Surgeons ‘maimed’ brain damaged child to ‘convenience’ caregivers, health advocate charges: NewsTarget.com

A 9-year-old mentally disabled Seattle girl named Ashley has recently finished 2 1/2 years of hospital treatments, ostensibly performed to make her easier to care for throughout her life, but a health advocate is calling the act "medicine gone mad."

Due to a severe brain impairment called a static encephalopathy, Ashley is unable to walk, must be fed through a tube, and her parents report her developmental levels have not advanced since she was 3 months old. The procedures, approved by the Seattle Children's Hospital medical ethics board, included a hysterectomy, breast bud removal and estrogen treatments, all designed to keep the girl's body small.

These treatments mean that Ashley will probably not grow much beyond her current 4-foot-4, 70-pound frame; a move made to keep her from being too heavy for her parents and grandmother -- her caregivers -- to move her.

Health advocate Mike Adams said there was no excuse for the procedures.

"What has happened here is appalling and a violation of basic medical ethics," Adams said. "To physical and chemically maim this child for the convenience of her caregivers is criminal. By what insanity does a 9-year-old girl require a hysterectomy? This is medicine gone mad."

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Surgeons "maimed" brain damaged child to "convenience" caregivers, health advocate charges

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