A 39-year-old Oregon mom faces up to 19 months in prison after a jury convicted her of denying traditional medical treatment to her daughter, Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
The Clackamas County jury found Christina Gale Dixon guilty of first-degree custodial interference and two first-degree criminal mistreatment counts, according to Daily Mail. The case was filed in 2019 when Dixon reportedly chose to treat her then-13-year-old daughter’s cancerous liver tumor with CBD oil, rejecting the medical consensus for chemotherapy and surgery.
This decision led to her daughter, Kylee Dixon, to be placed in state custody, but she reportedly still lived with her mother. Dixon’s actions were not ideal to the treatment plan advocated by cancer specialists and consulting physicians from St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, per Daily Mail. (RELATED: 18 Best CBD Capsules on the Market)
Oregon woman who refused to let daughter have liver cancer surgery and wanted to treat it with CBD oil before going on the run is convicted and faces 19 months https://t.co/4UuToTk9dJ pic.twitter.com/daQjOYdZFi
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 21, 2023
Representing herself in court, Dixon read a statement for over an hour in her defense and called Kylee, now 17, to testify. The prosecution’s witnesses included oncologists from Oregon Health & Science University, state child welfare employees and a Clackamas County sheriff’s detective, Daily Mail reported.
Prosecutor Bryan Censoni expressed satisfaction with the jury’s recognition of Dixon’s parental duty to ensure life-saving medical care for children.
“From my point of view, I was happy that the jury accepted the universal medical consensus in the case,” Censoni said in a statement, per Daily Mail.
Doctors diagnosed Kylee with undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma in March 2018. After Dixon eluded authorities with her daughter in June 2019, Kylee was eventually found in Las Vegas, placed in foster care and underwent successful surgery in early 2020, which led to her being cancer free, Daily Mail reported.