Little boy has been removed from hospital by his parents

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He is very sick, needs constant treatment. His parents have taken him to France.

I don't understand why the hospital didn't notice or alert the police for 6 hours.

The police won't comment on the parents being Jehovah's Witnesses.

It sounds wrong when the statement said he was removed without consent. The child is theirs, should be allowed to be in charge of him, but of course it is he that will lose his life if not cared for and that isn't in his best interests necessarily.

I hope he is found and can be cured.

Parliament is back today Potbellyroast, I guess they are saving it for after the parents have been to court this morning.

Perhaps gimme but they managed to comment on the situation in Rotherham?

They had a report to work off for Rotherham, with this family they have little paperwork available so I guess they will be waiting to see what happens in the court case. All may resolve by the Spanish Judge, who may query why they are being held and let them free. Then you will get EM querying it.

Thanks gimme.

I don't think this will be resolved today. If an EPO is in place plus an international arrest warrant neither the police or Spanish authorities can over rule that. Only the removal of the EPO will stop this circus. And that won't be done without a hearing in the family court.

I suspect that this ridiculous show will continue. I can only hope the parents do not agree with the extradition and the judge in Spain allow bail.

As I understand it the. Neon Roberts case was very different. His father consented to the treatment. The mother wanted him to have some kind of oxygen therapy ?? And had NO evidence from anywhere that it would help. There were court hearings where the mother had lawyers, the court considered the treatment options and decided the doctors were right.

And I don't recall the mother in that case EVER being handcuffed.

JH will be all over this like flies on shit. And be about as effective.

But I have to agree that this case is an absolute gift to him and his followers. I don't think I can recall a more heavy handed and inappropriate use of state force against a family.

the Hampshireolice Commissioner sId on R5 that In addition to the extradition treaty the High Court had made the boy a Ward of Court.

Now I can understand why the police acted. And can understand why, with a High Court protection order in place, the Spanish are going to continue to process thus case

However the question needs to be asked whether this warranted a High Court action or was that an overreaction based on a possible exaggeration of the supposed immediate dangers facing the child and the revelation of the family's religion with echos of previous JW refusals of treatment?

I think it's click up rather than conspiracy. But what a first rate screw up.

It's still disgraceful that the parents and his siblings are being refused to see a dying family member who is alone in a foreign hospital

they managed to comment on the situation in Rotherham

Yes but the situation in Rotherham is not the subject of an ongoing criminal prosecution at the moment (and even there the possibility that there may be criminal prosecutions does limit what the government and enquiries can say publicly).

Whilst this looks bad I am not going to offer an opinion right now. I remember not long ago the press were full of the story of the Italian woman allegedly sectioned following a panic attack and forced to have her child delivered by C-section so that the authorities could have the child adopted. People were outraged by the actions of the authorities. We now know the version initially given to the press was seriously distorted and the authorities acted reasonably.

If the version of events given by the parents is true this is a disgrace. But the critical word in that sentence is "if". It may be there is information we don't have that shows the authorities have acted correctly. So I am not willing to make any judgements at the moment.

If there is a dispute between parents and doctors about best way to treat a child, this can only be resolved in court. I don't have a problem with that, I don't think parents can make the ultimate decisions about their child's best interests, because some parents make very bad decisions.

What I really struggle to understand is why the parents have been arrested and treated in this way - it's clear they did not neglect their child, they travelled with appropriate equipment etc, concerns about battery on feeding pack running out were clearly bogus, they did not break any existing court orders when they left and there appears to be a legitimate alternative treatment they wanted to investigate.

Of course, this may be the forced C section case all over again and a lot may come out when case is reported (which it most certainly will be now after all the changes re reporting cases in interests of transparency).

BUT at the moment I struggle to see what I am missing, what would make the police actions in this case necessary and proportionate.

" doctors would know full well that anyone would be aware that it's a totally empty threat."

does it really matter that the threat is empty? They made the threat, whether they could back it up or not, and that's disgusting.

Agree they need to stay well clear of Hemming and his awful bandwagon jumping.

"does it really matter that the threat is empty? They made the threat, whether they could back it up or not, and that's disgusting."

We don't actually know that the threat was made. It may have been, in which case the "authorities" are lying. Or it may not have been. In which case the parents have misunderstood or are lying for whatever reason. It is a serious mistake to take either side as gospel.

