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Boy forced to have chemotherapy dies in mum’s arms

The Perth boy was at the centre of a bitter legal dispute over his cancer treatment.

A six-year-old Australian boy whose cancer treatment was at the middle of a bitter legal battle has died.

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Oshin Kiszko, from Perth, passed away after battling a rare brain tumour for almost a year on December 28.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2015, Oshin underwent surgery and doctors recommended he should also undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

It was then that his parents, Angela Kiszko and Adrian Strachan, refused permission for the treatments as they believed it was diminish Oshin’s quality of life.

The parents wanted to explore alternative therapies, and argued that palliative care would be more appropriate for the sick six-year-old.

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Oshin’s parents then took their son’s doctors to court, with the Family Court ruling that the boy, should, in fact, undergo chemotherapy.

In May this year, the case returned to court again with doctors urging Oshin’s parents to let him have radiation treatment, stressing that he would have a 30 to 50 per cent chance of surviving if he had both chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

But, as reported by the ABC, by September, the court granted Oshins’ parents’ wish: from that moment on, the sick youngster would only receive palliative care.

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“I am deeply concerned that any perpetuation of the conflict over Oshin’s treatment will continue to diminish the ability of his parents to focus their energies solely on the provision of that support and love directly to him when he needs it most,” Justice Richard O’Brien said in September.

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