Medical steps not the answer to dealing with social care crisis, DRC.

4th January 2007.

Speaking in response to media reports on the case of Ashley X, the nine year old American girl ‘frozen in time’ by surgery and hormone treatment, Agnes Fletcher of the Disability Rights Commission said:

“This is unnecessary medical treatment, to deal with what is essentially a social problem: the poverty and lack of support faced by families with disabled children in both United States and Britain.

“Ashley’s parents say that they cannot afford paid carers to come to their home to support her and this is one of the reasons they give for the treatment, but no one should have medical treatment that is of no benefit to them without their consent. Such a basic principle has to be maintained.

“In Britain, half of families with disabled children live in poverty and eight in ten say they are at breaking point – more likely to be in debt, less likely to be able to afford a holiday or visit friends or live at much beyond a subsistence existence. When parents face such trying circumstances, it is small wonder that they consider desperate measures.

“We have a care crisis in this country, with a lack of support for a decent and dignified family life that is placing unbearable strain on people and families. While this case is shocking, the real scandal is that developed countries like Britain and the United States are failing to provide adequate support services, so that all their citizens can have a decent quality of life.”