Tyler also returned full custody of Abraham to his parents pending his new trial on Aug.16, which will be open to the public, unlike Abraham's first trial.
"I feel like I have been released," Abraham said after Tyler's decision was announced. The 16-year-old has opted to treat his cancer with the Hoxsey method, an alternative treatment consisting of an organic diet and herbal supplementation. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin's, Abraham underwent chemotherapy, but felt weak, nauseated and feverish. After his cancer returned in February, he opted for Hoxsey's natural treatments offered by a clinic in Mexico.
Abraham's decision -- fully supported by his parents -- attracted the attention of the Department of Social Services, which asked the court to require Abraham's parents to return him to a conventional hospital in Virginia for stronger chemo treatments, as well as radiation therapy. Since then, Abraham's case has split public opinion into two parties: those who feel the teen should receive chemo -- seen by many as the only viable "cure" for cancer -- and those who feel the government has no right to tell Abraham's parents how to treat their son's disease.
"This is not a case about what treatment is best," says John Stepanovich, Abraham's family representative. "It's a case about who gets to decide."
Critics of the government's role in health decisions say Abraham's case will be a landmark decision that could either preserve or end Americans' freedom to make their own health decisions. Conventional medicine critic Mike Adams calls the case an example of the, "tyranny of modern medicine" and an "inexcusably arrogant stance" by doctors and Judges who believe they have the right to force patients to undergo highly-toxic conventional cancer therapies at gunpoint.
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