Autistic boy dies during alternative medical treatment (chelation)

[Modem Butterfly]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05236/559444.stm

A 5-year-old Monroeville boy died this week during a medical treatment that's being touted by some as a cure for autism.

The autistic boy died while receiving chelation -- an intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA, for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the practice only to treat heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, though still controversial, for autism.

Police are investigating the boy's death, which occurred Tuesday morning in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Portersville. Kerry did not return calls today.

An autopsy conducted today was inconclusive. Results on the cause and manner of death are pending additional testing that could take up to five months to complete, authorities said.

[ronnykmarshall]

1. More proof ..

that homo's kill!

[Modem Butterfly]

2. Or homeos, anyway

[mmonk]

3. As a parent

of an autistic son, I feel bad for parents that can't accept autism and keep chasing snake oil salesmen (or persons).

[Mikimouse]

4. Have to wonder if he started bleeding internally...

EDTA has long been used by blood banks as an anticoagulant. Even in small amounts it could be very dangerous.

[Modem Butterfly]

5. It's one thing to take that risk yourself

But to take it for your child, yikes.

[SmokingJacket]

6. Chelation is supposed to remove mercury.

I don't know if it does or doesn't, but that's its intended purpose.

I had no idea it was dangerous, aside from being scientifically questionable.

[Richard D]

7. Actually . . . .

. . . this has nothing at all to do with homeopathy.

[Beaverhausen]

11. I agree. Wonder why was "homeopathic" added to the title?

MB- care to explain?

[Modem Butterfly]

13. That's the way the article was sent to me

[derby378]

8. Chelation is not the same as homeopathy

Homeopathy is the use of diluted substances, often diluted to ultramolecular levels, that produce symptoms in healthy individuals similar to the symptoms suffered by the patient. Chelation is an entirely different ball of wax. (We treated our cockatiel for lead poisoning with chelation - she came through fine.)

[Kali]

10. plate of shrimp!

had a beloved albino cockatiel that ate a bunch of lead from decorative "stained glass" mirror I stupidly had near his cage - he had the same treatement, but he must have ingested so much, he didn't make it. Poor little guy. That was a long time ago but your post brought it back so clearly!



Plate of Shrimp = from the movie "Repo Man", it sort of means "coincidence"

[pitohui]

26. sure, chelation is an accepted & good treatment for metals poisoning

in my view homeopathy is just snake oil but chelation certainly has medically proven uses

[Quakerfriend]

9. You may want to change the subject line as chelation is NOT

a homeopathic Rx.

[TlalocW]

12. From what I understand

Homeopathic remedies don't directly kill. Neither do they cure.

They might kill indirectly if for instance someone with a serious problem is told to drink water with a trillionth of some substance in it, which is useless, instead of getting more scientifically valid treatment.

In that way, the homeopaths are the same as the faith healers that convince people to throw away their medicine because God has healed them.

TlalocW

[derby378]

14. Homeopathy is considered "energy medicine"

Acupuncture and Therapeutic Touch are also regarded as energy medicine, and for the same reason. Homeopaths teach that disease is an imbalance in the Lebenskraft or "Vital Force," which is comparable to chi, prana, orenda, etc.

[TlalocW]

16. And you have to align the chakras

By practicing feng shui after doing tantric yoga in your oxygen tent before you take your poodle to the pet psychic but right after you get a yogurt enema.

There is no reputable scientific evidence that homeopathic medicine works or that acupuncture or therapeutic touch does anything above and beyond what a simple massage will.

I'm not one to medicate myself unnecessarily - in fact, the only time I will take pills is when they're prescribed to me every couple of years when I do catch the flu. But when I do get sick or injured, I prefer the smart guys who have dedicated a good part of their lives to studying medicine and the human body as opposed to Sister Sunbeam who wants me to drink something that's been diluted to the point that it's comparable to one drop of medicine put into a container of water with the volume of 20 Olympic sized swimming pools.

