The parents of Ashya King claim a doctor treating their son warned them the only treatment available on the NHS would leave the five-year-old with life-long disabilities. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Brett and Naghmeh King say Ashya is already making remarkable progress from proton beam therapy - the treatment they decided to give their son against doctors advice. Speaking to the newspaper, Mr King says he took Ashya out of hospital in Southampton against doctors orders because he could not get the proton treatment on the NHS and experts warned radiotherapy could leave his son severely disabled. How Proton Beam Therapy Works He told the newspaper a UK radiologist said: If youre asking me about quality of life, proton is superior. With radiotherapy, your son will get secondary tumours, have hearing problems, growth problems and special needs for the rest of his life. Inside A Proton Beam Therapy Centre His parents sparked an international police hunt when they removed their son from Southampton General Hospital on August 28 without medical consent. Brett and Naghemeh King faced a legal battle to get their child to Pragues Proton Therapy Centre (PTC), with a High Court judge approving the move after they had been released from police custody in Spain. NHS To Pay For Ashyas Treatment The NHS has now agreed to pay for the proton therapy at the Prague clinic. The University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Southampton General, says the family was always offered the option of a second opinion and help organising treatment abroad. Familys Joy As Ashya Begins Treatment However, Mr King told the Daily Mail when he originally discussed proton therapy with doctors in Southampton he was told: If you continue with these questions your rights to make decisions about Ashya will be taken away from you. We will apply to the family court to have your parental rights removed and then we will give him any treatment we want. University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has always said Ashyas welfare was their priority but they were not available for comment on the claims. A spokesman for NHS England said: Now that Ashya is in Prague, it is clearly best that Ashya continues to be treated uninterrupted so the NHS has agreed to fund this care, as requested by his parents, in accordance with relevant European cross-border arrangements.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 05:46:25 +0000
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