You can also contact your MP via:

www.theyworkforyou.com/

Someone posted this in the FB group a sample template you could use/edit:

Dear X,

I am writing to you as my MP to express my disgust at the treatment of the King family. As you know, the parents of Ashya King have been pursued to Spain, where they were arrested and are now appearing in court for extradition. The family have done nothing wrong, they were simply seeking the best treatment they could for their son.

The current situation, where Ashya is alone in hospital and his parents are not allowed to visit him, is the cruellest of all, and can be in the interests of no one. Please bring any pressure to bear that you may, to stop the authorities pursuing this matter, and to allow the family the freedom to find alternative treatments.

I know that the King family is not in your constituency, but I think the issues of state control and parental choice are ones that should involve all of us.

www.change.org/p/police-david-cameron-and-co-release-brett-and-naghemeh-and-allow-them-to-choose-treatment-for-son-ashya?share_id=fKLEpgwqAy&utm_campaign=share_button_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

twitter.com/Fight4AshyaKing

www.facebook.com/groups/1462059947403801/?fref=ts

I agree that it was an initial mistake, with a few bad decisions (possibly made from good motives), which have now spiralled out of control. I think it's likely that it's an extreme example of what can go wrong with state involvement, but most of the time, state involvement is good. No conspiracy. Kids need protecting often.

I wish the authorities could just say, "In this particular situation we made a mistake" without it meaning that in every situation they have got it wrong or that in every future situation they will get it wrong. So much fear and pride leads to desperate consequences for that small boy and his siblings.

In terms of them being JW, it actually helps me believe the parents. I know some JW's (I am not one) and they would not lie, or break the law. They are very disciplined, and extremely sincere people. It's not a 'cultural' religion (by which I mean you celebrate major festivals but have minimal participation). People actively have to choose it and choose to live by a ridiculous amount of rules and very high moral standards, which are hard to follow if you're not really into it. Of course this is just part of all the speculation, but to me it is relevant in terms of assessing the parents' behaviour and decisions here.

Spero - the lack of neglect has only come out now, after the arrest. To the hospital, they left with a very sick child, a machine with a limited battery life, and no additional feeds.
Unless the family had made them aware of the internet purchases that wouldn't know. And that's unlikely because if forewarned the hospital would surely have taken steps earlier?

Nerf - the hospitals reporting of it has what has made me so angry as I was utterly manipulated by it. When I first heard the reports I was tutting away at the selfish stupidity of these parents, putting their child at risk etc, etc.

BUT as Mrsdevere has pointed out the hospital must have known this was an exaggerated and/or dishonest claim. So either the hospital have manipulated the information or the journalists have. But the first reports I read were clearly quoting the hospital and their major concerns about battery life/lack of food.

MerryMarigold, I agree. People often ask me if I think X or Y was cock up or cover up. I think that most of the time there is an initial cock up which turns into a cover up when people realise they have cocked up and panic. This then feeds the tin hat conspiracy theorists and the whole merry go round starts up again - to the ultimate detriment of children and families.

I am veering to being more angry with the hospital because I bet the police did fall very hard for stories about potentially starving and suffering child.

Spero, what can be done in future, to protect agencies who have been mislead by other agencies? Can for instance a Police force have a second opinion form a different hospital to confirm that the first hospital is not going for CP as a coverup or that the first hospital has made a mistake?

Thinking about the parents for a minute. Can you imagine that your child is dying and may have a short while to live. In that precious time you are denied access to that child. It must be every parents utter nightmare. I doubt they give a toss about the handcuffs compared to the pain of being separated from their sick baby.

BUT as Mrsdevere has pointed out the hospital must have known this was an exaggerated and/or dishonest claim. So either the hospital have manipulated the information or the journalists have

I still think the time lag before the battery 'information' was released by the hospital is extremely telling. It smacks of self-justification under pressure.

I think it was a reaction to journos badgering away at a story that didn't smell right or quite hold together.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole story is one of escalating panic reactions from the hospital, starting when the family left the ward.

Hampshire police are clearly going to hide behind 'we acted on what the hospital told us' and to some extent or other that might be fair enough.

Chech Dr says he is suitable for Proton beam therapy and he will do it in a few days, if the old hospital will allow it, on sky news.

This is very scary.

As Mrs De Vere says the police have said there is no evidence of neglect, they likely wouldn't charge them and it was just to find the child.

Now this child is a ward of court and the CPS will have to decide if there is enough for prosecution.

Does being a ward of court now mean this child can be flown back to the UK and this invasive treatment started while his parents are still in Spain?

I hope someone with some sense steps in and slows this down very fast.