TlalocW

[Richard D]

19. Respectully . . .

. . . there is a lot of literature that shows acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for a great many conditions. Try searching the National Library of Medicine and you'll see.

[Eloriel]

22. Yes, the NIH funded a bunch of studies and many were positive

and they approved acupuncture for those back in the late 1990s.

They know it works, they just can't figure out why, since none of the West's "scientific" instruments and measuring devices can identify or measure the subtle energy known as ch'i (or qi or ki). It's subtle (intangible) energy, just beyond the physical (tangible).

[Richard D]

30. Just a few studies . . .

. . . chosen because they covered a broad variety of conditions. Could have had dozens and dozens more as well:

1: Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Jul;106(1):138-43.
Acupuncture for overactive bladder: a randomized controlled trial.
Emmons SL, Otto L.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, 97239, USA. [e-mail]
OBJECTIVE: To compare acupuncture treatment for overactive bladder with urge incontinence with a placebo acupuncture treatment.
CONCLUSION: Women who received 4 weekly bladder-specific acupuncture treatments had significant improvements in bladder capacity, urgency, frequency, and quality-of-life scores as compared with women who received placebo acupuncture treatments.

PMID: 15994629
2: Phys Ther. 2005 Jun;85(6):490-501.
Effects of acupuncture versus ultrasound in patients with impingement syndrome: randomized clinical trial.
Johansson KM, Adolfsson LE, Foldevi MO.
Physical Therapy Program, Department of Health and Society, Primary Care, Linkopings Universitet, S-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. [e-mail]
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is no definitive evidence for the efficacy of the physical therapy interventions used for patients with impingement syndrome. The purpose of this study was to compare manual acupuncture and continuous ultrasound, both applied in addition to home exercises, for patients diagnosed with impingement syndrome.
. RESULTS: Both groups improved, but the acupuncture group had a larger improvement in the combined score. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results suggest that acupuncture is more efficacious than ultrasound when applied in addition to home exercises.

3: BMJ. 2005 Apr 2;330(7494):761. Epub 2005 Mar 18.
Comment in: BMJ. 2005 Jul 30;331(7511):249-50.
Effects of acupuncture and stabilising exercises as adjunct to standard treatment in pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain: randomised single blind controlled trial.
Elden H, Ladfors L, Olsen MF, Ostgaard HC, Hagberg H.
Perinatal Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute for the Health of Women and Children, Sahlgrenska Academy, East Hospital, 41685 Gothenburg, Sweden. [e-mail]
OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of standard treatment, standard treatment plus acupuncture, and standard treatment plus stabilizing exercises for pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy.
CONCLUSION: Acupuncture and stabilizing exercises constitute efficient complements to standard treatment for the management of pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Acupuncture was superior to stabilizing exercises in this study.

4: Pain. 2005 Apr;114(3):320-7.
Auricular acupuncture for pain relief after total hip arthroplasty - a randomized controlled study.
Usichenko TI, Dinse M, Hermsen M, Witstruck T, Pavlovic D, Lehmann Ch.
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Friedrich Loeffler Str. 23b, 17487 Greifswald, Germany. [e-mail]
Auricular acupuncture (AA) is known to be effective in treatment of various pain conditions, but still there have been no randomized controlled studies of AA for treatment of acute postoperative pain. Therefore we tested whether AA of specific points is superior to sham acupuncture for complementary analgesia after total hip arthroplasty in a patient-anesthesiologist-evaluator-analyst blinded study. The patients were randomly allocated to receive true AA (lung, shenmen, thalamus and hip points) or sham procedure (4 non-acupuncture points on the auricular helix). Permanent press AA needles were retained in situ 3 days after surgery. Postoperative pain was treated with intravenous piritramide (opioid receptor agonist with analgesic potency of 0.7 compared with morphine) using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. The time to the first analgesic request, the amount of postoperative piritramide via PCA and pain intensity on a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS-100) were used to evaluate postoperative analgesia. Intraoperative anesthetic requirement, incidence of analgesia-related side effects, inflammation parameters and success of patients' blinding were also recorded. Fifty-four patients (29 AA and 25 controls) completed the study. Piritramide requirement during 36 h after surgery in AA group was lower than in control: 37+/-18 vs. 54+/-21 mg; mean+/-SD; P=0.004. Pain intensity on VAS-100 and incidence of analgesia-related side effects were similar in both groups. The differences between the groups as regard patients' opinions concerning success of blinding were not significant. Findings from our study demonstrate that AA could be used to reduce postoperative analgesic requirement.

