Re "Beth":

This is a prime example of hospital thought, hospital politics, in action. Couldn't be more wrongheaded and untherapeutic.

To "Beth":

I'll tell you what's inappropriate, "Beth". Libelous statements about a patient's family are inappropriate. Frivolous statements about her character, mental state and how she does or does not care for her child, are highly inappropriate.

Your reporting what you've "heard" is inappropriate. Even if you witnessed these behaviors first hand, your shouting them out to the world would be inappropriate.

Your contention that "Dorothy should not receive her parental rights back. She sabotages her son's treatment instead of putting him and his health first", in a public forum, "Beth", is cruel and inappropriate.

Take a look at yourself in the mirror, "Beth". See if you can stand what you see.

Beth, even if every single thing you say about this mother were true, it is entirely irrelevant to the issue at hand.

A child was transferred to this hospital for medical treatment. The specific medical treatment required -- testing for GI issues -- has not been provided, and in fact has been actively obstructed by the hospital. This has gone on for an egregiously long time. The issue has now been compounded by their extended use of restraints and psych meds. The mother is standing up for her child's medical rights. Because of his ASD, he is being treated differently than would any NT kid who was brought through their doors. That's illegal. The hospital using threats of parental rights termination against the mother appears retaliatory and designed to cover for the hospital's breach of their own duties and protocols.

The easiest way for the hospital to solve the problem they themselves have created is to provide the GI care warranted, or to allow the child to be transferred to another hospital that has offered to treat him properly.

Just as there are "fit" and "unfit" parents, there also are "fit" and "unfit" healthcare providers. Alex is currently at the mercy of UNFIT healthcare providers. They have failed in their medical duty to this child, and it is terrifyingly apparent that this could happen to any one of our children. Such practices must be held to public scrutiny, investigated, and halted, or any parent who disagrees about what constitutes proper medical care for their child and has the audacity to demand their symptoms be medically investigated will be threatened with termination of rights in order to shut them up. NOT OKAY.

The time for determination of Alex's long-term best interests is not now. There is plenty of time to consider that AFTER his medical needs have been addressed, especially when (as many of us have discovered first-hand) treating the underlying medical problems so often brings about miraculous improvements in behavior.

"Beth", with all due respect - if a child is shot in Chicago, the ER team does not debate when Mom fed him a proper meal, sent him to school every day, or if she smoked or drank too much or had her own problems. THEY STOP THE BLEEDING. Autism deserves the same. Even if what you say is dead on true - and even if Alex were to go home to the exact same situation and get sick again - if Loyola treats him - helps him - them maybe tomorrow, when a more perfect parent comes in with a sick child with autism - your child might get faster, better treatment than Alex. I think back to wealthy socialite pharma exec Gigi Jordan, here in NY - who with her TV perfect life checked into the Peninsula hotel and stuffed pills down her boy's throat until he choked and seized to death, and then "attempted" suicide. I think of Trudy Steuernagel, neat as a pin, educated, college professor who KNEW her boy would kill her one day - and I know, from living in NE Ohio that she did NOT do much of what we "Good" autism Moms do - and her son's behaviors escalated. She still did not deserve to die. Mothers get precious little support - and even the "bad ones" the ones who may "make us look foolish" by supporting them - deserve help for their kids. And if Mom has issues, I hope this allows her to get help too to move forward in a better way for her son.

For those of you who are interested in learning exactly how the scientific studies that we are being asked to digest over common sense are ‘concocted’, you may want to read Ben Goldacre’s, ‘Bad Science’. Ben Goldacre is a British surgeon, doctor. In his book, Goldacre details phamas connivance and out-right deceptions in their drug trials. For instance, they will test drugs only on healthy, young individuals to get better results even if the drug is intended for the elderly. If a trial was to be done in series and positive results were obtained during the initial stage they will quickly stop the research and publish the results. Conversely, if the results are poor they will continue to run trials until they get better results. They will lower the bar and test their drugs not against a competitive drug but against placebos. When testing they will blanket for everything hoping to find something positive regardless if it fits with the initial hypothesis. If the results are undesirable they will delay publication hoping the study will be forgotten. When they do publish undesirable results they will hide them in lesser read journals. Goldacre details how these insidious practices have resulted in drugs coming to market that have caused countless injuries and deaths. Not surprising, Goldacre work has earned him the ire of pharma figures.

