"Pillow Angel" Physician Kills Self

[Traveling_Home]

Here's some previous posts about Ashley's Treatment

Ashley Treatment - Action/Protest in Chcago
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=250x2491

Not Dead Yet Reacts to Ashley Treatmment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=250x2470

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21225569/wid/11915773?GT1=10514

By Linda Dahlstrom
MSNBC
Updated: 4:24 p.m. MT Oct 10, 2007
SEATTLE - The doctor at the center of a controversial procedure which stunted the growth of a severely disabled girl has committed suicide.

<SNIP>

In 2004, Gunther and his colleague Dr. Douglas S. Diekema performed a hysterectomy, removed the breast tissue and started hormone treatment to permanently halt the growth of a 6-year-old disabled girl so her parents could continue to care for her at home. The doctors wrote about the procedure, which was performed at Children's Hospital, in the October 2006 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

<SNIP>

The girl, identified only as Ashley, had feeding problems shortly after birth and showed major developmental delays. Her doctors diagnosed her with severe brain damage and don't know what caused it. Her condition has left her in an infant state, unable to sit up, hold a toy or talk. Her mother called Ashley her "pillow angel" and said the procedure kept her a more manageable and portable size that would allow her family to continue to care for her at home.

In May, Children's Hospital admitted it broke state law by not having a court review the proposed treatment and allowing the surgery to proceed. The hospital blamed the lapse on "internal miscommunication." State law requires a court order before sterilizing a child.

The hospital has since promised to develop policies to require court orders for such procedures and appoint a disability-rights advocate to its ethics board.

<SNIP>

[KamaAina]

1. Kind of reminds me of when Dan White killed himself

years after he murdered SF Mayor Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. (Aside: Moscone's successor was a previously obscure supervisor named... Dianne Feinstein.)

"Quoth the raven, Nevermore..."

[cutlassmama]

2. He couldn't live with the guilt. He probably thought, at the time,

he was doing the "right thing". It was a judgment call. Doctors are often put in the position of playing God. It's a hard position to be in. Perhaps the criticism he faced years later drove him over the edge.