This is going to hit the news sooner or later so hopefully some of you that are closer to the situation can check all this out and verify what is happening.
Lorraine at Scottish Thyroid Petition posted a letter from Dr. Hertoghe asking for letters of support from people who have had problems with the NHS in getting their hormonal situations resolved. I should clarify that Dr. Hertoghe is not under attack, he is trying to help raise support for the mother. Sheila at TPA is closely involved with this and can probably provide information on what happened. I hope everyone will do whatever they can to provide support. PR
How does it come to jailing a parent for trying to heal a sick child failed by the NHS? If psychiatric drugs haven't made her well but thyroid hormone, DHEA and growth hormone have improved her symptoms it doesn't sound like psychiatric illness
Clutter, my understanding is that when the husband complained (divorce situation) the authorities confiscated all medicines for both mother and daughter. Daughter went downhill after having shown great improvement since seeing Dr. Hertoghe and ended up in a psych ward and mother ended up in prison. It is a tragic situation to say the least and the possible legal implications are appalling. PR
PRNOW, Unfortunately the NHS can be very arrogant and heavy handed involving child protection when parents disagree with a diagnosis or treatment, witness the recent case when Ashok was refused proton beam therapy but is now receiving it in Prague after his parents removed him from Southampton hospital.
I hope the father is genuinely concerned about his daughter's treatment and it's not espousal spite against his ex-wife.
Arbitration involving the medical team, medical ethicists and parents is supposed to be available when parents disagree with treatment protocols but it doesn't seem to be widely used. Easier to gag and shackle parents with threats of child protection I suppose.
The state seems to be taking far too much interest in people's everyday lives. What about that poor kid with the brain tumour whose parents were arrested abroad? Since when was the NHS the only choice in medicine. I think what is need is not just the thyroid petition, but a sumofus or change.org petition about NHS/police interference in private medical treatment. It seems barking mad to believe EITHER parent in a divorce situation - so why didn't they consult Dr Hertoghe? Removing meds could kill someone.
The difficulty with any of these emotive issues is that we do not get the full picture. It may be that prima facie this is a gross injustice or it may be that there is more to it than we know. The case of the child taken out of Southampton Hospital for treatment is one such case. It is easy to judge erroneously from the headlines but my understanding is that the parents did not discuss the removal of their child with the hospital and they were concerned about the welfare of the child. Put yourself in the hospitals' shoes; in a litigious society had they not raised the alarm they could have been accused of neglecting the welfare of a child who had been taken out of the country without their agreement.
A close friend heads up child protection and it is always a last resort taking a child from parents, not the first course of action.
Of course we may not be getting full picture. It would be a miracle if we were.
Perhaps the hospital should raise an alert with the police/social services. Certainly I'd be surprised if many hospital staff had much of an idea how to handle cases like this.
And how do you discuss with doctors a plan of action of which they so obviously disagree? You run the risk of being prevented from even attempting what you believe to be the right thing to do. At least by simply going you allow the possibility of success. And you are simply exercising your right as a citizen of the UK and the EU to go where you please in Europe and get whatever (legal) treatment is available in any of the countries.
At the same time, of course we all want the child to be protected from maltreatment. Some (obviously) suggest that what is happening to the child (so far as we cab tell) is itself maltreatment.
I am pleased that your close friend operates so carefully. I wonder if those affected in, for example, the Shetlands and Orkney felt that the bodies which intervened put removal as an absolute last resort?
By the way, I did not reply last night on this thread because I spent a while writing an email to one newspaper in the hope that they would pick up the story. No response so probably not.
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