Sister Defends Woman Charged With Denying Son Meds
LAWRENCE (CBS) - The trial of the woman who admitted she stopped giving her son medicine to treat his cancer continued for a second day on Wednesday.
Kristen LaBrie is charged with attempted murder for allegedly failing to give medicine to her cancer-stricken, autistic son Jeremy. The boy later died in March 2009 at age 9.
LaBrie's sister, Elizabeth O'Keefe, lived with her and Jeremy and also cared for her own disabled child. She described the difficult time LaBrie faced taking care of her son.
WBZ-TV's Sera Congi reports.
"She couldn't even go home and take a shower. She had to sleep on the chair in the hospital. They wouldn't even give her a cot to sleep on," said O'Keefe.
Jeremy had been in remission for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but needed one more round of chemotherapy. Prosecutors said LaBrie then failed to fill five months worth of life-saving prescription medication for Jeremy.
The defense argues that LaBrie feared her son could not handle any more treatment.
"When he did become sick, she couldn't go to work just like I can't go to work. It was worse, actually. Jeremy was in the hospital months at a time, and you never knew when it was gonna happen. So, she lost her job and she lost her apartment," said O'Keefe.
A social worker assigned to Jeremy also took the stand Wednesday, testifying that when she confronted LaBrie about the missing prescriptions, LaBrie claimed it was an error by the pharmacy and not her own.
LaBrie could take the stand Thursday or Friday.
