31 Aug 2014 3:34 PM:
I was hoping by posting to avoid all the "mis-information" being re-itererated in Spain, unfortunately it appears this is not going to be the case.
1. Yes the family are Jehovah's witnesses - but the problem here is not the operation. That has gone ahead. It is the invasive and damaging radiation treatment into the brain of a young boy that the parents were concerned about.
2. The fact is that there is alternative treatment available, albeit not yet available in the UK, this was the catalyst that made the parents take the action they did. As they were happy to sell their home to obtain finances to pay for this treatment, I think the choice should have been theirs.
So the point being when does it become the medical professions choice to proceed with medical treatment without the full consent of the parents of a child and at what point do parents lose those rights? By threatenting to make the child a ward of the courts if the parents refused to accept the final decision of the medical team did the doctors make the situation any better?
As a parent (luckily with two healthy happy children fully grown into adulthood) what would I have done had I been in their position, hopefully I would have had a medical team who would have listened, understood, and at least given me the opportunity to explore all the options, so I would not have been in such a dreadful predicament.
Unfortunately in Britain today, most services are experiencing severe financial cutbacks, they have to justify each and every action and whilst the Doctors may have felt their course of treatment was the best they could do, their decision has been made clinically,what they have done is failed to take into account a parents love for their child and have instead made a very emotional and hard time extremely stressful, responding to letters, explaining fully their reasoning, maybe requesting the use of a PALS liaison to advise the parents etc, would perhaps have been a more humane way to deal with the situation.
As I live in the UK, but live in Wales and work a short distance across the border in England, I find it incongrous that I or anyone living in our local area, can no longer be referred to the English hospital for treatment even though the waiting list times are usually halved - why the simple answer is MONEY.
So whilst I know that the alternative treatment is available, each case has to be put before a board to be determined and not every patient would be treated on the NHS, but if the treatment were to be paid for privately surely that option should be given consideration, rather than bullying people into submission to accept a decision which could leave their son radically disabled for life.
Forum thread:
Ashya King
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