[Nfbkabs] FW: Investigative Report Released on the Ashley Treatment

[Shannon Caldwell]

FYI 
Harold! Please share this with Marsha at PandA and anyone else, please share
this with anyone you think might be interested. 
Shannon 


-----Original Message-----
From: Paula Caldwell [mailto:prc at mis.net] 
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 10:35 PM
To: sjgc at mis.net
Subject: FW: Investigative Report Released on the Ashley Treatment

	

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-justice at jfanow.org [mailto:owner-justice at jfanow.org] On Behalf
Of Justice For All Moderator
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 10:07 PM
To: justice at jfanow.org
Subject: Investigative Report Released on the Ashley Treatment

Investigative Report Released on the Ashley Treatment

Dear Readers, 

The findings of an investigation by the Washington State 
Protection and Advocacy System of the "Ashley Treatment" (the 
hysterectomy, appendectomy, breast bud removal, and estrogen 
treatments of a nine year old child with developmental 
disabilities) were released today. The findings as well as the 
agreement reached between the Washington Protection and Advocacy 
System and the Seattle Children's Hospital are summarized below. 

To read news coverage of this development, go to the following 
links:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/
2003698112_webchildrens08m.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/314810_ashley09.html

To read more about Ashley and the so-called "Ashley Treatment," 
visit:
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/indexbioethics.php
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the disability community nationwide:

As many of you know, the Washington Protection and Advocacy System 
(soon to be Disability Rights Washington - DRW), opened an 
investigation in January 2007 into the "Ashley Treatment" 
interventions and the role of Seattle's Children's Hospital.  
Today, we are releasing the findings of that investigation.  

The view the full report, complete with appendix items, please 
visit our website www.DisabilityRightsWA.org. 

You should know:

1. Children's Hospital violated Washington state law in performing
   the hysterectomy portion of the "Ashley Treatment" which
   resulted in the violation of Ashley's constitutional and common
   law rights;

2. The Hospital has acknowledged the violation and accepted full
   responsibility; 

3. The Hospital has entered into an enforceable, written five (5)
   year agreement with WPAS to take corrective action and other
   proactive steps; and  

4. We have included a list of next steps in the Executive Summary
   that we hope will be a part of a nationwide collaborative
   effort of the disability community that will result in Ashley
   being the last person to receive "treatment" named for her.

Seattle Children's Hospital acknowledged the following in our five 
(5) year, enforceable agreement: 

"Children's has received and reviewed the WPAS report on Ashley 
and the treatment she received.  In general, Children's accepts 
the WPAS report.  Specifically, Children's agrees with the finding 
in the report that Ashley's sterilization proceeded without a 
court order in violation of Washington State law, resulting in 
violation of Ashley's constitutional and common law rights.  
Children's deeply regrets its failure to assure court review and a 
court order prior to allowing performance of the sterilization and 
is dedicated to assuring full compliance with the law in any 
future case."

Some of you may think having a court order is a procedural matter 
easily overcome.  That is not the case.  We encourage you to 
carefully read the legal requirements section of our report to 
gain a full understanding of this critical safeguard of the rights 
of children for whom this treatment may be proposed. 

If you are wondering about the applicable law in your state the 
first appendix section includes contacts from many states who have 
agreed to share their knowledge of the law in their states.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Mark Stroh, Executive Director
Washington Protection & Advocacy System*
315 - 5th Ave South, Suite 850
Seattle, WA  98104
mstroh at wpas-rights.org
ph: (206) 324-1521 / 800-562-2702
tty: (206) 957-0728 
fax: (206) 957-0729
 
Source: Washington Protection and Advocacy System
________________________________________________________________

For more bioethical news issues, see:
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/indexbioethics.php

# # #

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