Doctors and Alaina Giordano might agree on one thing: Medical decisions and cancer shouldn’t be a factor in deciding child custody cases.
Giordano is the Durham, North Carolina woman who claims that her breast cancer was the deciding factor in a court ruling that grants custody to her estranged husband Kane Snyder. Giordano is appealing that ruling and she had asked for a stay in the decision that her children live with their father during the appeal. An appeals court denied the request; now the North Carolina Supreme Court has denied the request as well.
As I wrote in June, the Giordano’s claims unnecessarily emphasize healthcare’s role in custody decisions, with possible implications to doctors. A reading of the legal decision shows Giordano was not denied custody solely because of her cancer and that Judge Nancy Gordon actually made provisions for Giordano and issued a ruling she felt was in the best interest of the children.
Meanwhile, Giordano continues to claim “medical bias” decided her case — that the judge denied her custody because of her cancer. She is advocating for a change in state laws to bar such considerations as a deciding factor for custody.
“My crusade begins today and I hope my supporters who have numbered in the hundreds of thousands will now use their fervent energy to lobby for laws to be changed in their states as well,” she said in a prepared statement.
