Autism boy dies after alternative therapy
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles and Richard Savill
08/26/2005
A five-year-old boy with autism has died in America after flying from Britain for a controversial medical treatment for the neurological and developmental disorder.
Abubakar Tariq Nadama, whose father is a doctor, died on Tuesday after receiving his third round of chelation therapy, an intravenous treatment designed to remove heavy metals from the body.
The county coroner's office said the boy went into cardiac arrest at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Centre in Portersville, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A police inquiry has begun.
The boy's father, Dr Rufai Nadama, a specialist registrar in respiratory medicine who works for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, travelled to America, colleagues said.
"There are those in the alternative medical field who feel that mercury and other toxic elements contribute to autistic disorder, and that their removal would be a pathway to reducing autism," said Dr Jonathan Collin, from Washington State, who specialises in alternative medicine and has written on chelation therapy.
But critics say there is insufficient evidence to link autism to metal toxicity and call the procedure risky.
The rest of the story at:
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/26/naut26.xml
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
