March 2012 update on concerns about the rising use of the “Ashley treatment.”
Controversy Erupts Over Medical Intervention to Keep a Child with Developmental Disabilities Small — January, 2007
When she was six, Ashley’s parents requested that their daughter be treated with large doses of estrogen to halt her physical growth, and with surgeries to remove her breasts and uterus. These interventions were undertaken at the Children’s Hospital of the University of Washington, School of Medicine in Seattle, after consultations with the medical center’s ethics committee. An article about the case appeared in the October 2006 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (160:1077-1078) and MSNBC first reported the story on November 1, 2006. Ashley is now nine years old, with an expected final height of 4’5″ and a weight of 75 pounds. The physicians involved with Ashley’s care have expressed the opinion that she will never achieve a cognitive level greater than that of a three-month old. Ashley’s parents, who call her their “Pillow Angel” (see their blog at http://ashleytreatment.spaces.live.com/blog/), argue that they can care for her more easily if she remains permanently small, and that she as well as they will benefit from these medical interventions. The case was reported by the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, CNN, and many other media outlets on January 4, and it has since raised a firestorm of debate.
Leading disability rights organizations speak out about the “Ashley Treatment”
- Read DREDF’s statement on the issue
- American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- United Cerebral Palsy and The Arc of the United States
- ADAPT
- TASH
- Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas
News media reports
- Read the original MSNBC news report
- Wesley J. Smith’s article in NationalReview.com
- Women in Media and News: “Ashley’s Treatment in the Media”
- Parent Stephen Rosenbaum on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now, January 9, 2007
- Transcript of Parents Al and Bev Bertaina and Stephen Rosenbaum appearance on Larry King Live
- Arlene Mayerson, DREDF Directing Attorney on the Thom Hartmann show (audio) (transcript)
- Julia Epstein, DREDF Development and Communcations Director, letter to the New York Times in response to Peter Singer’s OpEd on “Ashley’s Treatment” in the New York Times
- After Ashley: Covering Children with Severe Disabilities. Poynteronline look at the press coverage of the Ashley X Story
- William Peace in Counterpunch.org, “The Ashley Treatment and the Making of a Pillow Angel”
- Time Magazine’s coverage
Part I
Part II - A different perspective on being a “Pillow Angel”
Anne McDonald writes about her personal experience with attenuated growth - Silvia Yee, DREDF Attorney, “’Ashley treatment’ on the rise amid concerns from disability rights groups”
Children’s Hospital Failed to Follow State Law
- Read the Investigative Report Regarding the “Ashley Treatment” released by Washington State’s Protection and Advocacy organization