Funny, despite being so critical of pharma’s science, Goldacre does not have many kind regards for our movement. He sees us also as anti-science people for challenging mmr studies. I do not consider myself to be anti-science. I think the scientific method is a wonderful, impressive tool for understanding our world. I am certainly not anti-science, but instead, like Goldacre, I am anti-‘bad science’. And unfortunately, Goldacre is not listening to his own argument when he details how much ‘bad science’ there is but fails to realize that we need common sense to sort through the guck. Usually if scientific studies do not jive with common sense this is a good indication that we are being sold junk science. I say ‘usually’ because indeed there are instances when individuals’ biases or errors in accounting for counter-intuitive phenomena may lead to discrepancies between science and common sense. In these exceptional cases the discrepancies can be easily explained by plausible accounts and the science can be accepted. For instance, in the example I gave in my earlier post of the counter intuitive phenomenon of the earth appearing flat when its round the discrepancy can be explained by accepting that because the earth is so large from our vantage point while on it, it appears flat. Observing a ship in the far distant, we see the ship’s sail before the mast proving that the mast is obscured by the earth’s curvature – and, therein the discrepancy is quickly settled. What explanation can then be offered for countless of parents who witnessed their child’s dramatic decent into autism after vaccination despite studies (albeit studies that merely looked in mmr and thermerosal) saying that vaccines are not responsible? Well, there is the argument that children developing autism during vaccination is merely a coincidental thing, and its implied that these previously healthy kids would have also abruptly and dramatically developed autism even without vaccination. Likewise, we are told that the explosion with kids having autisms in the last decade that corresponds with the expanded vaccination schedule is due to better diagnosis, despite there being no evidence that there are hordes of elderly autistic adults who were missed. Do these explanations sound plausible? They don’t! Even pro-vaccines proponents have a tough time keeping a straight face after uttering such nonsense. There is no plausible resolution for vaccine science and common sense. Vaccine science fails miserable the common sense bar and it leaves us with no choice but to accept it as ‘bad science’.

re: "How did we get to this point where the common person has so little power that even his most basic thoughts and observations require expert validation?"

Well put! Why have the keys to reality been handed over to this scientific/govt/pharma caste?

Greg,

I've been thinking the same thing - about how the human race evolved from the observations, teachings and wisdom of the common person handed down from generation to generation. Then all of a sudden, the common person's observations don't count. They now have to be validated by members of an exclusive, self anointed, self credentialed club calling themselves "scientists". Tens of thousands of common people can observe the exact same phenomena (like their children falling ill after receiving a vaccine) and their reports are mere meaningless "anecdotes". No conclusions can be drawn because these things were only seen by common people. But the same events witnessed by scientists - now that's a different story (if they choose to tell it). Only scientists are considered to have the expertise and the clout to confirm or deny the existence of new knowledge or of noteworthy phenomena.

How did we get to this point where the common person has so little power that even his most basic thoughts and observations require expert validation?

CT Teacher and Linda,

You both made profound remarks regarding the propaganda machine to discredit free thought. Perhaps, we see it at its worst with those with vested interest constantly billing 'science' as superior to common sense. They will have us believe that ‘science’ is infallible. Well actually, often it’s merely the rich and powerful prostitute. They will get it to do and say anything. Then there is talk of how common sense is unreliable. Did people not once believe the earth was flat or the sun circles the earth? If the truth were told though these are just exceptions, and common sense over eons has proven itself to be a most magnificent, efficient tool for navigating our world. Think about it. From the second we get out of bed in the morning we are using common sense to make sense of our world with extraordinary accuracy and success. Call it making guesses, reading cues, looking stuff up on the net, asking questions, watching the news, and so. These are all common sense enterprises because they fall out of the realm of the scientific method. We do not rely on case studies to gauge whether crossing the street on red will be hazardous for our health. Yes, our daily common sense experiments to a high degree are successful and the ultimate Darwinian proof of this is that they enable us get through our day and in the process avoid our grave. When they ask us then to choose 'science' over common sense, be very wary of these people. They like to talk a lot about enlightenment, yet their true motive is to usurp reality and have us believe only what they concoct in their lab.

