Ashya King

I am just wondering what would have been the public response if, when  the family took the child away from the hospital, without telling anyone where they were going or why,   the police and other authorities had done nothing,  and instead of the child being found in Spain, he had died.

Probably about the same as they did over the Asian pedo gang from up north...Nothing.

They did not go to Spain to get treatment for Ashya. They planned to get the proton treatment in Prague

How could they be eligible for treatment in Spain anyway,  it has to be sanctioned by the NHS?

Surely the father could have sorted the sale of his apartment by going to Spain himself, instead of dragging the whole family there.

After, he could have taken the boy from the hospital , with their knowledge, and gone to Prague.

There was no need for all the distress that his ill thought out actions have caused.

With all due respect to fellow posters who have a variety of opinions on the rights or wrongs of the actions of the parents ..Guys ...please a small boy is lying in hospital dying surrounded by armed police , his parents are incarcerated by a judge who doesn't know what to do  for fear of upsetting the British authorities .

Can we focus on the dying child and get his parents to his bedside as fast as possible .

Sometimes humanity outweighs legality 

Yes Baz.   It is a pity they were not so eager to step in when 1400 plus children were being raped and abused.  In fact, it seems the only time they stepped in there was to arrest two of the fathers who were trying to get their girls out of houses where they were being 'passed around'.   

The parents felt they had to leave quickly because they had been threatened with a court order, by the hospital. (Not the actual consultant who was in charge of the boy by the way, because she was on holiday and knew nothing about any of it.   Maybe someone should have consulted her?)   The family had already contacted the centre in Prague (which is a European centre) and discussed it with someone at the hospital.  It would not have taken a lot of thought to realise that this would be where they would be heading.   Nor does anyone have to be a medic to realise that he was not actually in the middle of treatment, and that this was all just part of the misinformation that was put out deliberately, along with the crap about the feeding tube.  Add to that the mug shots, the vilification of the religion, and you get your arrest warrant.   The greatest danger to that child's health is the distress caused by the situation the UK police have placed him in.             

I do agree that there was too much fuss over the feeding tube.He wasn't in grave danger.

One reporter said it was an" intravenous tube"

It was a simple naso gastric tube which is easily managed at home by relatives of patients who need this type of feeding.

Even without a machine, the food could be admistered by a large syringe attached to the tube. As it was, the family had everything necessary to maintain it.

The only problem might be if the tube is pulled out.

I still cannot see why they went off to  Spain, ( bit off route to Prague!)they  all didn't need to go,( father could have sorted sale of his property out,) and the consequent drama could have been avoided. It was naive to think they could have hidden themselves away in the apartment, before going to Prague.

the hospital had offered the parents a second opinion, and access to treatment abroad. 

There  must be more to come out in this case.

Well, I think all (or at least some) will be revealed in the next few hours.  There is now a suggestion that the hospital had been told they were moving their son to Prague.   There is a claim that there is evidence that the family sent emails from the centre in Prague to the hospital in Southampton, asking for the boy's records, and that this request was ignored.    Now, I know my experience makes me very quick to condemn the NHS, but honestly, it is more common for hospitals to lose, or fail to produce notes, than it is for them to produce them - so I can fully believe that.   The hospital has started an internal investigation after being told that the Kings will sue........  and I don't blame them.   

David Cameron has stepped in and the arrest warrant is to be revoked . It must be done by the Spanish court according to press sources .

What an incredible example of people power , one small boy unites  people from everywhere .....

And yet the parents set to spend their FOURTH night in jail.     And notice, it is a 'withdrawal' by the CPS - not a failure to meet thresholds.  So it should not have been issued in the first place.   Oh heads will roll, and much, much money paid to lawyers, and hopefully the family.   Including the poor old grandmother who had her home ransacked.

Roly 2   The family took the child away from the hospital, without telling anyone where they were going or why,

For that reason I believe the authorities had ample reason for their actions, and would have been wrong not to do so,   and therefore the only ones to blame are Mr & Mrs King.  Had they explained to the hospital / authorities what they intended to do (Although going to Spain on their way to Prague with a child who may have only 4 months to live, seems odd) then almost certainly no arrest warrant nor ward of court application would have been made.

Unfortunately now that that the Spanish legal system is involve, and they have jurisdiction, then their system probably must prevail. The UK cannot dictate to Spain what they must do.