5: J Altern Complement Med. 2004 Dec;10(6):959-65.
Effects of SP6 acupressure on labor pain and length of delivery time in women during labor.
Lee MK, Chang SB, Kang DH.
Department of Nursing, Dankook University, San #29 Anseo-dong, Cheonan-si, Chungnam, Korea 330-714. [e-mail]
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of SP6 acupressure on labor pain and delivery time in women in labor
RESULTS: There were significant differences between the groups in subjective labor pain scores at all time points following the intervention: immediately after the intervention (p = 0.012); 30 minutes after the intervention (p = 0.021); and 60 minutes after the intervention (p = 0.012). The total labor time (3 cm dilatation to delivery) was significantly shorter in the SP6 acupressure intervention group than in the control group (p = 0.006).
CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed that SP6 acupressure was effective for decreasing labor pain and shortening the length of delivery time. SP6 acupressure can be an effective nursing management for women in labor.

6: Complement Ther Med. 2004 Dec;12(4):181-8.
Preventive and curative effects of acupuncture on the common cold: a multicentre randomized controlled trial in Japan.
Kawakita K, Shichidou T, Inoue E, Nabeta T, Kitakouji H, Aizawa S, Nishida A, Yamaguchi N, Takahashi N, Yano T, Tanzawa S.
Japan Acupuncture and Moxibustion Center, 3-44-14 Minami otsuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0005, Japan. [e-mail]
OBJECTIVE: To determine the preventive and curative effects of manual acupuncture on the symptoms of the common cold.
RESULTS: Five of the 326 subjects who were recruited dropped out. The diary score in the acupuncture group tended to decrease after treatment, but the difference between groups was not significant (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, log rank test P=0.53, Cox regression analysis, P>0.05). Statistically significantly fewer symptoms were reported in the questionnaire by the acupuncture group than control group (P=0.024, general linear model, repeated measure). Significant inter-centre (P<0.001, general linear model) and sex (P=0.027, general linear model) differences were also detected. Reliability tests indicated that the questionnaire with 15 items was sufficiently reliable. No severe adverse event was reported.
CONCLUSION: This is the first report of a multi-centre randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for symptoms of the common cold. A significantly positive effect of acupuncture was demonstrated in the summed questionnaire data, although a highly significant inter-centre difference was observed. Needling on the neck using the Japanese fine needle manipulating technique was shown to be effective and safe. The use of acupuncture for symptoms of the common cold symptoms should be considered, although further evidence from placebo controlled RCTs is required.

7: Acupunct Med. 2004 Dec;22(4):170-7.
Trigger point acupuncture treatment of chronic low back pain in elderly patients--a blinded RCT.
Itoh K, Katsumi Y, Kitakoji H.
Department of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. [e-mail]
OBJECTIVE: There is some evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture in chronic low back pain, but it remains unclear which acupuncture modes are most effective. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of two different modes of trigger point acupuncture on pain and quality of life in chronic low back pain patients compared to standard acupuncture treatment.
RESULTS: After treatment, the group that received deep needling to trigger points reported less pain intensity and improved quality of life compared to the standard acupuncture group or the group that received superficial needling to trigger points, but the differences were not statistically significant. There was a significant reduction in pain intensity between the treatment and interval in the group that received deep needling to trigger points (P<0.01), but not in the standard acupuncture group or the group that received superficial needling to trigger points.
CONCLUSION: These results suggest that deep needling to trigger points may be more effective in the treatment of low back pain in elderly patients than either standard acupuncture therapy, or superficial needling to trigger points.

