Profession
Hospital should have sought court order before "Ashley treatment"
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 28, 2007
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle violated Washington state law when it sterilized the 9-year-old girl with static encephalopathy, who is known as Ashley X, without obtaining a court's authorization, according to a state watchdog agency's May report.
The Washington Protection & Advocacy System, a federally funded nonprofit watchdog group, said the hospital had erred by relying on the opinion of Ashley's parents' attorney that a court order was unnecessary.
"We deeply regret that a court order was not obtained," Children's Hospital Medical Director David Fisher, MD, said in a statement. "We take full responsibility."
The hospital agreed to secure a court order before approving any future sterilizations or growth-curbing therapies in patients with developmental disabilities. Children's Hospital did not, however, reverse course on the underlying ethical propriety of the so-called Ashley treatment.
Ashley's parents sought the treatment to facilitate her at-home care.
When she was 6, Ashley's parents asked physicians to use high-dose estrogen therapy to curb the child's growth so that she would be easier to care for and could remain at home. Because the therapy increases the risk of uterine cancer, the girl's parents also asked for a hysterectomy. Ashley's breast buds also were removed. Doctors say Ashley has the mental capacity of a 3-month-old infant with no hope for improvement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/05/28/prbf0528.htm.
