protecting a teenager’s right to refuse treatment. It followed the death of a patient who chose prayer and herbal remedies to treat Hodgkin disease, which is curable with radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Serenity’s story
State and medical records that Towe shared with Bridge show her family’s interaction with Children’s Protective Services began with a search for answers.
In March 2022, hospital visits and MRIs showed a young Serenity Towe was developing lesions on her vertebrae — moving was painful, and her spine was curved at 25 degrees. She had already been diagnosed with autism and was nonverbal at the time.
Doctors at Michigan hospitals and Shriners Children’s hospital in Chicago explained a biopsy of her spine was necessary to properly set out on a treatment plan for Serenity’s condition: She could have one of several suspected medical conditions including leukemia, lymphoma or other infections and diseases.
The doctors said her daughter was at risk for paralysis without a treatment plan. She was already losing her ability to walk. A biopsy to know the specifics was needed critically and the procedure was deemed low risk.
But Towe, a mother of three, was worried about harming her sick daughter with more invasive procedures.
Rather than “poisoning and mutilating children in the name of medical health” with doctor-approved biopsies and the chemotherapy that could follow, Towe got another opinion that aligned with what she believed would be best for Serenity.
“I found holistic doctors that prescribe medical marijuana,” Towe said.
Serenity’s alternative treatment, according to state records, included up to two grams of marijuana oil each day and topical cream along with doses of rosemary, raw organic honey, dandelion and vitamin C.
Kimberly Towe said she used plants and supplements to “detox” Serenity from the crippling effects of her curved spine and growing lesions in consultation with a wellness center and a cannabis-prescribing doctor. The regimen improved her daughter’s diet and stopped her vomiting and bloody noses, she said, allowing her to play once again.
Despite her new routine, physicians noted Serenity’s spine condition continued to deteriorate as they lobbied for treatment.
A post-visit phone call from a hospital would echo for years to come.
CPS investigates
During a November 2022 appointment that followed Serenity’s sixth birthday, doctors at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor told the Towes that action was urgently needed, according to the records provided to Bridge. Again, the parents declined to pursue the hospital’s recommendations.
Records show the refusal prompted a social worker from Mott to contact the state’s CPS program days later. Under Michigan law, physicians and social workers are required to report their suspicions of child abuse or neglect.
State officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The state spent several weeks reviewing the case with in-person visits to the Towe home in Quincy and conversations with Serenity’s medical team.
According to a CPS investigation report reviewed by Bridge, Serenity “appeared very high” to staff during her November doctor’s appointment at Mott. CPS noted her family was advised that marijuana and high-dose vitamin C “are NOT proven therapies” for the conditions she was experiencing.
“Mom said she came to this plan by doing her own research,” doctors said of her visit.
The doctor who prescribed cannabis to Serenity indicated to a CPS investigator that he was unaware of the biopsy discussion other physicians were having.
He said he prescribed Serenity’s cannabis specifically for pain management, not as a curative treatment. He said the child was getting more than the prescribed amount, that the dosage should be reduced and she should have the biopsy.
Serenity got the biopsy, a decision Kimberly Towe feels was “forced” by the state. “CPS tricked us,” she said. The biopsy results were inconclusive, and Towe described complications following the procedure.
CPS concluded in December 2022 that there was no “preponderance of evidence” to support a medical neglect finding. “Due to Kimberly obtaining the biopsy and Kimberly following up with all the doctor’s appointments so far, this case will be a denial,” the report said.
Finding an audience
The Towe’s encounter with CPS got the attention of their state representative.
Rep. Jennifer Wortz, R-Quincy, is sponsoring the Serenity’s Law legislation. Last month, Kimberly and Serenity Towe joined Wortz to discuss the bill.
Wortz said “the scope of medical neglect has been interpreted broadly by the medical community” and aspects of the current law need to be changed while maintaining protections for children.
“We need to be cautious in presuming that parents are wrong when they make a decision different than what a medical professional is recommending,” Wortz told Bridge. “And that they have the freedom to go and seek a second opinion for their child as they would do for themselves.”
Other lawmakers disagree on the need for such a change.
Parental rights has been a perennial political issue in Michigan. Efforts to ease access to vaccine waivers have gained steam following the pandemic, with some lawmakers hoping to create new protections for those that reject immunizations.
Looking ahead
Four years later, Serenity is approaching her 10th birthday. Her mother has seen a significant improvement.
“She does competitive cheer, she does dance class and softball,” Towe said. “You literally wouldn’t know it.”
Once on the cusp of losing her ability to walk, she said Serenity has developed new skills in the years since her initial hospital visits, like singing and reading.
“She started talking and everything when we started detoxing her and giving her the marijuana products,” Towe said.
Towe said her daughter continues to see doctors for scans and blood tests. She has not had another biopsy to confirm her condition, which, according to records, some doctors suspect may be Langerhans cell histiocytosis, which leads to the overproduction of cells. The family has opted to “watch and wait.”
“She’s on annual appointments now because she’s doing so well,” Kimberly Towe said.
She said she doesn’t dismiss recommendations from doctors, but parents like her should have the option to choose alternatives.
“If it doesn’t work, then we can come back to you,” she said. “Right now, we’d like to try this.”
Thank you to our Michigan Health Watch Sponsors
Bridge Michigan Health Watch is made possible by generous financial support from our sponsors. Sponsorship supports our independent journalism mission but does not constitute sponsor endorsement of individual articles or editorial content. Bridge Michigan journalism remains fact- and data-driven and independent at all times.
Please visit the About page for more information and to subscribe to Health Watch. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact Emma Carr.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under our Republication Guidelines. Questions? Email republishing@bridgemi.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.