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.

This is totally outrageous. That poor family. I hope the press turn their reporting around and do villify the NHS/ police rather than the family. Not that the NHS deserve it, but it is a massive organisation, which can take a slating, not a family of 9 who are already going through hell.

If this doctor did think that the parents were going to make a complaint, he may have made this threat. He could back it up as well because they said they don't want him to have the radiation that would destroy their child's brain.

The way the father puts it, the threat was allegedly made purely because they asked about alternative treatment. That is what I find unlikely. Any doctor knows that simply asking about alternative treatments wouldn't form any basis for a court order, because patients do it all the time. The doctors knew that they were dealing with an intelligent man who was entirely capable of looking up alternative therapies, so why would they make a threat of legal action that knew was absolutely baseless and which the father was equally capable of checking out for himself? It would totally undermine their authority.

The radiation issue wouldn't back up an application for a court order, because the parents were allegedly putting forward a known alternative treatment, so the hospital couldn't have made that out to be a child protection issue.

I find this case really disturbing. The parents did their research and were willing to pay for what they believed was the best treatment for their child. They were prepared and were taking good care of their son. The police, hospital and media have been so heavy handed here when no crime has been committed, right now there is a seriously ill little boy in a foreign hospital still not receiving the treatment he needs and the authorities are preventing his parents from being with him! I hope there is a public inquiry into what happened here, it is an absolute disgrace.

"Well, they had to leave, because if they started the arrangements first, and the hospital wrote to his current doctor, as they would, then the doctor would carry out his threat, get a court order and they wouldn't be able to see their son.

The father explained that."

He didn't actually say anything of the sort.

CantUnderstand, what mystifies me is why the parents took the child out without having the treatment arranged. They say they were hoping to sell a house to fund it but were prevented from doing so by the publicity; and apparently the treatment isn't available in Spain where they took him. Is it "taking good care" to take the child out of hospital on a long drive which even a health child would find very tiring, when it may take weeks to set up the alternative treatment and it will involve yet another long journey?

How were the police to know that they were taking care of the child?

And why do you say the child is "still not receiving the treatment he needs"? Neither you nor I know what treatment he needs or is receiving.

Mean while there is a missing girl in West London with health needs.

The father was apparently told if he kept his son where he was they would give him the treatment they did not want rather than the proton treatment which protects the child from permanent brain damage rather than zapping the whole brain. the NHS is trying over the next few years to get that treatment but is not there yet. The father wanted to remortgage his house to fund the treatment but the NHS doctors would not let him. That is why he was left with no alternative but the flee.

If it were I I would have been able to fund the treatment and fly the child to the Czech republic which is where the father had been in touch with a clinic to talk about having it done, because I am better off. As he instead would have to do a remortgage which can take months he did not have that choice.

Once they saw the video on youtube and knew the child was safe why did they not call off the arrest warrant? If the parents are extradited back to the UK and the child is left alone in a Spanish hospital perhaps having radiotherapy today I am not sure that is in the child's best interests.

"the NHS is trying over the next few years to get that treatment but is not there yet"

This is potentially misleading. NHS does fund the treatment overseas, and has done for some time. It will be available in UK in the next few months.

I think there is a saving grace in all this, there is an adult older Brother in Spain able to care for the younger siblings.

It will be available in UK in the next few months

Really?

Everything I have read has said not until 2018, possibly 2017.

NHS does fund overseas treatment, but not for everyone/every case.

This is totally outrageous. That poor family. I hope the press turn their reporting around and do villify the NHS/ police rather than the family. Not that the NHS deserve it, but it is a massive organisation, which can take a slating, not a family of 9 who are already going through hell.

I'm quite sure parts of the NHS do deserve it. It is not a monolith of uniform goodness.

Greengrow, you're extrapolating a lot there that even the father hasn't said.

Sorry! In pointing out something as misleading, I made a whopping mistake myself. It will be available within next few months years.

Sorry Icimoi I should have been clearer in what I said. Hes not receiving the proton beam therapy the parents want him to have at the moment, obviously he will be receiving some treatment in the Spanish hospital, whether that is something to fight the cancer or just make him comfortable is unknown so far but we can be certain it is not what his parents want for him. I have a horrible feeling the parents are being held for questioning to buy time to get a court order rushed through but I really hope I'm wrong.

It sounds to me like the parents were backed into a corner and felt that they had no option but to take their child away from where they believed he was at risk of harm before they had time to put all the arrangements in place for him to have the other treatment. I would guess that they believed the hospital would seek a court order to prevent them having a say in whattreatment he was given and they felt strongly that they didn't want him to have the treatment being offered.

Greengrow was right. The father said that the intention was for the boy to receive the proton beam treatment in the Czech Republic. They had travelled to Spain to raise funds by selling/mortgaging their Marbella property.

Absolutely disgusting treatment of the parents. They must have been truly desperate to do what they did. I hope heads roll over this.

"Greengrow was right. The father said that the intention was for the boy to receive the proton beam treatment in the Czech Republic. They had travelled to Spain to raise funds by selling/mortgaging their Marbella property."

No he didn't. He talked about selling property, but didn't say where that property was. He did say that the intention was to have the treatment in the Czech Republic.

He implies it quite strongly Hak. Something like "I just wanted to get the money but now I can't do that because the Spanish police are involved".

Which I took to mean that he went to Spain to liquidize spanish assets, but by the time he arrived, they had been frozen or he could not act as planned for fear of arrest.

But he didn't actually say it. And I think he said "because the police are involved" not the Spanish police.

Pontypines
So said this was the result of hospitals following the policy they all have in place for the eventuality that a child is removed by their parents

well that just shows how inflexible over rigid and stupid it is to have blanket policies in place that stop common sense being exercised and a considered taking place over a ridiculous over reaction in reporting this to the Police

these parents are not someone who has walked into a maternity ward and snatched a newly born. They and their opinions and their rationale will be well known to the doctors in this hospital treating this child. I am absolutely outraged that a hospital can dictate to a parent whether of not their property could be sold to fund potentially life saving treatment treatment that are so called best health service in the world has failed to actually have the capability to provide in the UK

so leave the lawyering to the lawyers and get on with delivering healthcare

Nope. Spanish police

But raising money through the Spanish property could take ages. I just don't understand why they'd take the child on a long and arduous journey through France and Spain, keep him there for some indefinite period, and then subject him to another long journey, rather than waiting till they had the treatment sorted and in place.

If they were concerned about the treatment the hospital was planning, they could have refused it and fought their corner if the hospital then went for a court order. If there was such good evidence in favour of the proton beam treatment and evidence that they could access it reasonably quickly, they would stand an excellent chance of winning their case - there are plenty of documented cases where properly prepared parents have done so.

well that just shows how inflexible over rigid and stupid it is to have blanket policies in place that stop common sense being exercised and a considered taking place over a ridiculous over reaction in reporting this to the Police

This.

Could well be the cause of the whole debacle.

WetAugust, NO hospital has in place blanket policies to meet this type of situation. Each case is unique and complex.

There is absolutely no suggestion, even by the father, that the hospital tried to stop him from selling property in order to fund treatment.