Ashley Treatment

The case that was argued over the Ashley treatment is a really controversial issue. Parents tend to do what is best for their kids, regardless of costs or sacrifices that have to be made. The choices that these parents made rise above and beyond any ordinary choices any parents regularly make. Parents send their kids to ridiculous expensive schools in hopes of creating a child genius, send them to dancing groups to create athletic abilities, it is a thing that parents do, they support their kids, and make them happy and comfortable. I think parents feel obligated to give their children everything to make them happy, and in this case the parents had to make a hard choice but it was for the comfort and well-being of the child. These parents took enormous steps to alter their child's life, but the circumstances are very unique.

The child in this particular case would never cognitively develop past the age of 18 months, which would leave her with a lot of disabling problems as she grew older. Ashley's parents decided to completely stunt her growth, remove her breast buds, and uterus. If they did that to her was just to take precautions and to be able to care for her as they got older. The situation I think is understandable, I think that all parents would do everything in their power to create a more comfortable life that they could be a part of. I think that what they were feeling was that at some point in life, they were going to grow old, and no longer be able to care for her and they would be forced to institutionalize her. Putting her through all those extensive treatments was to be able to care for her for longer than they would have been able to if they had not chosen to.

Having a full grown child to move around, dress and bathe would be physically exhausting, and over time would become just to overwhelming. Dealing with a full grown adult no easy task, and it has to be taken into consideration that the child would have to be moved to prevent bed sores, and physical therapy to provide the body with the necessary movement. If the child was about the size of an 8 or 9 year old child, then all the exercises would not be near as physically wearing. The physical wear and tear would not only be on the parents, but also on Ashley as well. It would not be convenient to have to drag the child around because the parents could not properly care for her.

People will argue that it was not necessary, which I can see how it was not absolutely necessary. Yet, all the medical expenses were covered, the hospital proved all the patches for her estrogen treatments, and all medical care the child needed, all these things were proved for free. It is easy to see how parents could decide to do it all, if it was all covered. Of course, if the financial means were not available then the procedures could not be done, but if the financial means are available to make the child's