Ashya King's Father Explains His Side

[Daffy6543]

Posted in the other thread but nobody seems to be reading it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ETQn9ZPwk

[naomi24]

anneasquith, as I understand it, doctors had given his parents permission to take him out for a while. They didn't bring him back.

[kvalidir]

The parents don't need anyone's 'permission' to take their own child anywhere Naomi, which is underlined by the police still saying they don't believe that they have broken any laws, but none the less want to extradite them. Utterly absurd situation and utterly, utterly wrong. The trouble is by the time this has trudged through the courts it'll probably be too late for the little boy who is now being forcibly separated from his family just when he needs them most.

[horseshoes]

I don't KNOW this, but doesn't child in hospital come under that hospital's Duty of Care. I'm sure just taking the child away, without properly being officially discharged would have some cause for concern on that score. Perhaps that's why police are involved. Just wondering.

[Gromit]

The parents haven't broken any law on taking their child out of hospital. They haven't broken any law seeking treatment abroad. Their arrest for neglect was trumped up, and clearly wrong. The parents have been badly let down by the hospital. They claimed the child was dying because he needed a special feeder, and the patents had one and were caring properly. The child on admission to hospital in Spain was admitted to a high dependency unit on the advice of Southampton Hospital. The Spanish hospital after they had accessed him, quickly downgraded him to low dependency care (the same he was getting from his parents).

The Hospital duped the police into issuing an International Arrest Warrant, which left the police looking daft.
It will be interesting to see todays developments.

[anneasquith]

Naomi..............'' as you understand it'' are you party to the care plan of this child re who, when, how long, the parents may leave the ward with their son without nursing/medical supervision ?

[mikey4444]

Gromit...you are making a series of assumptions here, that you cannot possibly know is true. Stick to the facts and the most important fact is that Ashya is now safe in a Hospital and not being driven across Europe. Everybody has enormous sympathy for his parents but taking him out of the Southampton Hospital was demonstrably not in the child's interest.

[kvalidir]

Says who though Mikey? You don't know that any more than we know it was. This case will be an important benchmark in parental rights, because honestly with a good conscience what would you do if a hospital aid there was no hope fr your child and you found another hospital that said photon beam treatment would help? You mention it to the consultant whose ego perhaps, who knows, does not allow for contradiction and who threatens you with an interim care order if you become insistant. Do you just swallow that and allow your child to remain in the care of people who you think are not the best equipped to treat him, or do you take more drastic action? I know what I would do, and what a lot of people would, and it's important that we do not allow our liberties to be eroded in respect of being able to control the care our loved ones receive because consultants are not always right and pushy relatives are often the last hope of those whose lives hang in the balance. It's important that we can push in such circumstances and are not painted into a corner of being too afraid to be insistant because a hospital can go to court and deprive us of our loved ones.

[naomi24]

anneasquith, //are you party to the care plan of this child re who, when, how long, the parents may leave the ward with their son without nursing/medical supervision ? //

No, I'm not. I can, however, read.

//University Hospital Southampton NHS foundation trust said Ashya was allowed to leave the ward under his parents' supervision and hospital staff raised the alarm when the length of his absence "became a cause of concern".//

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/29/parents-take-boy-brain-tumour-hospital-southampton

[naomi24]

I would add that I don't think anyone involved in this - parents, hospital, or police, have done what they've done for their own amusement. There are concerns on all sides.

[Gromit]

// taking him out of the Southampton Hospital was demonstrably not in the child's interest. //

You tell me to stick to the facts and then you make the statement above which cannot be substantiated. We will have to wait and see whether the parents' actions have made any difference to the childs long term health. It will be interesting to see if his care is changed from what Southampton were offering.

[ummmm]

The grandmother has just been interviewed. He has a police guard and even his siblings are not allowed in. How scary for the little lad.

[anneasquith]

I read you're link Naomi. the hospital state '' he requires constant medical attention '' now I maybe wrong but if that is the case . surely the only suitable place for the child would have been a ITU. ?

[Daffy6543]

That's awful ummmm, he needs someone familiar to him to comfort him right now.

[mikey4444]

How can taking this desperately ill child out of a Hospital, and subjecting him to a cross-europe car journey be in the child's interest for goodness sake ? They didn't drive to a Spanish or French Hospital, instead deciding that a Hotel was the best place for Ashya !

He needs to be in a safe, secure environment to cope with any deterioration in his condition. He could have had a fit due to his brain condition, or any of a miriad other complications. The seriousness of his condition was such that had his parents tried to take him out of the Hospital and been apprehended in so doing, the Hospital would have had no option but to get a court order.

Can we imagine the situation where the Hospital and Police hadn't acted, and this child had died on the Ferry, or in some lay-by on the roadside ?

We would all be castigating the authorities for taking prompt action, and quite rightly so.

[naomi24]

anneasquith, ‘constant medical attention’ does not equate to a requirement for an ITU.

Look, I think the parents have been stupid and irresponsible, but if we're getting the whole story, I hope they aren’t prosecuted. The most important thing in all of this is that the child receives the medical attention he needs, and hopefully that is now once again happening. Mikey is quite right. Had he died whilst in the care of his parents, we’d be reading some very different posts here.

[Gromit]

// had his parents tried to take him out of the Hospital and been apprehended in so doing, the Hospital would have had no option but to get a court order. //

They took the child out of hospital with their permission. They did nothing wrong in not returning him to Southampton. They were not happy with his treatment and they were perfectly in their rights to go elsewhere.

They were arrested for neglect, but it will be interesting to see if the Spanish authorities charge them. They are legally in Spain, so it will be interesting to see if they are extradited and under what pretext.

[vulcan42]

One of the things I don't understand is according to the media this child had a battery operated piece of equipment which, once the battery had died, his life was in danger. Where then did they get the machine shown on the video? this is not battery operated and I doubt it could be bought in Boots.

[slaney]

In a Youtube video the child's brother Naveed King explains how they bought all the special feeds, syringes and equipment including a wheelchair on line in advance.

[vulcan42]

Thank you slaney, I missed that.

[ladybirder]

Listening to an interview with Hampshire Police on Sky News. Before the warrant was issued to get Ashya back to hospital, the request went to the CPS, then a Judge, then a High Court judge all of whom agreed he needed to be returned to hospital. So they just didn't do it of their own back as some might have thought.