Remember the Ashley case?

[thewayne]

This girl, now nine years old, is stuck at the development level of a three month old and will never improve, at least as far as current medicine knows. In an extremely controversial move, her parents had her uterus removed, had her breast buds removed, and put her on a massive hormone therapy to keep her physically at her current size in order for her to be easier to control as she got older. I believe the quote from the parents was to keep her as a "pillow angel".

Well, it turns out that the hospital in Washington where the uterus was removed BROKE THE LAW. In Washington, the law states that if you're going to perform an involuntary sterilization, that you must get court approval.

Guess what the hospital didn't get?

Considering how controversial this case is, I find their defense of "We didn’t understand the law. We didn't have it in front of us." rather implausible.

But not to worry! "...the hospital said it plans to institute stricter safeguards to protect disabled children in the future."

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2007/05/ashley_legal

Comments

[deborak]

Hadn't heard about that case, it's interesting from a number of angles. I wonder if the parents paid for this out of pocket, or if they tapped an insurer or any state disability funds?

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

Here are these people trying to do their best to deal with the extreme issues surrounding caring for a severely disabled child who will never do any of the sorts of things that most children, even "differently abled" ones do. And over here is the media circus, comprised of people who've probably never even taken care of an addled elderly relative for an afternoon much less dealt with the challenges that these parents face on a daily basis, judging them and trying to interfere with their parenting choices. Anyone who's been a parent would understand what an agonizing choice that would have been to make. It's an admission of hopelessness and an act of desperation to be able to keep their child with them for as long as possible rather than to have to surrender her to institutionalized care just a few years down the road.

I can't think who's more despicable in this case-- the media circus, the random bystanders trying to make judgment calls about something they don't understand at all, or the activists trying to demonize this family's plight for their own political agenda.