|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Health
News |
|
| Treatment keeps girl child-sized |
| Parents of a severely disabled girl in the US have revealed that they are keeping her child-sized in order to give her a better life.
|
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 4-January-2007
10:13:19 AM |
| The nine-year-old, named Ashley, has the mental ability of a three-month-old baby and cannot walk or talk.
Along with hormone doses to limit her growth, Ashley's parents also opted for surgery to block breast growth and had her uterus and appendix removed.
They say the treatment will help to improve her quality of life.
Ashley's parents, Seattle residents who have not given their names, went public over their daughter's treatment in a blog launched on 1 January.
Their decision came after information about Ashley's case was published in a US medical journal last year, triggering considerable debate and criticism.
Ashley's parents say that because she will remain the weight of a child, it will be easier for them to move her around, bathe her and involve her in family activities - movement that will benefit her physical and mental well-being.
Dr Douglas Diekema from the University of Washington in Seattle, who was on the ethics committee that gave the go-ahead for Ashley's treatment, told the BBC that the panel agreed "because the parents convinced us it was in fact in this little girl's best interests".
"If she were smaller it would be much easier for them to continue to provide a much more personal level of care," he said.
But Agnes Fletcher of the UK's Disability Rights Commission said is was "unnecessary medical treatment to deal with what is essentially a social problem", referring to "the poverty and lack of support" faced by families with disabled children.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