8: Ann Intern Med. 2004 Dec 21;141(12):901-10.
Comment in: Ann Intern Med. 2005 May 17;142(10):871; author reply 872-3. Ann Intern Med. 2005 May 17;142(10):872; author reply 872-3. J Fam Pract. 2005 Mar;54(3):200.
Summary for patients in: Ann Intern Med. 2004 Dec 21;141(12):I20.
Effectiveness of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized, controlled trial.
Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AM, Hochberg MC.
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21207, USA.
BACKGROUND: Evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture for reducing the pain and dysfunction of osteoarthritis is equivocal.
CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture seems to provide improvement in function and pain relief as an adjunctive therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee when compared with credible sham acupuncture and education control groups.

9: Pain. 2004 Dec;112(3):289-98.
Randomised trial of long term effect of acupuncture for shoulder pain.
Guerra de Hoyos JA, Andres Martin Mdel C, Bassas y Baena de Leon E, Vigara Lopez M, Molina Lopez T, Verdugo Morilla FA, Gonzalez Moreno MJ.
Andalusia Public Health Service, C/La Maria 26, DP 41008 Sevilla, Spain. [e-mail]
The objective of the study is to compare the efficacy of electro-acupuncture with placebo-acupuncture for the treatment of shoulder pain. This study comprised of a prospective, randomized, placebo controlled trial, with independent evaluator set in a Public primary care clinic in Spain. The participants are patients aged from 25 to 83 years with shoulder pain. Patients were randomly allocated to two treatments over eight weeks, with electro-acupuncture or skin non-penetrating placebo-acupuncture, both able to take diclofenac if needed for intense pain. Primary outcome measure was the difference between groups in pain intensity (visual analogue scale-VAS). Secondary outcomes were differences between groups in pain intensity measured by Lattinen index, in range of motion (goniometer), functional ability (SPADI), quality of life (COOP-WONCA charts), NSAIDS intake, credibility (Borkoveck and Nau scale) and global satisfaction (10 points analogue scale). Assessments were performed before, during and three and six months after treatment. At six month follow-up after treatment the acupuncture group showed a significantly greater improvement in pain intensity compared with the control group . The acupuncture group had consistently better results in every secondary outcome measure than the control group. Acupuncture is an effective long-term treatment for patients with shoulder pain (from soft tissues lesions) in a primary care setting.

10: J Affect Disord. 2004 Nov 15;83(1):89-95.
Acupuncture: a promising treatment for depression during pregnancy.
Manber R, Schnyer RN, Allen JJ, Rush AJ, Blasey CM.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University. 401, Quarry Rd., Stanford, CA 94305, USA. [e-mail]
BACKGROUND: Few medically acceptable treatments for depression during pregnancy are available. The aim of this randomized controlled pilot study was to determine whether acupuncture holds promise as a treatment for depression during pregnancy.
CONCLUSION: Acupuncture holds promise for the treatment of depression during pregnancy.

11: Pain. 2004 Jun;109(3):299-307.
Comment in: Pain. 2004 Dec;112(3):411; author reply 411-2. Pain. 2004 Jun;109(3):203-4.
Effect of acupuncture treatment on chronic neck and shoulder pain in sedentary female workers: a 6-month and 3-year follow-up study.
He D, Veiersted KB, Hostmark AT, Medbo JI.
Department of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway. [e-mail]
The study was carried out to examine whether acupuncture treatment can reduce chronic pain in the neck and shoulders and related headache, and also to examine whether possible effects are long-lasting. Therefore, 24 female office workers (47+/-9 years old, mean+/-SD) who had had neck and shoulder pain for 12+/-9 years were randomly assigned to a test group (TG) or a control group (CG). Acupuncture was applied 10 times during 3-4 weeks either at presumed anti-pain acupoints (TG) or at placebo-points (CG). A physician measured the pain threshold (PPT) in the neck and shoulder regions with algometry before the first treatment, and after the last one and six months after the treatments. Questionnaires on muscle pain and headache were answered at the same occasions and again 3 years after the last treatment. The intensity and frequency of pain fell more for TG than for CG (Pb < or = 0.04) during the treatment period. Three years after the treatments TG still reported less pain than before the treatments (Pw < 0.001) contrary to what CG did (Pb < 0.04) The degree of headache fell during the treatment period for both groups, but more for TG than for CG (Pb=0.02) Three years after the treatments the effect still lasted for TG (Pw < 0.01) while the degree of headache for CG was back to the pre-treatment level (Pb < 0.001) PPT of some muscles rose during the treatments for TG and remained higher 6 months after the treatments (Pw < 0.05) which contrasts the situation for CG. Adequate acupuncture treatment may reduce chronic pain in the neck and shoulders and related headache. The effect lasted for 3 years.

