Hospital in Ashya King case reveals 'outpouring of hatred' directed at staff
Staff at the hospital where five-year-old Ashya King was treated for brain cancer before he was taken abroad by his parents have spoken about the “outpouring of hatred” they received – but said they would act in the same way if the situation arose again.
Medical staff at Southampton general hospital told a BBC documentary how the torrent of abuse effectively shut down the hospital’s switchboard after it “became a story of a hospital [that] was chasing down a family”.
One doctor said he received hate mail from someone telling him they wished his own children would get cancer and die.
The hospital came under the glare of the world’s media last August after Ashya’s parents took him abroad for treatment, against the advice of the NHS specialists who had been caring for him in Southampton.
A major manhunt for the family was launched after Brett and Naghemeh King took the boy from the hospital without consent, leading to fears he could die without the specialist care he had been receiving in hospital.
At the time, Ashya could not swallow and had to be fed through his nose, but the couple announced last month that he has now made a “miracle” recovery after receiving proton beam therapy in Prague.
Matron Kate Pye told the programme she would call the police again if put in the same situation.
“They put him at huge risk,” she said of Ashya’s parents. “And if you asked me again, ‘Would I phone the police?’, the answer would be yes every time.
“Because if something had happened to that little boy in that car, then we would have been accountable for that.”
Paediatric intensive care consultant Dr Peter Wilson said the family put him and his colleagues in a difficult position, as Ashya had not been deemed suitable for proton beam therapy.
“It does put clinicians in an impossible position, because we now have to try to explain to families why one child ... is getting a form of treatment, why they can’t and they’ve got the same tumour. That’s deeply unfair when the NHS is supposed to be about equal healthcare for all.”
“As soon as the story broke, and it became a story of a hospital who was chasing down a family, we were inundated. At one stage, especially on the Monday, our switchboard was basically shut because of the number of phone calls we were receiving ... vitriolic messages for everybody.
“The overwhelming sentiment was one of just an absolute outpouring of hatred. One of the letters said they wished my children got cancer and died.”
Another nurse, Mandy Frisby, said she feared Ashya would die while he was not in hospital, as there was a risk that the feed going into his stomach could go into his lungs.
The Kings were arrested in Spain after fleeing the UK and spent several nights in prison away from their son before being released.
A high court judge subsequently approved the move to take Ashya to Prague for proton beam therapy, which was claimed to be more effective than the conventional radiotherapy offered on the NHS.
Because the treatment is so highly targeted, it can avoid healthy tissue, particularly tissue and organs behind tumours.
The NHS later agreed to fund Ashya’s treatment in Prague.
Ashya – The Untold Story will be broadcast on BBC1 in the South at 7.30pm on Friday 10 April, available nationally on BBC iPlayer thereafter.
This article was amended on 10 April 2015 to update the broadcast information.