01:00 PM EDT on Friday, June 2, 2006

Associated Press

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ACCOMAC, Va. (AP) -- A judge agreed to let a 15-year-old cancer patient return to a Mexican clinic to continue an alternative medical treatment, as long as he has a diagnostic X-ray first.

Abraham Cherrix, who has Hodgkin's disease, also was ordered to return to court June 29 for a hearing to determine whether he can make his own medical decisions.

The case landed in court in March after the Chincoteague teenager, whose disease remained active despite three months of chemotherapy last year, refused to go forward with a doctor's plan for more chemotherapy and radiation.

Last week, Judge Jesse E. Demps filed a temporary order finding parents Jay and Rose Cherrix neglectful and requiring them and the county social services department to share custody of Abraham.

The judge also forbid the family to leave the state and ordered Abraham to undergo any diagnostic testing deemed necessary by doctors at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk.

In a similar case last year, the parents of 13-year-old Hodgkin's disease patient Katie Wernecke won the right in November to make all her medical decisions after a court fight with Texas child welfare officials. Doctors had recommended chemotherapy and radiation; her father favored a program of intravenous vitamin C.

Abraham Cherrix had said he was troubled by the risks and side effects of the treatment recommended by his doctors and traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, in March to begin following an organic diet and taking herbal supplements.

Outside court Thursday, he said he agreed to the single X-ray "because I want to go back to my doctor in Mexico."

Social Services and hospital officials have declined to discuss the case, citing confidentiality rules.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)