Greg

Remember when referring to the sheeple that their brainwashing is complete. Those in power, with the help of the media, constantly broadcast disinformation, and they have devised another powerful way to keep people in line....they marginalize those who think for themselves by calling them "conspiracy theorists" and we all know that these people are "wink wink" a little crazy and very unbalanced. So, the average person is afraid to go against conventional wisdom. I have gotten caught in this trap more than once. My unconventional thinking about the medical profession, educational issues and involvement of the US govt in crimes against its own people and against foreign govts has opened me up to ridicule by family and friends. It is difficult to think outside of the box. Most people are afraid of challenging their accepted beliefs. So, the strategy of disinfo and marginalization of dissidents works.
In reference to the discussion about depression and suicide I feel that my own personal experience might be helpful to some. In my youth, I began suffering alternating bouts of depression, that were accompanied by many physical symptoms such as blinding migraines, IBS, muscle aches and pains, nausea and extreme fatigue and terrible anxiety. I was told it was " all in my head" and sent to a psychiatrist who put me on antidepressants etc., etc. I supposedly suffered from neurosis & anxiety disorder. which caused all of my symptoms. One psychologist said it was all due to sexual repression. Then, I suffered 2 bouts of major depression. I became so suicidal that it is a wonder I am alive today. I can understand how people commit suicide. The depression is so debilitating that it consumes you. I eventually recovered, no thanks to the medical profession, but still suffered for years from alternating bouts of anxiety and milder depression. One day, by accident, my OBGYN noticed that I had a pretty large goiter. It was determined that I had Hashimoto's disease and I was put on thyroid hormone. Immediately, I felt like my personality was once again integrated. I remember thinking, "this is how I should have felt all those years." "This is who I really am." The change was remarkable. The IBS disappeared. The headaches were much improved, the depression and anxiety were seldom experienced. All of this improvement lasted until I entered menopause. Then,I became highly symptomatic again minus the extreme depression. It took me many years and many alternative doctors and my own experimenting with diet and supplements to regain a major improvement in health.
I am sorry for the length of this comment, but I am convinced that messed up hormones have a lot to do with physical and emotional symptoms that young people endure. And yes, I blame vaccines for messing up the hormones.

The situation with Alex has definitely struck a nerve in our community, the most since the autism hearings in November and the most for an individual child like nothing I've ever seen. What I find difficult to accept is that we as a community are not doing enough for Alex and Dorothy. We are writing, emailing, contacting anybody and everybody to pay attention to what is happening to Alex.

What we are not doing yet is going out in front of the hospital to protest because we mostly live out of the area and/or we are overwhelmed with the ASD child at home, etc.

Admittedly when I first heard about this case I was completely alarmed that a child was in this situation. . . .at 14 years old. I wondered if there were signs earlier that could have prevented this from getting to this point. I wasn't blaming the mother but definitely questioned the history of the lack of bio-medical treatment that eventually led to this serious crisis.

There is a syndrome that is separate in our community and it is called Apathy. We are not apathetic to help our own children, but we are apathetic to step up and speak boldly to others on treating a child with autism. Not so much the folks here at A of A. But definitely there are still families who only know the Autism Speaks version of autism. And they accept it.

My son fully recovered almost 10 years ago. I have remained fully committed to spreading the word to others that autism is treatable and recovery is possible. We will win this battle, one child at a time.

Also on the topic of sheeple...

