Ashley Treatment - Reactions

Reactions

In the United States, Arthur Caplan, of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics, has criticized the Ashley Treatment in an MSNBC editorial, arguing that it is "a pharmacological solution for a social failure--the fact that American society does not do what it should to help severely disabled children and their families." Three renowned bioethicists spoke in support of the treatment and discussed different aspects of it in opinion statements presented by Scientific America.

Disability rights advocates, including Not Dead Yet and Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA), called the treatment "invasive medical experimentation", "mutilation", "desexualization", and a violation of Ashley's human rights. FRIDA called on the American Medical Association to condemn the Ashley Treatment. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) declared, "... we hold as non-negotiable the principle that personal and physical autonomy of all people with disabilities be regarded as sacrosanct".

Ashley's parents reported that 95% of the 5,000 emails they received were in support of the treatment, many of these testimonies and support emails are posted on Ashley's blog. The parents indicated that there was especially strong support among parents and caregivers of children with similar conditions to Ashley's, those who have the direct experience. They cite several ethicists in support of the treatment, including: George Dvorsky, Peter Singer, Norm Fost, and Doug Diekema.

In the United Kingdom, the British Medical Association stated, "If a similar case occurred in the UK, we believe it would go to court and whatever decision was ruled would be in the best interests of the child." Dr. Peter Hindmarsh, Professor of Paediatric Endocrinology at Great Ormond Street Hospital was troubled by the treatment decision being taken by a hospital ethics committee. "'I am not sure the ethics committee was the right place to decide,' he said, adding that it was not clear who represented the child's interests when it went before the committee."

In Canada, ethicist Arthur Schafer's nationwide opinion piece defending the operation as justifiable considering Ashley's comfort engendered criticism from disability rights activists such as Dave Hingsburger of the York Central Hospital and Keenan Wellar from the LiveWorkPlay self-advocacy organization. In a rebuttal, Wellar attacked the notion that Ashley's limited mental abilities justified the decisions made on her behalf: "Infants have human rights even though they can't speak for themselves. Why should Ashley have received any less consideration?"

On May 8, 2007, an investigative report done by The Disability Rights of Washington (formerly The Washington Protection and Advocacy System) in conjunction with The Utah Disability Law Center criticized the hospital that performed this controversial procedure for violating Washington State law.

In June of 2007 disability rights activist Anne McDonald, who also lived with static encephalopathy, wrote a column speaking out against the Ashley Treatment. In it, she criticized the parents and doctors who made such a radical decision on Ashley's behalf without any attempt to bring Ashley to a point where she could make the decision herself: "Any assessment of intelligence that relies on speech and motor skills cannot conceivably be accurate because the child doesn't have any of the skills required to undertake testing... No child should be presumed to be profoundly retarded because she can't talk. All children who can't talk should be given access to communication therapy before any judgments are made about their intelligence."

The pediatric endocrinologist who wrote the original paper (Dr. Daniel F. Gunther) committed suicide on September 30, 2007, reportedly for reasons unrelated to his involvement with Ashley's treatment.