Is Ashley Treatment right for your child?
The 'unnatural' Ashley treatment can be right for profoundly disabled children. It included giving her hormones so that she would remain below normal height and weight, as well as surgery, which included a hysterectomy to remove her uterus and a bilateral breast-bud removal to prevent her breasts from developing.
How long has the Ashley Treatment been around?
It has been over 5 years since the Ashley Treatment was first described in a medical journal, but it remains a lively topic, for several reasons.
What was Ashley's Treatment for her breast cancer?
It included giving her hormones so that she would remain below normal height and weight, as well as surgery, which included a hysterectomy to remove her uterus and a bilateral breast-bud removal to prevent her breasts from developing. Ashley's mental age was that of a three-month-old.
What is Ashley's age now?
Today at 14, Ashley is still an infant cognitively, as she was at birth and five years ago. She is completely loved, and a source of joy and a delight to our family.
Why is the Ashley treatment unethical?
Opponents argue that the treatment and surgery are nonbeneficial because Ashley is not suffering, the treatment is untested and has potential adverse effects, and the surgery is unnecessary because there are viable options. Physicians are ethically bound to do no harm to a patient.
What form of treatment would be provided for Ashley?
Ashley is a girl with developmental disabilities who was six years old at the time the interventions began. The intervention included surgical removal of her uterus and breast buds, as well as high-dosage hormone therapy to limit her growth and physical sexual development.
What is the Ashley treatment and why was it undertaken?
Ashley X. Born. 1997 (age 24–25) Seattle area. The principal purpose of the treatment was to improve Ashley's quality of life by limiting her growth in size, eliminating menstrual cramps and bleeding, and preventing discomfort from large breasts.
What is growth attenuation therapy?
Growth attenuation is an elective medical treatment which involves administering estrogen to cause closure of the epiphyses of the bones (Epiphyseal plates), resulting in a reduced adult height.
When did the Ashley Treatment happen?
The aim of it all, Ashley's parents insisted, was to give their daughter the best life possible despite a condition from birth which left her unable to talk or walk, and with the cognitive ability of an infant. News broke around the world of the pioneering treatment in January 2007, igniting a global debate about the ...
When was the Ashley treatment?
In 2004, When she was six and a half years old, Ashley's parents and the Seattle Children's hospital physicians who had been treating her sought to perform on Ashley a novel medical intervention that would include hormonal treatment for growth attenuation, surgical removal of her breast buds, and a hysterectomy.
Is growth attenuation legal?
'This article explores the legal and ethical implications of Ashley's "treatment." Although there is no explicit legal prohibition on growth attenuation, the fact that doctors are capable of performing a particular intersvention does not neccssarily mean thcy should.
Is growth attenuation ethical?
After a lengthy discussion, the committee reached consensus that both the requests for growth attenuation and hysterectomy were ethically appropriate in this case.
How does growth attenuation work?
Growth attenuation therapy involves the administration of estrogen to close the epiphyseal plates of bones, leading to a halt in their growth. The therapy grew in popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, when girls and young women would receive it to stop their growth before becoming 'too tall.