How many who are wise to vaccines at the same time risk frying their brains by putting a mini-microwave communicating device to their heads every day even though WHO has stated that these things are a possible human carcinogen and non-industry studies have shown that they greatly increase the risk of glioma? How many go out and buy the latest version the day it comes out, not only for themselves, but for their kids whose brain tissue is more vulnerable to the radiation? How many wise to vaccines chose to formula feed instead of breastfeeding, even though there is abundant mainstream science going back decades showing that formula fed children have a significantly greater incidence of neurological deficits?

My point is that we all, at one time or another, fall prey. I don't care how smart or informed we are or try to be. Let's not forget who the enemy is. The enemy isn't those who fall into the trap. The enemy is those setting the trap - an elaborate, carefully crafted, multi billion dollar trap.

Fight by staying informed, being vigilant in networking and spreading the truth even when it seems to fall on deaf ears, and by denying the machine access to the children. Strictly limit the TV unless you are there to interpret, especially during prime PHarma time. Homeschool if possible to avoid the intense social conditioning that sets one up for acceptance of whatever the machine has to sell in the future. Think twice about teaching kids to do whatever the teacher tells them to do.

Agree with Benedetta, here. People DO need to quit acting like sheeple and learn to trust their hearts/instincts. There is a plethora of information out there via the Internet and various forms of social media re: vaccine dangers. This information was most certainly NOT as mainstream back in 1993 as it is today.

Trust your mainstream allopathic physicians at your own peril. There are enough warnings out there for ALL to take heed.

first do no harm
Not going to take it back!
I am frustrated.
I tell my aunt in Sept - write her a letter detailing what happened and warn her about the Hep B and her grandchild that is about to be born. She tells me this Jan she had a flu shot and now is feeling really bad.

I tell my other aunt one month ago; who had a son in prison for drugs and a daughter that has thyroid and arthritis problems, and she tells my mother she met my cousin up at hosptial while she is getting her whooping cough shot-- '
My cousin is raising her granddaugther cause her daughter is on drugs to bad to care for her.

I tell my other aunts and Uncles what happened in detail and it is well -- is that so.

I blame them -- everyone.

Benedetta,
Blaming the American people for believing what their doctors, their government and mainstream media tell them about vaccine safety is nothing more than blaming the victim.

Barry You will never be my enemy.
And we every last one know what you are feeling.

But it is the whole American people that stands like sheep as they worship at the alter of the NIH.

Untill they wake up and I think that Generation Rescue and National Vaccine Information, and Age of Autism has slugged it out for a long time now.

"...Barry, we closed the comments not to censor - we ran plenty of comments pro and con - and I think Dan and our team handled a contentious issue pretty deftly. We closed the comments in an effort to move forward. I for one was surprised at how quickly some commenters turned on us at AofA and got very personal - after years of reporting and working quite honestly 24/7/365 to keep this site up and running.."

Thank you. KIM

***************
Kim,

I'm sorry if my comment offended you, or anyone else at A of A. But I do stand behind it, because it truthfully describes how I feel about this affair.

I know plenty about working 24/7/365, I've have had little choice in that matter since my son was injured by vaccines almost 8 years ago. Injuries that he sustained at least 10 years after the initial wave of vaccine injured children, were forming what we now call an "autism epidemic".

Far too many years of "muted" protestation, is part of the reason why I wasn't aware that vaccines are so dangerous. And it's a big part of the reason why so many parents all over this continent, are STILL receiving the same horrible news that I finally received 6 years ago.

Dr Hookers planned presentation to the Congressional Autism hearings, contained a lot of truths that have to be exposed. And he should never have been denied his opportunity to present them. While I've always had respect for Mark Blaxill's efforts, what he presented at that hearing was at best underwhelming, and at worst was intentionally devoid of some hard cold facts. For that reason, I believe Jake was well within his rights to call SafeMinds out on it, by whatever means necessary.

With regard to the claim that AofA hasn't engaged in censoring, I guess that's a matter opinion. All I know is that to date, I've watched AofA initially refuse, and then agree to indirectly run Jake's initial article, and then begrudgingly agree to run his follow up article (...which IMO , created a whole lot of "controversy" where none need ever have been). And then abruptly close comments to that follow up article, based on an apparent consensus that it was time to move on ( ... ie: unilaterally deciding that the "debate was over"). From where I'm sitting, that's exactly how the other side likes to operate.

