|
FYI
Apologies for cross posting.
Investigative Report Released on the Ashley Treatment
Dear Readers,
The findings of an investigation by the Washington State Protection and
Advocacy System of the "Ashley Treatment" (the hysterectomy, appendectomy,
breast bud removal, and estrogen treatments of a nine year old child with
developmental disabilities) were released today. The findings as well as the
agreement reached between the Washington Protection and Advocacy System and
the Seattle Children's Hospital are summarized below.
To read news coverage of this development, go to the following links:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/
2003698112_webchildrens08m.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/314810_ashley09.html
To read more about Ashley and the so-called "Ashley Treatment," visit:
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/indexbioethics.php
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the disability community nationwide:
As many of you know, the Washington Protection and Advocacy System (soon to
be Disability Rights Washington - DRW), opened an investigation in January
2007 into the "Ashley Treatment" interventions and the role of Seattle's
Children's Hospital.
Today, we are releasing the findings of that investigation.
The view the full report, complete with appendix items, please visit our
website www.DisabilityRightsWA.org.
You should know:
1. Children's Hospital violated Washington state law in performing the
hysterectomy portion of the "Ashley Treatment" which resulted in the
violation of Ashley's constitutional and common law rights;
2. The Hospital has acknowledged the violation and accepted full
responsibility;
3. The Hospital has entered into an enforceable, written five (5) year
agreement with WPAS to take corrective action and other proactive steps; and
4. We have included a list of next steps in the Executive Summary that we
hope will be a part of a nationwide collaborative effort of the disability
community that will result in Ashley being the last person to receive
"treatment" named for her.
Seattle Children's Hospital acknowledged the following in our five (5) year,
enforceable agreement:
"Children's has received and reviewed the WPAS report on Ashley and the
treatment she received. In general, Children's accepts the WPAS report.
Specifically, Children's agrees with the finding in the report that Ashley's
sterilization proceeded without a court order in violation of Washington
State law, resulting in violation of Ashley's constitutional and common law
rights.
Children's deeply regrets its failure to assure court review and a court
order prior to allowing performance of the sterilization and is dedicated to
assuring full compliance with the law in any future case."
Some of you may think having a court order is a procedural matter easily
overcome. That is not the case. We encourage you to carefully read the
legal requirements section of our report to gain a full understanding of
this critical safeguard of the rights of children for whom this treatment
may be proposed.
If you are wondering about the applicable law in your state the first
appendix section includes contacts from many states who have agreed to share
their knowledge of the law in their states.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mark Stroh, Executive Director
Washington Protection & Advocacy System*
315 - 5th Ave South, Suite 850
Seattle, WA 98104
[log in to unmask]
ph: (206) 324-1521 / 800-562-2702
tty: (206) 957-0728
fax: (206) 957-0729
Source: Washington Protection and Advocacy System
________________End of message______________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about the list administratione should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
|