16: Digestion. 2004;69(3):131-9. Epub 2004 Apr 26.
Acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of active Crohn's disease: a randomized controlled study.
Joos S, Brinkhaus B, Maluche C, Maupai N, Kohnen R, Kraehmer N, Hahn EG, Schuppan D.
Department of Medicine I-Gastroenterology, Research Group for Alternative Medicine, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. [e-mail]
BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has traditionally been used in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in China and is increasingly being applied in Western countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of active Crohn's disease (CD).
CONCLUSIONS: Apart from a marked placebo effect, traditional acupuncture offers an additional therapeutic benefit in patients with mild to moderately active CD.

[bleedingheart]

15. Wonder if the "Dr" wasn't promising to remove all the mercury in the boy

I bet you that is what this evil jerk was doing and now that poor child is dead.

As a mother of a child with Aspergers I have accepted him for who he is and I am working from there.

[Redstone]

17. A boy who was FIVE YEARS OLD...a baby, really.

Those parents AND the "doctor" need to go to jail for a long, LONG time.

Redstone

[spacelady]

18. The only thing I know about chelates is that they are used in

consumer products to keep things like mayonnaise from yellowing and help laundry detergents make clothes "whiter than white". Is this a different substance in this instance?

[KamaAina]

20. If you dare, see the Yahoo! message board

http://post.news.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=NEWS&action=l&ft=1&board=37138445&sid=37138445&title=Autistic%20Boy%20Dies%20After%20Unproven%20Treatment%0A&tid=apautisticboysdeath&date=08-25-2005&url=story.news.yahoo.com%2Fnews%3Ftmpl%3Dstory%26u%3D%2Fap%2F20050825%2Fap_on_re_us%2Fautistic_boy_s_death_1&.sig=UcLbcA0Xdg62e3WZLXmy3Q--

(mromoser = KamaAina)

It is genuinely frightening to see how many people out there would like to see me dead. :scared: There is also a heaping helping of anti-Muslim bigotry based solely on the child's name. All in all, :puke: .

[Ilsa]

21. My son's pediatrician has used chelation therapy before on

children in New Orleans, but it was a lead problem, not mercury. No problems. And he's a regular MD, board certified pediatrician.

[Eloriel]

23. Right: alternative medicine just can't stack up to reg medicine

Medical system is leading cause of death and injury in US

Shocking statistical evidence is cited by Gary Null PhD, Caroly Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD and Dorothy Smith PhD in their recent paper Death by Medicine - October 2003, released by the Nutrition Institute of America.

"A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million. The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.

Health Care expenditures in the US have reached 14% of the Gross National Product and a staggering $1.6 trillion in 2003. No wonder, one might be tempted to say. With such an appalling record of efficacy and such an unbelievable death rate for the treatments routinely administered, the current medical system can only be said to be in great need of deep reform.

Certainly it would appear more urgent to investigate the rationale, efficacy and relative cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical medicine than to legislate restrictive rules for supplements of vital nutrients, as most governments and some international organisations are doing in these times.