For what its worth, I'm really not trying to make enemies here. Just trying to offer up some honest feedback to AofA, in response to a caution that was freely offered to me by AofA.

Excellent article. However as a Catholic, I would like to clarify one thing when you say the Catholic Church considers suicide a sin. Actually, any believer (Christian or Jewish) who tries to follow the 10 commandments would consider suicide a sin, strictly speaking. The 5th commandment is "Thou shalt not kill." This not only includes murdering others but also oneself. However, the Church (according to the Cathechism of the Catholic Church which is official Church teaching) says that those who are mentally disturbed may not be fully responsible for their act, therefore we entrust them to God's mercy. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.

Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.

My husband and I have both had family members who committed suicide. My aunt had a Catholic funeral. Perhaps in the past (and even today) there have been priests and laypersons who were misinformed on what the Church teaches in this respect. We entrust them to God's mercy and believe that a merciful God would not condemn someone who was so sick that they were willing to take their own life.

This is really a becoming a police state, if taking your child to the hospital for urgent help and you get threatened, maltreatment and lack of correct treatment.

First it was the vaccines when they are babies, and now big Pharma wants them put on all kinds of anti psyhocotic meds as teenagers and own your child's life from here on out!!

Where are the Children's rights? Why aren't parents as guardian's rights over their children being upheld? Why does the hospital's have more power and they know nothing about your child?

On another note, if your child has PANDAS/PANS ~ "DO NOT GO TO BOSTON CHILDRENS MEDICAL Hospital". Countless stories of parents going to the ER on advise of their Ped's DR and then the children are put in locked psyh wards. Parents are only allowed to see their child for one hour a week!!
I just thank my lucky stars that we decided to not take our son to BCH, he had gut issues, and PANDAS too.
I don't know if its happening to children with autism too, as the behaviors are so vast of what can being going on with our children.

Unfortunately the two DJ's in Australia played their little joke on the wrong person,- a woman from the sunny, seaside land of Goa in India. The people of Goa love fish (fish=mercury= depression) and then she had the misfortune to live in the U.K. where you suffer vitamin D deficiency from the lack of sunlight and get even more depressed.

Jeanette Bishop, there is research linking depression and immune system dysfunction, for example:

Elevated macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) [a proinflammatory cytokine] is associated with depressive symptoms, blunted cortisol reactivity to acute stress, and lowered morning cortisol.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20382217

Inflammation and Its Discontents: The Role of Cytokines in the Pathophysiology of Major Depression
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680424/?tool=pubmed

Plasma cytokine profiles in depressed patients who fail to respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor therapy.
Patients with SSRI-resistant depression had significantly higher production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines... compared to normal controls.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16870211

Investigating the inflammatory phenotype of major depression: focus on cytokines and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18640689

The concept of depression as a dysfunction of the immune system
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002174/?tool=pubmed

These were cited in this article by "passionlessDrone":
http://passionlessdrone.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/the-interconnectedness-of-the-brain-behavior-and-immunology-and-the-difficult-to-overstate-flaccidity-of-the-correlation-is-not-causation-argument/

Another article cited by pD is about bipolar:
Increased excitotoxicity and neuroinflammatory markers in postmortem frontal cortex from bipolar disorder patients
"These data demonstrate the presence of excitotoxicity and neuroinflammation in BD frontal cortex, with particular activation of the IL-R cascade.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2844920/?tool=pubmed

Bipolar is another condition which has increased a lot over the past twenty years, in tandem with our expanding vaccine program.
Bipolar Illness Soars as a Diagnosis for the Young - New York Times
www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04psych.html
"The number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003..."

So many immune system disorders seem to also carry a higher risk of depression. Maybe just having any illness would, but I wonder if immune dysfunction is what depression is?