Well the new evidence seems to be saying that they had in fact told the hospital they were going to remove him - which they had every right to do.    And 4 months to live?  Even the hospital in Southampton says he has a 70 - 80 chance of survival after 5 years.   Where did you get 4 months?   The evidence the judge saw today I understand, included emails sent from the centre in Prague, which were forwarded to the hospital which - oh hey - which the ignored.   

I don't think the judge takes your view johnzx

Thank god they are free and on the way to see their son . Well done Spain for reacting so quickly 

So Mr and Mrs king are the one's at fault for taking the child away from the UK hospital that wouldn't give it the expensive treatment because the doctors said it wouldn't do any good, no one knows what went on between the parents and the hospital before the decision to remove the boy was made, I bet the decision to buy the hospital manager a new £65,000 BMW was made pretty quick though.

The parents must have agonised a lot over this decision, no doubt they thought of every angle even to the point of the child (Maybe) dying before they reached the next hospital.

Who knows for sure if they did explain to the hospital what they were going to do, only they know that 100%, if they did say so and the hospital didn't agree with it no doubt they would have told the cops anyway and we all know how the cops love to carry out false arrests these days, but not for the things that matter.

The UK hospitals are getting very good at killing people these days with neglect, the UK cops are even better at making rubbish decisions, and the UK authorities wouldn't know the meaning of the word.

As for "Now lets be perfectly clear about this" Cameron, he's no better then the stupid judge in Spain, it took the people of the UK to kick a fuss up about this for him to wake up, if they hadn't he wouldn't have done a thing.

The kid seems worse than they make out from previous comments they made. they said he is "limp and unresponsive" and "he cannot walk, talk or communicate". Not good is it. Won't be the first time that we have seen people running round for cures which turned out to be useless. Can't blame them for wanting to try though.

Apparantly the family (all 8 of them??) lived for some years in Manilva in a 1 bedroomed apartment where they hung banner with JW slogans about god.

BTW the NHS has sent over 90 children to the USA for proton treatment this year.

I am wondering why the NHS are sending children to the US at 90000 a go, when we have a centre in Europe where treatment is 20000?    Are we really so removed from Europe?    Well roll on 2018 when we the NHS will have its own centre to which 'almost all children with brain tumours will be referred'.  Except for 2018 read probably 2020.   

Conchi - I think the condition the boy is in is pretty evident in all of the videos - including the ones taking at the hospital in Southampton.   

and the blame game begins. The child had been made a ward of court in the UK by social services on the say so of the hospital.  The hospital say it was done on the recommendation of the police.  According to a hospital spokesperson the decision whether he can go to Prague for treatment now lies with the UK courts. 

I think the treatment plan has already been agreed, though the parents may want his chemo to be anywhere other than Southhampton.    I am only looking at the legal aspect, but I think the hospital behaved really, really badly.   They certainly seemed to have misled the police, but the police effectively issued an international warrant that had no legal basis whatsoever.   They used a legal tool to criminalise the family without any investigation at all, and effectively acted for the hospital.   Just a couple of conversations would have ascertained that there was no danger, the couple had already said they were going to this centre in Prague, and an appeal for the family to contact them was the most they needed.   Anyone with half a brain would have known that if the couple were arrested under this warrant in Malaga, they would have to go to Madrid for processing.  So I don't even buy the unintended consequences the police are trying to plead.   Totally unacceptable behaviour.   Well done to the judge yesterday for taking a firm line and cutting to the chase, and well done Spain for also acting quickly.  The police and the NHS no doubt will continue to pass the buck, but the legal issues would seem to point to the police being at fault.   

From research on the internet I understand that the ‘Prague’ solution is only effective in cases where the cancer has very defined limits.  If it has spread then then it is of no use.   On TV the father said the hospital in Southampton wanted to kill his son or make him into a vegetable. I got the impression  (quite understandably) he is insisting that his son gets treated in Prague regardless what the ‘experts’ may say.   However, I do not believe he will be treated in Prague if it would  afford  no chance of success. 

This discussion is going to go on and on - with the parents saying at first they were not allowed to see their son.  But crucially, the 'experts' from the centre (who are at least as expert as those at Southampton), say the child is suitable for treatment with them.