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/10/29/medical_system_is_leading_cause_of_death_and_injury_in_us.htm

-- more more --




Deadly Medical Mistakes Exposed

New York, New York - New information has been presented showing the degree to which Americans have been subjected to injury and death by medical errors. The results of seven years of research reviewing thousands of studies conducted by the NIA now show that medical errors are the number one cause of death and injury in the United States.

According to the NIA's report, over 784,000 people die annually due to medical mistakes. Comparatively, the 2001 annual death rate for heart disease was 699,697 and the annual death rate for cancer was 553,251.

Over 2.2 million people are injured every year by prescription drugs alone and over 20 million unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics are prescribed annually for viral infections. The report also shows that 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed every year and 8.9 million people are needlessly hospitalized annually. Based on the results of NIA's report, it is evident that there is a pressing need for an overhaul of the entire American medical system.

The findings, described as a "revelation" by Martin Feldman, MD, who helped to uncover the evidence, are the product of the first comprehensive studies on iatrogenic incidents. Never before has any study uncovered such a massive amount of information with regard to iatrogenesis. Historically, only small individual partial studies have been performed in this area.

Carolyn Dean, MD, a physician and author who also helped to uncover the findings said, "I was completely shocked, amazed, and dismayed when I first added up all the statistics on medical death and saw how much allopathic medicine has betrayed us."

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/10/29/medical_system_is_leading_cause_of_death_and_injury_in_us.htm
-- much more --




So chelation has been approved by the FDA. And we're not yet certain what, exactly, caused this child's death. Sure, let's leap to the conclusion it was the chelation. Ironic, isn't it? That's precisely the kind of "logic" (or lack thereof) -- and anecdotal evidence -- that the skeptics don't accept about the BENEFITS and efficacy of alternative medicine. :shrug:

I hope, if the chelation was the cause of this boy's death, that parents of autistic children will get the information they need about it.

[pitohui]

24. that is a shame

is chelation known to be helpful in such cases or was it a desperate experiment

i know chelation can work very well for heavy metal contamination & if there is an autism/mercury link, then it may have seemed like something worth exploring if there was no other hope

but i wasn't aware chelation was actually being used on autistics at this time

btw, i know the vaccine/mercury link is debunked, but i'm perturbed that so many women have been eating diets high in fish for their health, which could be a reason for increased exposure of fetuses to mercury

[Ilsa]

25. I just wanted to add:

It can be a very desperate situation for families of a child with autism. My son advances and regresses all the time. He's physically strong and only eight years old, and sometimes I'm afraid of what he could do to hurt another child. Sometimes he's toilet trained and other times he's not. You wouldn't believe how much shit he managed to tear up in our home this summer while I was taking a dump or doing a load of laundry. He's been on very expensive meds, and he's having to come off of one of them due to complications. I have to keep up with his meds, reporting to two or more doctors, insurance, appointments for speech therapy, hippotherapy, and now neurobiofeedback therapy. He also gets occupational therapy at school. Parents of special needs kids have to be aware of the laws that are on their side and protect them and their kids.

If this child was nonverbal and unable to do anything for himself, hyperactive, unable to focus, I can understand how the parents might try a therapy, especially if a blood test had revealed the presence of mercury in his system. They probably just wanted him to get well enough to start learning and developing like other kids his age. At age five, and with a late diagnosis, they were probably still greatly grieved over his condition.

[pitohui]

29. hugs to you, ilsa

yes it can be very difficult & if there was a hope of clearing the metals out of the system & improving the child's chance of having a better life, i fully understand why a parent would choose the treatment

all treatments have risk, all medicines have potential side effects

parents & doctors are almost always doing the best they can

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. How tragic!

There is a clinic here in my area that has been doing chelation therapy for autistic kids. I knew it was probably a snake oil treatment but I had no idea it was potentially fatal. Thanks for posting this.

[Cleita]

28. One of the ways to get real medical care to the people who

need it is to support a single payer universal health system in our country that is similar to that practiced in most of the developed countries of the world including our neighbors to the north, Canada.