Regarding suicide and depression, much more research is needed on gluten consumption and serotonin production in relation to the gastrointestinal tract.

Factor in all the mothers with mouths full of mercury amalgam tooth fillings who've transferred some of their body burden to their unborn children. Over the years some parents may have had "nuisance" symptoms from mercury exposure -- mild allergies, minor mood disorder, a touch of arthritis -- while other parents manifest rheumatoid arthritis, MS, full-blown depression or mania.

Regarding Alex's lack of treatment, it's as if Loyola staff are afraid of what they will find when they actually LOOK inside his GI tract, where the truth is hiding, and hurting him.

Anyone with a spare room and a lock can simply contain a patient, and for a hell of a lot less money than a hospital at hundreds of dollars a day. Loyola is worse than useless, loading Alex with drugs that add to his toxic body burden. This situation is tailor-made for a crusading attorney.

"Even Aaron Swartz -- seemingly an obvious case of a young man facing prison time and choosing suicide -- is not clearcut, a topic I'll take up next week."

In a time of vast political murders it is 100% clear to me Aaron Swartz did NOT commit suicide. Aaron Swartz was suicided. Asron Swartz almost single highhandedly stopped the censoring of our internet, our LAST mass media line of communication with the truth. On a controlled internet how long do you think this site could last without being labeled "hate speech"? For his courage Aaron Swartz was murdered. The very least we can do in his memory is to acknowledge that brave men and women are being murdered for standing up to the burgeoning tyranny. I do not have the details of his murder but we do know what happened to another brave soul who stood up to the tyrants Andrew Breitbart.

http://www.infowars.com/andrew-breitbart-dead-at-43-was-to-release-explosive-tapes-featuring-obama/

http://www.saveamericafoundation.com/2012/04/29/what-or-who-killed-andrew-breitbart-now-the-coroner-is-dead-what-did-he-know-by-fred-brownbill/

@Anna: Is it possible you are missing the point?

I certainly don't doubt that the way you were treated by both family and peers contributed mightily to depression and suicidal thoughts. I am horrified by what you went through, particularly by what you write about concerning your mother. I expect that even the healthiest, most cheerful, and non-Asperger's person on earth would have been severely depressed if (s)he'd had to deal with that.

But you yourself mention something very important: your childhood was "rife with digestive issues."

I have no way of knowing whether your digestive issues were caused by vaccines, or whether you ever HAD any vaccines.

But please do understand that many of us here--maybe most of us, maybe even all of us--have seen our children develop severe bowel disorders AS A RESULT OF VACCINES. This has now been documented in mainstream, peer-reviewed studies: autistic children have a novel bowel disorder. As I said, for many, it is triggered (if not outright CAUSED) by vaccines.

So before you accuse us of "being delusional in blaming crap like vaccines," maybe you should do a little research on what kind of crap those vaccines have caused to others. Those vaccines may or may not have caused your own digestive disorders. They have certainly caused it for others.

no vac

The gravity of this issue is being missed. The mother is not allowed to just take her child elsewhere. She was given 2 choices - 1- sign her child over to DCFS or 2- agree to the care plan presented -- period. This is happening elsewhere with both Autism and PANDAS.

Dan a superb piece , the problem here is that parents have been brainwashed into believing that the health service has their best interests at heart , when we look at the side effects of many medicines we find that this is just not true , we do not want to believe in fact that the people who take our lives in their hands could in fact be causing us damage , parents should be given the greatest of respect and listened to this saddens me greatly please listen to parents they know their child better than anyone else

Theresa,

In similar situation, I would remove my child from this hospital and transfer him to another. Alternative would be to find an independent gastroenterologist, who knows how to treat intestinal inflammation and abdominal pain, and to bring him/her to Alex. Psychotropic drugs only make him worse, because they are additional poisons, which his body cannot handle. I am almost certain that now he became addicted to these drugs and his treatment must include also detox from them.

no vac

It was reported that mom needed medical help for Alex, that her son's GI issues made him agitated and aggressive, something many children with an an autism diagnosis display. His GI issues have not been examined or addressed, instead he was given what I call, the standard treatment of care for Autism -- psychotropic and sedating meds, neither of which have helped Alex, and thousands of other children. She cannot remove him and this is happening around the country. It is concerning that many seem to not understand that she has been trying to get him medical help and thus far, it has not happened. What if this were you?

