The State knows what's best for your children?

Cliff

Exactly. The threat of the doctor to get a court order to take the child into care, with no thoughts to what the parents wanted.
The EU arrest warrant and locking up was more fitting for a criminal


Which doctor?
For a start, the doctors in Prague said Proton treatment is the way and the doctors in Southampton said radiotherapy was the way to go. As a parent you should be allowed to choose? Not be threatened.

This has implications for all of us with children. The social services and the state have very strong powers to remove your children (without the checks and balances the police have).

Even taking your child to A& E now because he has bumped his head is worrying for any parent. If a doctor or nurse suspects abuse- the child will be removed first. There was a Panorama program on this and a child services lawyer recommended  parents leave the country asap.
I suspect this is not the first time our 'care' services have put out an EU arrest warrant,

Daily Mail paid for the series but the funds will help with the treatment. I for one, feel this story is important to all of us. How many cases like this go unreported?

Cliff

The radiologist in Southampton said:
“If you’re asking me about quality of life, proton is superior. With radiotherapy, your son will get secondary tumours, have hearing problems, growth problems and special needs for the rest of his life. Children pay a heavy price for survival under normal radiotherapy.”

But the real story here is the rights of the parents to make choices, provided they are informed choices and have the support of other doctors.

IronGiant

That's what the father said the radiologist said, so I suspect that was the father's rather favourable interpretation of it.  Make no mistake: Proton Beam Therapy is a form of radiotherapy.  The difference is it's targeted only to those areas that need it.  The problem is in a case such as this the area needing targeting is frequently "everything" so it's by no means clear that it is the better procedure for eradicating the cancer as Neilios' informative link made clear.  Clearly it does less overall damage, but it can miss bits that needed destroying.  That's why the radiologist said it wasn't a simple choice.  

But I agree with your real story point

Toko Black

Generally and logically they do. For all the rights parents have, a childs rights not to be subject to the whims of their parents that threaten their safety or well being should trump all.
Under general circumstances it should be up to the parents, but there are circumstances where parents should take a back seat - especially when specialist knowledge and calm detached reasoning is required.
Doctors are fallible, but generally speaking, they are far less fallible than the average parent in diagnosing and prescribing medical treatment primarily due to their years of study and experience.

pragmatic

What about the whims of the NHS, are they somehow supreme?

Toko Black

For all the political shenanigans and bureaucratic red tape, most doctors and nurses will try and bring to bare their wealth of knowledge and experience to serve the best interests of the patient.
They are still going to be considerably more qualified and make more rational choices than someone who gets what they know off the back of a cornflakes packet self diagnosis and is in emotional overload.

pragmatic

But what does that have to do with over stepping the mark and getting a European arrest warrant that accounts for little more than spite when their advice is rejected in preference to an expert elsewhere and treatment not available on the NHS.

Cliff

But it wasn't just off the back of a Cornflake packet. With radio therapy his son may have survived but with irreparable damage. The father had time to research alternative treatments. Just like any of us would do. Its not that you can suddenly become as expert a doctor! No one is saying that.

In our daily lives we make decisions, without being an expert. It could be to do with the kind of boiler we want. Decisions on where to get your car serviced. Decisions on which school to send our children. We are probably not experts in any of these areas, but that does not mean we cannot decide.

The most important point here is that he is your son and no one else's.

EarthRod

IMO the important thing is his life as a human being, not whose son he is.

Not dealing with cars or boilers or schools, but trying to save a life. The professional surgeons, doctors and nurses are excellent at saving lives. That is their job. Researching on the internet is not the way to go.

Cliff

S
So which doctors advice would you take?
The main one in Southampton?
The radiologist?
The doctors in the Prague?

When it comes down to it, the should parents should make the choice, and not coerced because one doctor is backed up by the strong arm of the law. It will be their grief if he dies and knowing that they have done everything possible is a comfort.  Thinking that another route could have saved his life (even if incorrect) would be very unsettling.

It is a personal thing and there is no right or wrong so we will just have to disagree on your words 'not whose son he is.'
IMO your son is yours and not the states. But that's just my opinion.
Hence the title of this thread.