I don't think anybody here wants to blame the parents for scandalous treatment of Alex by this hospital, but... the parents are his only defense from abuse by the medical system, which has been created to harm and exploit rather than heal. We, the parents must take primary responsibility for protecting our children for as long as we can. I think this is the reason, why many people are surprised that Alex's family keeps him in this incompetent and hostile hospital environment.

"....But this has all come from the other side. Here's hoping we don't pick up their bad habits...."

**********

No offensive, but I think AofA would do well to take it's own advice on that front.

The recent so called "controversial" opinions of Jake Crosby on the Congressional Autism hearings, and in my opinion the TRULY controversial attempt by A of A to sensor those opinions, has left an awful sour taste in my mouth. And I would guess, in the mouths of other parents of vaccine injured children.

Even when his article finally was published here, the comment section was rather abruptly "closed for comment". Which in my opinion, means this website affectively censored our opinions too!

Jake was simply doing what he always does, which was to speak the truth. An truly ugly truth, that very few others have the courage to speak in full, and which truly resonated with my assessment of how that whole fiasco went down.

The bottom line isn't complicated. Vaccine are being used to disable the immune systems of children, and they have been since they were first unleashed on an unsuspecting public. We can passively blog about this until the cow come home, which will ensure that the carnage will also continue until the cows come home. Not cool.

Or, we can throw our support behind a guy like Jake, who is one of the few who seems to understand that this will only be stopped by a courageous, forceful, and uncensored trumpeting of the WHOLE truth.

Which is what I used to think this website was about.

Thank you for writing this. You are absolutely right about heaping the blame on mom. The person who has hung in there and is advocating as best she can is attacked. This person has continued to stand by and care for her chilld has extra stress because now she is blamed.....not doing enough....not doing it right. The last thing we need to do is cause that stress on our own.
Jackie

I'm with Stagmom on this one. I'd be right there in my 21 day old clothes sitting bedside. Even if the mom were bat shit crazy it still wouldn't justify leaving him in restraints for 19 days or their refusal to do appropriate medical testing to find the source of his GI pain. But the mom isn't crazy, she is holding up incredibly well given the circumstances. I would have lost my mind by now. People say "why doesn't she pull him out AMA?" She can't. She cannot manage him on her own. His pain causes him to be aggressive beyond what she can manage. What I take from this is the dire need on our community's part to put together a crisis response team (a lawyer, a doctor, a parent mentor) that can get to the bedside of these families within 24 hrs. We need to fund raise so this is an option. One thing that isn't sitting well with me is that as I naively reached out to some providers I know, asking them to get involved their response across the board was "yeah, this is happening everywhere" as if that justified not getting involved? Not O.K.

Or maybe it's when he doesn't understand his limitations.
Maurine

Very well said Dan and Kim. I wish I could do something more for Alex and his mom that would fix things for them immediately. I am covering them in prayer.

This week really drives home the point to me that this community needs something of the equivilant of the HSLDA. And...it isn't just the autism community. It is also the community of parents whose kids have learning disabilities that the school is ready to give up on. It is the community of parents who have chronically ill children and want to address those needs by something other than pills. There are so many of us and I'm sure that scares them.

We all need the parental rights amendment to pass. We all need the bio-med equivilant of HSLDA.

I wouldn't leave my preverbal child in a hospital room unsupervised for a minute either. Showering would not matter to me. When Mia had seizures I slept in her room in a chair or her father did. She was never out of our sight. You would THINK that the hospital would have arranged for some comfort for Mom. If Alex had cancer he'd be surrounded by flowers and games and toys and love and support. Autism? Gut issues? RED ALERT! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! STEP AWAY FROM THE ROOM!